During the late Spring/early Summer season grass seeds are rampantly on the loose. They can cause extensive and very frustrating problems to you and your pooch. Grass seeds can lodge themselves into your dog’s paws, ears, eyes, genital areas and noses causing major discomfort and inflammation and the longer they’re left untreated the worse they can get!

Due to the sharp tips of grass seeds, they can easily penetrate into your pet’s bodies very quickly. This means the grass seeds are near impossible to fall out or remove themselves once they have become stuck. In fact, they continue to burrow making what we call “sinus tracks” which form surrounding abscesses. These infections through the body can cause pain, swelling and usually lead to your pet requiring exploratory surgery in attempt to find and remove the seed!

1. Paws/Feet/Toes: swelling on the foot, often with a ‘weeping’ hole, excessive licking or chewing, pet being severely irritated by this area.
2. Ears: shaking head or scratching ear, painful to touch ear, yelping, usually an acute onset.
3. Eyes: squinting or rubbing eye, swollen eye with or without discharge, sometimes the eye will stay closed to maintain some form of comfort.

Grass seeds can usually be easily removed depending on their location and how deep they’ve penetrated the skin. Many dogs however, will require sedation or a general anaesthetic to allow exploration of the seed, especially if the area is painful. If the grass seed is left for a long period of time it can cause greater complications, such as travelling up your dog’s leg between tendons and ligaments, even up to the shoulder or the groin!

The most critical thing to do is get your pet to the Vet ASAP!!!

How to prevent grass seeds from harming your pets:
• Keep your grass and weeds under control at home with regular maintenance
• Avoid long grass when on walks
• Keep long haired/fluffy dogs groomed, especially around their feet and ears.
• Inspect your dog all over after each walk, making sure you check in between and under all toes and underneath the ears

A clean pet is a happy and healthy pet! If you suspect however that your dog has been a victim of a grass seed, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a check up and further help!

Every year dogs all around the country suffer from heatstroke and in some cases can even die by being left alone in the car during our Summer months.

Though it may seem like the easy option to leave your pet inside your vehicle while you quickly duck into the shops, you can put your dog at serious risk and even cause a horrible death.

Dogs are only able to cool themselves down by panting, which can cause them to overheat and exert themselves leading to sustaining possible irreversible brain damage and deadly heatstroke.

Again, while you may be tempted to take your dog to quickly run errands, we would like to spread awareness about the potential dangers involved in leaving animals in your car for even a very short period of time. Even with windows open, it doesn’t take much for your pet to overheat.

It’s always best to leave them at home inside where there is sufficient air flow and even better, air conditioning.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at Woodville on 08 8268 6777 or West Lakes on 08 8353 3600, or visit www.petdoctorvet.com.au.

Just like how humans catch the flu, dogs can very easily catch a highly contagious infection known as ‘kennel cough’ otherwise known as Canine Cough.

Canine Cough causes a dry, repetitive, choking cough and fever which can be followed by sneezing, runny eyes and nose. In some cases, bringing up clear phlegm and sometimes mimicking a choking motion.

It is extremely contagious and can have long periods of incubation.

The most common places for dogs to contract kennel cough are places like doggy daycares and parks.

The team at Pet Doctor have seen a rapid increase in patients coming into our clinic with kennel cough over the past month and we would like to spread the awareness to ensure your pet is safe and vaccinated. We can reduce the risk to your pet by making sure you’re up to date with vaccinations.

Vaccination is the key, however, your dog can still contract it if there is a known outbreak.

Is your pet up to date with their vaccinations?

Contact us to book an appointment.