Grass Awns in Dogs: The Underestimated Summer Hazard for Ears, Paws, and Nose

In brief

There are four things you should know about grass awns. First: because of their backward-pointing barbs, awns can mostly move in only one direction – deeper into the tissue. Second: according to the largest case series available, the most common site is not the paw but the ear canal. Third: the season is narrower than many people think – in a British analysis of more than 4.5 million veterinary consultations, roughly nine out of ten cases fell between June and September, with July alone accounting for 42.7 percent. And fourth: symptoms can ease for a while as the awn keeps migrating. That is exactly what makes waiting it out so treacherous.

You come back from a walk. Everything seemed fine – your dog raced through a meadow, chased, played. Two hours later he suddenly lies down and starts licking frantically at one paw. You take a look: no wound, no splinter. Just this constant licking. In this article we go through what is actually happening at that point, how to recognize the different entry sites, which dogs are affected more often according to current data – and where popular advice misses what the studies actually show.

👉 Basics of preventive care and health checks for your dog

1. What a grass awn actually is

A bit of precision is worth it here, because it changes how you understand everything that follows. An awn is not the seed head itself. Botanically, it is a bristle-like extension that grows out of the lemma or glume of a grass spikelet, tapers toward the tip, and, depending on the species, carries more or fewer fine barbs (Petersen & Kellogg, 2022).

So what gets into a dog is usually not "an awn" in the strict sense, but the entire dispersal unit: the spikelet with the awn attached. On veterinary imaging, this structure has a characteristic spindle shape, with a length that ranged from 0.8 to 2.5 centimeters in an Italian ultrasound case series (Caivano et al., 2016).

When it comes to grass species, the data are thinner than you might expect. The species most often named in the veterinary literature is wall barley (Hordeum murinum), and Hordeum species also appear explicitly as the culprit in case reports (Koutinas et al., 2003). But the authors of the largest European study to date state explicitly that the grass species involved are rarely recorded systematically in practice and that more research is needed here (Brant et al., 2021). So when you read lists featuring meadow foxtail, couch grass, rye, barley, and oats: these are plausible candidates, not an established ranking. For practical purposes, the distinction matters little anyway – what counts is the structure, not the species name.

2. Why a grass awn travels mostly in one direction

The mechanism is clearly described in the review literature: because of its spindle shape and its backward-pointing barbs, the dispersal unit migrates through tissues and body cavities (Caivano et al., 2023). In other words, the barbs point to the rear, against the direction of travel. Your dog's movements – running, shaking, scratching – can push the unit a little further forward. The way back, by contrast, is largely blocked, because the barbs anchor themselves in the tissue when pulled backward.

Beyond that, there is a second, fascinating mechanism that needs to be put in proper context. In wild wheat, it has been shown that the awns bend and straighten on their own as humidity changes: the arrangement of the cellulose fibrils in the cell wall makes the awn bend as it dries and straighten again when moist, and silica hairs ensure that this motion drives the unit only in the direction of the seed (Elbaum et al., 2007). The daily humidity cycle thus acts like a motor that drives the seed into the soil.

An important point for context: this work comes from botany and describes self-burial in soil, not migration through body tissue. Whether this mechanism plays any role in the warm, moist tissue of a dog has, to our knowledge, not been studied. For the path through the body, the established explanation is the mechanical one: shape plus backward-pointing barbs plus the dog's own movement.

What the awn sets off inside the body is well documented: it carries bacteria in, triggers a foreign-body reaction, disrupts local defenses, and provides a foothold for chronic infections, which often show up as abscesses and draining tracts (Caivano et al., 2023).

3. Where grass awns actually end up

This is where the data part ways with the usual advice. Almost every article puts the paw first. The two large case series that have been analyzed do not.

In an analysis of 754 dogs and 37 cats at a US university hospital over ten years, the confirmed sites in dogs were distributed as follows: ear canal 28.6 percent, nasal passage 18 percent, skin and subcutis combined 26.7 percent – of which 47.3 percent were between the toes. Converted, the interdigital area accounts for about 13 percent of all cases, well behind the ear (Philp et al., 2022). An older analysis of 182 cases from the same region found an even clearer result: at 51 percent, the external ear canal was by far the most common site (Brennan & Ihrke, 1983).

