How to treat and prevent grass awns in a hunting dog

Another bearded dog spared by a thorough tailgate check. Prevention is much easier on the dog and your wallet than treatment.

Prevention and quick action could save you a painful and pricey trip to the vet

Early season is ripe with naive birds and jacked dogs, and upland hunters are just as enthusiastic to shake off the rust of a long offseason. While most of us have scripted an action plan for sideways encounters with snakes and hot weather, I’d wager that far more collective money is spent at the vet dealing with grass awns and seeds than the former hazards. 

If you’ve ever battled with foxtails, cheatgrass or other festering seeds in your bird dog, you’re already part of the unfortunate few who have discovered how much havoc they can wreak. When I practiced in heavy cheatgrass country, our clinic literally paid the bills each spring and summer pulling those godforsaken grass awns out of every imaginable orifice. While they boosted our bottom line, it grew tiresome seeing so many painful dogs and the racking up of expensive hospital tabs for a condition that very likely could have been prevented with some routine maintenance. 

A festering seed in a paw is one thing, but an ambitious awn that migrates to the thorax is trouble.

Why are grass awns such a P.I.T.A.?

For better or worse, burrowing grass awns are now forever part of the fabric of the rugged Western uplands. On the upside, their parent plants provide a green protein source for birds and wild ungulates, and they generate thick chick-rearing cover that sprouts faster than most native grasses. However, their seeds are notorious for burrowing under the skin and migrating incredible distances in the subcutaneous layer. Along their journey, they drag with them a bouquet of bacteria that relish the opportunity to multiply in the moist, nutrient-rich and anaerobic environment under a dog’s fur. 

The splayed spines of the awn latch relentlessly to passing fur in an evolutionary stroke of genius that has helped cheatgrass spread effortlessly throughout the New World. The seeds are equipped with a spiked barb at one end that slowly pulls them closer to the skin, where they insidiously (over the course of many hours or days) penetrate the epidermis on their one-way march to trouble. If allowed to enter and fester, these seeds lead to localized pain, swelling and inflammation that may resemble a fracture, bite or puncture wound that may or may not have visible drainage. 

what can i do to treat infections from grass awns?

While a few cases can be managed by using the therapeutic and osmotic properties of an Epsom salts soak (I’m talking wounds on the feet here), most dogs require sedation or general anesthesia (cha-ching), deep wound probing, antibiotics and pain meds, and sometimes multiple rounds of treatment for particularly cryptic seeds. In rare but unforgettable cases where the awns migrate through the skin or throat to the thorax, costly open-chest surgery may be required by a surgical specialist. When you see the final bill for that disaster you’ll understand why his truck is nicer than yours. 

For the fortunate few wounds that rupture and push out the seed, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories alone may suffice for treatment. This approach may be worth at least a shot if you have these medications in your kit already. Amoxicillin, Clavamox or clindamycin generally cover the spectrum of the dangerous anaerobic bacteria involved. Carprofen (an NSAID) will generally suffice for pain and inflammation. Consult with your vet on a safe and therapeutic dose if you already have these medications at home. But don’t hesitate long if this strategy fails to work quickly or if the infection roars back as soon as the antibiotic supply is depleted. This implies the pesky seed is still under the skin somewhere and you need to get your vet involved.   

“While vets will gladly take your money to treat these conditions, the vast majority of us (myself included) would much rather help you prevent them altogether. ”

the magical healing properties of a tailgate check

While vets will gladly take your money to treat these conditions, the vast majority of us (myself included) would much rather help you prevent them altogether. This is where the post-hunt tailgate check should solidify itself in your mandatory husbandry routine. 

Since all cheatgrass awns start their descent into destruction by first wedging themselves into the hair, follow up your hunt for birds with an equally thorough quest for these nefarious hitchhikers. Popular spots are along the ear flaps and between the toes, as these are the most common places veterinarians are tapped to remove them. Have a squeeze bottle of saline on hand to irrigate the eyes and from behind the third eyelid (that’s the strange-looking pink thing on the inside corner of each eye). 

Also check the flank, armpits and groin region, as well as around the vulva in females (seriously, you’ll be fine). If you have a breed with long hair, check twice. Most of my cheatgrass patients have been curly or wiry-coated breeds, although any dog breed is susceptible. Take it from a fellow hunter that has been down that road too many times: The tailgate check is time well spent in preventing a painful and pricey trip to the veterinarian.