Wild grasses wildly painful
Catherine Botting is concerned about spear grass. Her bearded collie required surgery after a barb from the plant worked its way under the dog’s neck.
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When Catherine Botting walks Buggins, her seven-year-old bearded collie, along the boulevard in front of McNeill Bay she stops almost every dog owner she sees.
“Do you know about spear grass?” she asks, prepared to offer up information on a potentially toxic plant that’s literally growing under foot.
On a walk with Buggins last week, none of the dog owners Botting approached knew about spear grass, a barbed plant that can prove to be a painful and expensive nuisance to dogs and their owners.
Botting knows. Last summer, Buggins had surgery to remove one of the barley-like grass barbs that had made its way into his ear. After spending $130 on vet bills, Botting wants others to be aware of the non-native grass that grows in abundance along Beach Drive in front of McNeill Bay and in other areas of Greater Victoria.
“I feel so badly for people coming from out of town who may not know,” said Botting, an Oak Bay resident.
Veterinarian Carol Morgan at Fairfield Pet Clinic said she sees about six dogs a week that have come into contact with spear grass.
“The most common places that we see it (barbs) are in ears if dogs have been nosing along the ground or roughhousing with another dog,” Morgan said.
Actually grass seeds with barbs that move along one direction of an animal’s fur toward the skin and the barb can penetrate the skin. Vets can often pick out the barb by probing with a thin instrument into the incision the barb created. But that can be painful so dogs often have to be anesthetized.
This time of year when the grasses are abundant, dog owners should check their pets after every walk for grass barbs. Check between their toes and consider trimming back fur so the search is easier, Morgan said.
vmoreau@saanichnews.com
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