A limitation that belongs here: both figures come from California, a region with its own grass flora and climate. We are not aware of a comparably detailed breakdown for Central Europe. The British analysis does name the spaces between the toes, the ears, the eyes, and the nasal cavity as typical sites, but gives no percentage breakdown of its own (Brant et al., 2021). So take the order as a well-supported pointer, not a law of nature for the field edge near you – and check all four sites regardless.

3.1 Ear

The scene: Your dog suddenly starts shaking his head violently. He holds it tilted, rubs it on the ground, flinches when touched.

Typical signs: sudden, violent head shaking; head tilt; scratching at the ear; pain response when touched; later redness, swelling, a changed odor, or discharge.

What to do: See your veterinarian promptly, ideally the same day. Do not insert anything yourself – no tweezers, no cotton swab, no ear-flush solution. Any attempt from the outside can push the awn deeper.

To put the urgency in perspective: in the case series, an awn in the ear canal is typically visualized with an otoscope at the first appointment and removed under light sedation. So as a rule, this is a matter for the same day or the next, not the next few minutes. It has been described that an awn can penetrate the eardrum and migrate further – as a rare course, not the typical one. The reason to act quickly is therefore less about the minutes and more about the fact that each day of waiting can make removal more involved.

3.2 Paw and skin

The scene: In the evening, your dog starts licking persistently at one paw. You look: no visible wound. The next morning he is limping.

Typical signs: persistent licking at one paw; lameness, often varying in severity; swelling between the toes, often warm; a small entry hole or discharge; splayed toes, pulling away when touched.

What to do: If the awn is still sitting loosely in the coat, you can carefully remove it at the base with tweezers – without jerking. If it is already lodged in the skin or the area is swollen: do not pull it out yourself, have it checked. It can break off, and the rest keeps migrating.

This is exactly where the problem that later becomes costly begins: awns in the subcutis and deeper soft tissue often cannot be found at the first examination, and incompletely removed fragments can lead to abscesses or draining tracts weeks to months later (Caivano et al., 2023).

3.3 Nose

The scene: Your dog sniffs at a tuft of grass and then sneezes violently, several times in a row. Later he rubs his nose, and there may be a little blood coming from one nostril.

Typical signs: fits of repeated sneezing; one-sided nasal discharge, clear at first, later purulent or bloody; rubbing the nose on the ground or with a paw; restlessness.

What to do: Have it checked by a veterinarian. Do not try anything yourself. The awn often sits too deep to be seen from the outside; to visualize it, rhinoscopy is used – an examination of the nose with a small camera, usually under anesthesia.

3.4 Eye

The scene: Your dog keeps blinking one eye, it is watering, and the conjunctiva is red. He squints and may rub at it with a paw.

Typical signs: one-sided blinking and squinting; tearing and redness; rubbing; occasionally a visible foreign body.

What to do: This is the situation in which the same day really counts – through an emergency service if necessary. No eye drops and no ointments from your own medicine cabinet, not even ones left over from last time. The condition of the cornea helps determine which product can be used at all, and that assessment requires an examination.

Why medications from your own medicine cabinet carry their own risks for dogs is covered in a separate guide on human medications and dogs.

3.5 When the awn keeps migrating

The dramatic courses do exist, but they are rare and come mostly from case reports – an honest account has to say that. Documented examples include migration into the chest with pneumonia, pleural or pericardial effusion, and pneumothorax (Caivano et al., 2023; Sériot et al., 2021), abscesses in the lumbar muscles after passage through the diaphragm (Birettoni et al., 2017), bone infections of the lumbar vertebrae (Johnston & Summers, 1971), and an empyema in the spinal canal (Whitty et al., 2013). Bacterial inflammation of the meninges and brain caused by migrating plant foreign bodies has also been described – in three dogs in the cited paper (Dennis et al., 2005).

That is the answer to the question of why you don't just let it run its course. Not because every case ends this way – the vast majority explicitly do not – but because you cannot tell from the outside which case is which.

4. Which dogs are affected more often

This is where most of the unsupported lists circulate. The most robust data currently available for Europe come from a British network of veterinary practices: 245 practices, 4,580,503 consultations analyzed, yielding 1,037 confirmed cases and 6,756 control animals (Brant et al., 2021). The results compared with retriever types as the reference group:

• Spaniel types: 7.71 times the odds (95% confidence interval 5.39–11.03). The English Cocker Spaniel alone made up 22.6 percent of all cases.
• Working-dog types: 3.00 times (1.85–4.88)
• Mixed breeds: 2.90 times (2.03–4.13)
• Small terriers: 2.73 times (1.80–4.14)
• Herding types: no significant difference (0.81; 0.38–1.71)
• Mastiff-like types: no significant difference (0.58; 0.32–1.05)

Other factors from the same analysis: male dogs were affected 1.36 times as often as females. The risk of a case peaked at around four years of age and declined with increasing age after that. And dogs in postal-code areas classified as rural had a higher risk than those in urban ones – although in absolute terms, 62.9 percent of cases involved dogs with an urban address. A rural setting is associated with a higher likelihood, but it by no means protects city dogs.

