Scary experience to share for stick chewers/grass eaters!!

My 8 month old puppy didn't want to come out of his kennel this morning. When I looked at his face, his left eye was swollen. He slowly walked upstairs with his head down... I thought, let's see if he eats? I fed him 1/2 his normal amount of food and he slowly ate it (VERY UNLIKE HIM).

I took him in to a local emergency clinic. He had a fever and they thought he had an allergic reaction. They gave him Benadryl, a steroid injection, and fluids under the skin. I waited an hour and his temperature was the same. He still was very lethargic and his eye was still swollen.

I asked if they could look in his mouth and when they did he screamed. So they immediately sedated him and found a piece of that long whispy grass (the kind that hurts your hand if you move your fingers across it) stuck in the back of his throat behind his molars. This was on the same side as his swollen eye. Turns out he had what they called a retrobulbar abscess. Apparently these foreign pieces (sticks/grass) can migrate to animals brains and lungs!!!!

I am so thankful I had them check his mouth!! He is doing much better tonight on pain meds and a strong antibiotic.

I just wanted to warn everyone that his can happen! I try not to let him chew on these things but it is hard .

 

Ahh that is so scary! I do worry about that as we have it in our yard. Thankfully Axel doesn't eat grass but I do worry it will get in his ears or paws. So I check him over often.

So glad you brought him in right away and it was caught before it got worse!

 

Poor boy. So glad you took him to the vets. Hope he is soon back to his normal self.

 

Oh my how awful, poor pup! Hope he recovers quickly!

 

Sounds terribly painful & miserable. Good thinking on your part to get them to check his mouth. Hope he's soon on the mend.

 

Thank you for alerting us to this. My dogs eat grass and I can see it can be a problem, will certainly be aware now. Poor little pup, I hope he has completely recovered.

 

This is absolutely news to me, thank goodness you've posted. Molly is becoming a grass eater and she does seem to go for that thick finger cutting stuff. The only horrible result so far has been 'floppy bottom' with undigested strands of grass dangling - sorry for the graphic detail.
I'll certainly do everything to deter her from now on as well as checking her mouth.

I hope your boy is on the mend now.

 

I have a grass eater too, will be extra vigilant now.

Hope your pup is back to normal soon. x

 

What an awful experience! I hope he continues to improve.

 

What a terrible shock. Glad he is OK now. Would never have thought grass could do so much damage. I am always this time of year checking for the horrid grass seeds though!

 

Holy Smokes! That was Jet's favourite grass. I got my bare legs cut up when I walked through a patch while wearing shorts one day. She never had a problem but it does have sharp edges. Lucky catch for you, before it got really bad. Poor boy.

 

I hope he recovers soon. Thanks for the tip - I have a 'long grass snatcher' too.

 

Thanks everyone! We got unlucky that it was that long grass! The vet says it is usually sticks or grass seed, but because that grass is so rough he could see why it stuck. Regardless, he is feeling much better today. No fever and eating great.

 

Thanks everyone! We got unlucky that it was that long grass! The vet says it is usually sticks or grass seed, but because that grass is so rough he could see why it stuck. Regardless, he is feeling much better today. No fever and eating great.

 

Sorry that he wasn't feeling well but glad he is doing better today.

 

Is it foxtail grass you are talking about? That's what I had assumed but I wanted to make sure

 

Oh my, poor thing! Libby eats this grass all the time, thanks for the warning x

 

Poor boy! Glad he's on the road to recovery and that you acted quickly.

 

How awful for your puppy but well done for acting so promptly and for sharing yet another danger with us all to watch out for. Hope he recovers quickly xx