Deaf vet Julie Beckett tells us about the dangers of grass seeds to our pets this summer (BSL)

Good morning! I want to share a reminder with you all as at the moment so many dogs are coming into my workplace – especially from June onwards – with problems relating to grass seeds. I have created a video as it’s important to make you aware of this.

Lots of dogs are coming in with this, cats too, especially at this time of year. Please don’t ignore it if you see any on your pet, as it will swell up, my second video will explain this more clearly. If this does happen to your dog, please don’t ignore this, it is extremely painful for them. So just some awareness for you, take care!

Hello! I want to share this with you as only recently a 2.5 month old sweet labrador puppy came into my workplace. I want to tell you about grass seeds, see photo. You can find them on farms, woods, fields, grassy areas, even in your garden, at the edge of paths. The tops of them come off easily, and attach to you and they sway in the wind, the tops often get blown all over.

Incidents mostly happen with dogs as they love to run free and enjoy a good sniff, other animals travel more slowly. The lab puppy that came in was very sweet but had gotten a grass seed up his nose! His owner noticed it happening in their back garden which was lucky, she saw the dog enjoying a sniff then gasped when she saw the grass seed hanging out of his nose. The dog sniffed hard and the grass seed went right up his nose. She brought him into the vets for treatment and we managed to get it out (see photo.) Thankfully its out, you can see how big it is!

Sometimes you can’t see anything up your pets nose but there are ways you can tell. They can get objects stuck up their nose or their ear or their eye, or paw or on a part of their body. You will notice them behaving strangely for example sneezing or coughing, or trying to get at something. You might see fluid dripping from their nose or even bleeding. You may even see swelling.

You may see a cat shake it’s head or try to paw at it’s head. A pet may tilt their head to one side or growl or bark when it’s touched due to the pain. You may see their eyes get red or watery or swollen with yellow pus.

If something is stuck in their paw you may see them constantly lick their wound or start limping. It may also swell up. If you see anything attached to their body please don’t ignore it. If you ignore it it will become much more painful and get worse.

How do we treat these? It depends on the severity, sometimes it’s easy to quickly pull an object out, other times it is more deeply embedded. If it’s an extremely painful wound we may give the pet general anaesthetic to prevent them getting more distressed. We can sedate the animal with an injection to take out an object and ensure they can return home quickly.

If the object is deeply embedded and you can’t see it, for example in the ear you might notice redness or wax or there may even be an infection inside or the body reacting to an allergy. This can also happen in the nose where something is so deeply pushed up, so the animal needs an anaesthetic to get it removed. If you don’t act quickly and seek help, the item can get pushed up even further and cause more swelling.

If we can’t find an object we can use an X-ray and then make an incision to remove whatever is stuck.

So please don’t ignore any signs of discomfort, always go to the vets if you are not sure.

Thank you!

Julie is a deaf veterinary nurse assistant who lives in the North East with her many pets! You can find her Facebook page here with details of her work.