Two things need to be said openly here. First, this analysis contradicts the older Californian case series on several points; there, Springer Spaniels, Golden Retrievers, Brittanys, and Airedale Terriers were affected more often, and German Shepherds, Miniature Poodles, and Dachshunds less often (Brennan & Ihrke, 1983). The Golden Retriever appears there as a more frequently affected breed, while in the British analysis retrievers formed the reference group with the lowest share of cases. Differences like these can come from the breed makeup of each region, from different grass species, or from different hospital populations.

Second – and this is the more important point in practice: none of these figures shows a cause. They show which dogs were brought to practices. An obvious explanation for the spaniel effect would be a combination of densely furred ears and paws, lively searching behavior out in the field, and a lot of exposure – but that was not tested in the analysis. The authors also point out that in an Australian study, dogs with medium-length coats and dogs that were rarely groomed were more affected.

What this means for you: pay less attention to which breed is on your dog's papers and more to how much hair there is on the ears and paws, how much your dog plunges into tall grass, and how regularly you check.

5. When grass awn season is

The commonly cited "June to August" falls short at the back end. In the British analysis, cases were recorded in every month of the year, 90.6 percent of them between June and September (Brant et al., 2021). The distribution in detail:

• July alone accounted for 42.7 percent of all cases. The odds of a grass awn case there were 175.6 times those in January (confidence interval 43.6–707.8).
• August and June followed at 94.4 and 86.0 times, respectively, and September at 42.9 times.
• May already showed a significant increase, to 5.5 times.

The wide confidence interval for July arises because there were very few cases in January; the order of magnitude is clear, the exact number is not. And the peak did not fall in the same place every year – in 2015 it was in August rather than July.

In practical terms: from May on, the risk rises measurably, it is highest in July, and September still belongs to the season. But a grass awn case in October or in winter is by no means impossible, partly because an awn that got in earlier can cause problems with a delay.

On overall frequency, here is a figure that may put you at ease: over ten years, grass-awn-related disease at the US university hospital studied affected 0.25 percent of dogs (Philp et al., 2022). Grass awns are considered the most common plant foreign body – in the older case series they made up 61 percent of all foreign-body cases in one year (Brennan & Ihrke, 1983) – but measured against all dogs, they are not a common event. That is no reason to be careless, but it is a reason not to go through the summer in a panic.

In practice, this calls for different planning than the usual season dates suggest. September drops off many people's radar because the heat is over and the grass no longer looks so obviously ripe – but by then the dispersal units have long been lying on the ground and in the litter, where a sniffing dog picks them up with his nose rather than his coat.

And the cases outside the main months are the reason why a suspicion in October or April should not be dismissed by pointing to the time of year. They are rare, but they do happen.

6. The sentence that makes many grass awn problems worse

"I thought it would go away on its own."

What is dangerous about this can be stated more precisely than it usually is. It is not true that an awn never comes out on its own – the authors of the British analysis state explicitly that some cases probably resolve without a veterinary visit and therefore never show up in any statistics (Brant et al., 2021). The problem is a different one, and it is more serious: from the outside, you cannot tell which case will resolve without consequences and which one is migrating deeper right now.

On top of that comes an effect that actively rewards waiting, and that is exactly what makes it so insidious. The review literature describes how clinical signs can go unnoticed by owners or disappear after anti-inflammatory or antibiotic treatment – while the migration continues (Caivano et al., 2023). So things seem to get better, and the foreign body is still there.

And some dogs show no matching symptoms from the start: in the analysis of 791 cases, 11.9 percent of the awns were discovered incidentally, without the animal having been presented for related complaints (Philp et al., 2022).

At this point, one more correction to a widespread explanation: you often read that hunting dogs are especially at risk because they have a "high pain tolerance." There is no solid evidence for that. The explanation found in the professional literature is a different and much more obvious one: in young hunting and working dogs, a higher rate of awns in the chest is probably explained by greater exposure out in the field and by panting with an open mouth while working (Caivano et al., 2023). So it is about opportunity and breathing pattern, not about pain perception.

