HEAD: Keep Your Pets Foxtail-Free
Foxtails pose a substantial threat to your pet’s health. The barbed ends—the plant’s seeds—can lodge into the skin very easily, and since our pets’ bodies can’t break down these seeds, the needle-like barbs can cause serious infections and health complications.
To prevent foxtail problems:
- Keep your pets out of tall grasses and remove foxtail plants from your yard.
- Brush your outdoor pets regularly.
- If there is any chance your pets can get into foxtails, inspect them thoroughly and regularly. Check their ears, mouths, noses, between their toes and around the base of their tails.
Depending on where foxtails lodge themselves, the symptoms they cause will vary, but they include swollen and/or red paws, limping, sneezing and scratching at the ears or eyes. If you notice any of these symptoms, check your pet thoroughly for foxtails. You can often remove them yourself with tweezers, but if they are already lodged far into the skin and are causing redness and swelling, don’t remove them yourself. Instead, call XXXX as soon as you can at 999-999-9999.