Steelsearchin
Well-known member
Short version:
If you hunt prairie grasses, learn to ID what you are in and avoid covers where grass awns are present. The damn things act like porcupine quills, don’t break down, and migrate through the dog until they potentially infect something important.
Long version:
Back on NYE I closed out the year by taking my 14 month old pup out to a pheasant preserve with my son, dad, brother, and his two oldest boys. The dog did a great job for his age and my son and nephews were able to shoot their first ditch parrots. A great afternoon was had by all. Toward the end of the hunt, I noticed that a small lump on my dog's side was more pronounced than it had been a few days earlier, so I snapped a few pictures.
When we got home, I sent a text to the breeder in WI to see if he'd seen anything similar and sent him the above photos. He then said he'd lost three dogs in recent years all with similar bumps and suspected grass awns were the culprit. Not exactly what I was expecting to hear.
He then sent me some information to bring to the vet, including this link:
http://www.theamericanbrittanyclub.org/VetArticles/Nocardia-Infections-in-Bird-Dogs.pdf
Due to holiday closures and the dog being in great spirits the whole time, I got him into our regular vet first thing Tuesday morning.
An ultrasound, a couple x-rays, an aspirated lump, culture sent to a lab, and a week’s worth of antibiotics and I was out of there. Results on the inflammation were inconclusion, and after a week the lump was pretty much the same size.
Options were a punch biopsy, surgery to remove, or another week of antibiotics. #1 and #3 seemed like they would likely result in #2, so I chose surgery. At this point we still had no idea what was causing the inflammation, but the dog was still in great spirits and didn’t seem bothered at all by it. Timing worked out and surgery was performed the next day. Dog wound up with a honey badger scar, a drain tube, a cone of shame, some more pain and anxiety meds, and instructions for no running for two weeks. After removing the mass (sounded pretty involved as it was migrating into his ribs) the vet said she cut the mass open and saw a green oval shaped seed in the center. I had requested a picture from the lab they sent the mass to, but that never happened. I’m still a bit upset about that, but such is life…pissed off rather than on I guess.
Two days later the drain tube was pulled. The dog is still not exactly happy about being on house arrest.
The incision site still looks to be in great shape, but the seroma around the surgical site is starting to look like a water balloon. Vet suggested cold and hot compresses for a few days to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, she will drain it. We are on day two so it’s too early to tell. The vet did get the lab results back today and said that he had panniculitis. Google says that is an inflammation under the skin. You don’t say?! …and again, no picture was taken of the seed at the lab.
I’d heard of avoiding foxtail years and years ago, but hearing of multiple dogs dying from these infections, and going through this whole process, has been a real eye-opener. At this point I’ve learned more than I care to know about grass awns and expensive infections in dogs, but such is life.
At a high level, these nasty little “mean seeds” can come from foxtail, cheat grass, spear grass, Russian rye, Canadian rye, and a few other plants. It also sounds like Pheasants Forever uses some of these grasses in their habitat mixes they send to landowners. Great.
My little red bastard had a great first season and got to spend time chasing birds from MI to NoDak, so who knows where he picked it up. I’m diligent about tailgate checks for ticks, split nails, seeds in eyes/nose/etc, etc, so I’m really surprised I didn’t notice this when he initially got poked. Vet thinks it went through his skin, but the way these things migrate it’s really anybody’s guess.
Hopefully this post can bring a little awareness to a situation that really doesn’t get a lot of press!
Happy hunting and scratch those bird dogs for me!
If you hunt prairie grasses, learn to ID what you are in and avoid covers where grass awns are present. The damn things act like porcupine quills, don’t break down, and migrate through the dog until they potentially infect something important.
Long version:
Back on NYE I closed out the year by taking my 14 month old pup out to a pheasant preserve with my son, dad, brother, and his two oldest boys. The dog did a great job for his age and my son and nephews were able to shoot their first ditch parrots. A great afternoon was had by all. Toward the end of the hunt, I noticed that a small lump on my dog's side was more pronounced than it had been a few days earlier, so I snapped a few pictures.
When we got home, I sent a text to the breeder in WI to see if he'd seen anything similar and sent him the above photos. He then said he'd lost three dogs in recent years all with similar bumps and suspected grass awns were the culprit. Not exactly what I was expecting to hear.
He then sent me some information to bring to the vet, including this link:
http://www.theamericanbrittanyclub.org/VetArticles/Nocardia-Infections-in-Bird-Dogs.pdf
Due to holiday closures and the dog being in great spirits the whole time, I got him into our regular vet first thing Tuesday morning.
An ultrasound, a couple x-rays, an aspirated lump, culture sent to a lab, and a week’s worth of antibiotics and I was out of there. Results on the inflammation were inconclusion, and after a week the lump was pretty much the same size.
Options were a punch biopsy, surgery to remove, or another week of antibiotics. #1 and #3 seemed like they would likely result in #2, so I chose surgery. At this point we still had no idea what was causing the inflammation, but the dog was still in great spirits and didn’t seem bothered at all by it. Timing worked out and surgery was performed the next day. Dog wound up with a honey badger scar, a drain tube, a cone of shame, some more pain and anxiety meds, and instructions for no running for two weeks. After removing the mass (sounded pretty involved as it was migrating into his ribs) the vet said she cut the mass open and saw a green oval shaped seed in the center. I had requested a picture from the lab they sent the mass to, but that never happened. I’m still a bit upset about that, but such is life…pissed off rather than on I guess.
Two days later the drain tube was pulled. The dog is still not exactly happy about being on house arrest.
The incision site still looks to be in great shape, but the seroma around the surgical site is starting to look like a water balloon. Vet suggested cold and hot compresses for a few days to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, she will drain it. We are on day two so it’s too early to tell. The vet did get the lab results back today and said that he had panniculitis. Google says that is an inflammation under the skin. You don’t say?! …and again, no picture was taken of the seed at the lab.
I’d heard of avoiding foxtail years and years ago, but hearing of multiple dogs dying from these infections, and going through this whole process, has been a real eye-opener. At this point I’ve learned more than I care to know about grass awns and expensive infections in dogs, but such is life.
At a high level, these nasty little “mean seeds” can come from foxtail, cheat grass, spear grass, Russian rye, Canadian rye, and a few other plants. It also sounds like Pheasants Forever uses some of these grasses in their habitat mixes they send to landowners. Great.
My little red bastard had a great first season and got to spend time chasing birds from MI to NoDak, so who knows where he picked it up. I’m diligent about tailgate checks for ticks, split nails, seeds in eyes/nose/etc, etc, so I’m really surprised I didn’t notice this when he initially got poked. Vet thinks it went through his skin, but the way these things migrate it’s really anybody’s guess.
Hopefully this post can bring a little awareness to a situation that really doesn’t get a lot of press!
Happy hunting and scratch those bird dogs for me!
