Dog owner warning others after Great Danes eat foxtails, leading to $2K vet bill

A Saskatoon dog owner is calling on the City of Saskatoon to cut down all foxtails after seeing the pain her two dogs went through after eating it. 

Leah Betteridge was left with a $2,000 vet bill after her two Great Danes ate foxtails. The weed looks a bit like wheat and can grow in various areas including fields and backyards.

Betteridge's dogs Lucy and Piper had started licking their lips and drooling — which was uncommon for them — so she phoned her veterinarian, she said. 

"As soon as I gave them all the symptoms they were like it's foxtails. Bring them in right now." 

The foxtails were in their mouths and embedded in their tonsils, Betteridge said. Both had to be sedated to have them removed. Betteridge said one dog has recovered well while the other is still suffering and has had to go back repeatedly. 

Betteridge said she knew what foxtails were before the incident but had no idea they were dangerous to dogs and animals.

"They all blew into our yard. So they're really hard to take out. They're very light. They're almost feather-like. They have a barb that attached to them," she said. "You can't get rid of them once they're there."

Betteridge said her dogs were fortunate because she could afford the vet bill and caught it early. The veterinarian has to remove each foxtail barb one by one and told her it could be lethal if the barbs migrate to a dog's brain lungs, kidney or heart.

"It's been horrible," Betteridge said. "It's frustrating honestly because it's something that can be taken care of that isn't being taken care of."

Betteridge is calling on the city to cut down the foxtails. She said she hopes other dog owners do the same. 

The City of Saskatoon said it is currently looking at ways of addressing the issue with foxtails. It said foxtails fall under 'nuisance weeds' which are dealt with on a complaint driven basis. It said foxtails have been more prevalent in undeveloped and developing areas of the city and cutting them exacerbates the problem as when it is mature it blows around. 

If a complaint is given about a property, the city said the landowner has five business days to deal with the infraction. The city said grass and weeds must be shorter than 20 centimetres or eight inches. 

Worst year Saskatoon vet has seen for foxtail injuries

Betteridge isn't alone in watching her dogs struggle. A Saskatoon veterinarian said this year has been the worst she's seen for foxtail injuries since beginning her Saskatoon practice in 1994.

"Usually [we] would see a few cases a summer but this year has been quite phenomenal," said Dr. Vivienne Jones, a veterinarian at the Erindale Animal Hospital. 

Jones said they have had as many as three animals a day come to the clinic with foxtail injuries. They can be at varying levels when they arrive, such as small bits around an animal's tonsils, but it's usually worse. 

"Most often they are presenting because they are gagging, retching, hard swallowing, coughing and some of them are coming in because they have started to excessively eat other grasses and other items," Jones said. 

Sometimes animals eat other grasses to try and find something to help with the irritation, she said.

The majority of dogs will have them removed and be okay after a few days, Jones said. 

"But there are cases and I have had … one migrated into the chest cavity and that dog needed a C.T. scan and they had to be referred to a specialty institution to remove that. There are cases where they have been inhaled and can cause abscesses in the lungs or have been inhaled and have migrated into the brain," Jones said. "It can happen."

Jones recommends keeping dogs on a leash when walking them and not letting them go out unsupervised in areas like unfinished backyards, where foxtails can be around. Some dog owners have guards that can keep the weed out, she said. 

"If you have walked through a field and you have concerns, check really carefully their armpits, their groins, in between their toes, looking in their ears," Jones said. "If you notice them coughing or sneezing that's important to bring that to the attention of their veterinary team because there may be something we can do early."