7. The most common mistakes

Waiting because it looks better. Easing symptoms are not a reliable sign that the awn is gone. If you see lameness, head shaking, fits of sneezing, or one-sided squinting after a walk through tall grass: have it checked.

Poking around in the ear or nose yourself. Tweezers, cotton swabs, flushing – all of these can push the awn further in, and in the ear they also put the eardrum at risk. Loose awns in the coat are fine to remove; anything from the skin inward belongs in professional hands.

Waiting for signs of pain. A relevant share of cases never draws attention through pain at all. Rely on checking, not on your dog's reaction.

Checking too rarely. In peak season, a single walk through ripe grass can be enough. A weekly look won't cover that.

Forgetting the paws when grooming. Many people clip the belly in summer and overlook the spaces between the toes and the inner sides of the ears – exactly the spots where awns tend to lodge.

8. How to lower the risk

Adjust your route. In peak season, avoid tall, ripe, dry meadows and field edges. Forest paths, closely mown areas, and paved or packed paths are much less of a problem. If you have to cross risky terrain, keep your dog close to you instead of letting him plow through the grass.

The post-walk check. Make it a routine, like checking for ticks. A quick check after walks can usually be done within a few minutes; with a lot of coat, it takes correspondingly longer.

• Ears: Fold the ear flap back, look at the inside, run your fingers through the hair. Watch for redness, swelling, a changed odor – and of course the head shaking itself.
• Paws: Lift each paw, spread the toes, look at and feel the skin between them. You are looking for red spots, tiny puncture holes, discharge, and warm swellings.
• Nose and eyes: Is there one-sided discharge? Is he sneezing noticeably? Is one eye blinking or watering?
• Coat: Stroke against the direction of hair growth, especially the armpits, groin, neck, tail, and belly. You will feel awns as small, stiff bristles.

Adapt your grooming. Trim the hair between the toes – with round-tipped scissors and without rushing. Shorten long hair on the belly, armpits, and hind legs. Brush after walks, especially if your dog has a dense undercoat. If your dog finds having his paws handled unpleasant, it is worth building it up in small, voluntary steps – paw handling is an exercise like any other and can be conditioned cleanly.

If you find something. Loose in the coat: grasp it carefully at the base, pull it straight out, don't jerk. Already lodged in the skin: don't pull, have it checked. Symptoms without a visible awn: have that checked, too.

We have put together similarly structured seasonal risks for ticks, oak processionary caterpillars, and heatstroke.

8.1 The check is a training task, not an examination

In practice, this point decides whether the check happens or not. A dog who finds having his paws handled or his ear flap folded back unpleasant gets checked less often in peak season – not because it doesn't matter, but because every time it means effort and conflict.

You build it up the same way as any other exercise. Start outside the season and when nothing needs to be done, in a calm situation, without actually looking for anything. Briefly touch the paw, give something good, stop before the dog pulls away. Then a little longer, then spread one toe, then two.

The order is what matters: stop first, then reward – and do it before the dog feels the need to pull away on his own. If you routinely stop only once the dog pulls his paw away, you can end up reinforcing the pulling away.

The same applies to the ears, in smaller steps, because the ear flap is more sensitive and some dogs already bring bad experiences there from earlier treatments.

The benefit goes beyond grass awns. A dog who willingly lets you touch his paws, ears, and mouth is easier to examine at the veterinary clinic, needs restraint less often, and in some cases needs sedation less often. The exercise costs a few minutes a week in winter and saves you a little struggle every time in summer.

👉 Desensitization and Counterconditioning in Dogs · What makes a good veterinarian?

9. What happens at the veterinarian

So you know what to expect – and why acting early really does reduce the effort involved.

In the ear, the ear canal is examined with an otoscope. If the awn can be visualized, it is removed with fine forceps, usually under light sedation so the dog holds still and the ear canal is not injured. Follow-up care depends on the findings.

In the paw and the subcutis, the awn is often no longer visible. Ultrasound is increasingly used to locate it; on the ultrasound image it appears as a spindle-shaped, bright structure, often surrounded by a dark rim of inflammatory fluid. In a French case series, ultrasound-guided removal from the limbs succeeded in all 19 dogs (Fauchon et al., 2017). The wound is usually left to heal open so that no infection is trapped inside.

In the nose, rhinoscopy is used, usually under general anesthesia.

