In the last few weeks we have had three cats affected by foxtail injuries, one of which resulted in the animal having to be put down.

Missing for at least five days, this 10-year-old finally crawled out of hiding dehydrated, starving and with a ruptured eye. All the vets were closed when her owner called me at 5:00 on Friday of Memorial weekend. He was asking for antibiotics, and I told him that we do not dispense prescription drugs. Listening to the extent of the cat’s injuries, it was clear that the poor thing would need much more. Luckily, we have a volunteer veterinarian who was able to see the animal that night.

After a thorough cleansing of the eye, a foxtail was pulled from its depths. With the globe collapse, the injured cat had been wiping leakage away with a foreleg, now denuded of hair from the toxicity of the fluid. She purred and didn’t struggle throughout the examination of her wasted frame. When we opened her mouth we saw something worse then the eye…, skin so jaundice that it was the color of mustard indicating liver failure, a sure death sentence at this advanced stage.

To even try and save her would require force-feeding and subcutaneous fluids, very costly and something the owner would not be able to do for the required two-three months. The vet concluded that this condition was a direct cause of the foxtail in the eye which prompted the cat to go into hiding and therefore not eat or drink for an extended period of time. The owner reported that she hadn’t eaten or drunk much since her return, another bad sign. (When a cat stops eating and drinking, the body fats accumulate in the liver which eventually fails.)

We all deal with this obnoxious weed each spring through fall. The early summer sun dries the plant which then drops its seeds to the ground or disperses them through wind, clothing, or a pet’s fur. The spiny seeds sporting their stiff sharp tips and fox-like tails work themselves into socks, ankles and a dog’s coat, nose and ears on hiking trips if we don’t take precautions. They also get into our outdoor cat’s eyes while they are hunting.

Diabolically designed to move in only one direction, the foxtail slowly “screws” itself through flesh and becomes very difficult to remove due to the backwards-facing barbs. With the normal movements of an animal, the seed works its way into the body through soft tissues and organs, leaving a path of infection and abscess. There have been cases where they have pierced eardrums causing deafness and vital organs including the brain and heart causing death.

Last year one lodged between the toes of a friend’s puppy resulting in five surgeries and a permanently deformed foot. The reason for so many surgical probings was because a foxtail does not image easily with X-ray or ultrasound and nothing was found the first four times. Lameness and recurring abscesses were the only indications there was something still in there.

The year before this same friend had a barn cat that took one in his eye, again requiring the services of a veterinarian. A week later the same cat got another foxtail in his other eye and, due to the recent trauma, it was a month before he was able to be re-caught and taken in. That cat was lucky as he fully recovered and neither eye was permanently damaged.

My dog got one in her ear right in my own backyard. I thought my yard was clean of foxtails, but upon examination I found some growing behind the raspberry trellis by the fence. Maggie had been making her perimeter rounds and brushed against the plants. It cost $250 to have it removed, as the seed had slipped so far down anesthesia was required to pull it out.

Foxtail grass is definitely one weed to keep out of your yard, no easy task with our prevailing winds. Pull out the whole plant by the roots when it is still green and the earth is damp in spring. If it has already dried, pulling will just dislodge the foxtail’s seeds and compound the problem the next growing season so be very careful. Dispose of them in your green waste, not your compost! Use a spray-on weed killer for problem spots.

Do whatever it takes, but get rid of them or your pets and pocketbook may suffer the consequences.