In the eye, the procedure is done under magnification, with sedation or brief anesthesia, often followed by local treatment and a protective cone.

One figure shows especially clearly how hard it is to find awns that have migrated deep: in a study of abscesses in the lumbar muscles, 11 of 22 dogs had already had surgery before, without the foreign body having been completely removed (Birettoni et al., 2017). The deeper an awn has migrated, the harder it is to find all of it – and incompletely removed means: it can keep going.

10. Grass awns and behavior – the point that is often overlooked

In behavioral consulting, we regularly see a pattern that can also develop after painful or unpleasant physical experiences. A grass awn is just one possible example. A dog was treated for weeks for a paw problem, was restrained, examined, and bandaged several times. Afterward he no longer likes having his paws touched, moves more hesitantly on certain surfaces, or becomes insecure on walks. The trigger has long since healed – the association has remained.

The same connection also works the other way around and is overlooked even more often: if a dog suddenly becomes less willing in summer, walks less, avoids being touched, or reacts irritably, pain belongs on the list of possible causes – before anyone thinks about training. A change in behavior without an obvious reason is a reason for a veterinary checkup, not for more firmness.

How to recognize pain in dogs is described in detail in our guide on recognizing pain.

11. Conclusion

Grass awns are a narrowly seasonal problem with a clear peak in July and a relevant window from June to September. Measured against all dogs, they are not a common event – but in the case series they are the most common plant foreign body, and one whose course you cannot judge from the outside.

The three things that make the difference:

Check. After every walk through ripe grass – ears first, then paws, nose, eyes, coat.

Don't poke around yourself. Loose in the coat, yes; in the skin, no.

Don't wait for things to improve. Easing symptoms are no proof that the awn is out – they can also mean that it has migrated further.

And if you are unsure whether yesterday's limping still matters: an appointment that turns out to be unnecessary costs far less than an operation that would not have been needed.

If you remember just one sequence from this article, make it this one: check instead of waiting, remove loose awns instead of pulling embedded ones, and have every one-sided sign checked the same day or the next. With the eye, the same day counts.

Key takeaways on grass awns in dogs

An awn travels mostly in one direction: deeper. The spindle shape and the backward-pointing barbs mean that the dog's movements can push the unit further along (Caivano et al., 2023). That does not mean every awn inevitably keeps migrating – but that it can, and that it only rarely comes back out on its own.

In the case series analyzed, the paw does not come first. In the analysis from a US university hospital, the ear canal accounted for 28.6 percent and the nasal passage for 18 percent – the interdigital area, converted, for about 13 percent. The figures come from California; no comparable breakdown is available for Central Europe. Even so, the fact that almost every guide puts the paw first is not supported.

Easing symptoms are not a reliable all-clear. Signs can disappear after anti-inflammatory or antibiotic treatment while the migration continues (Caivano et al., 2023). That is exactly what rewards waiting.

Some cases cause no matching symptoms at all. In an analysis of 791 cases, 11.9 percent were discovered incidentally (Philp et al., 2022). Rely on checking, not on your dog's reaction.

Spaniel types are affected considerably more often. 7.71 times the odds compared with retriever types; the English Cocker Spaniel alone made up 22.6 percent of all cases (Brant et al., 2021). The data do not show a cause; a combination of coat, searching behavior, and opportunity is an obvious but untested explanation.

The season extends beyond "June to August." Cases occurred in every month, 90.6 percent between June and September (Brant et al., 2021).

The "high pain tolerance" of hunting dogs is not supported by evidence. The explanation from the professional literature is more obvious: more exposure out in the field and panting with an open mouth while working (Caivano et al., 2023).

Loose in the coat, you may remove it – anything from the skin inward, you may not. Any attempt in the ear or nose can push the awn deeper. With the eye, the same day counts.

References

• Birettoni, F., Caivano, D., Rishniw, M., Moretti, G., Porciello, F., Giorgi, M. E., Crovace, A., Bianchini, E., & Bufalari, A. (2017). Preoperative and intraoperative ultrasound aids removal of migrating plant material causing iliopsoas myositis via ventral midline laparotomy: A study of 22 dogs. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 59, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13028-017-0280-5
• Brant, B. J., Singleton, D. A., Noble, P. J. M., & Radford, A. D. (2021). Seasonality and risk factors for grass seed foreign bodies in dogs. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 197, Article 105499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105499

• Brennan, K. E., & Ihrke, P. J. (1983). Grass awn migration in dogs and cats: A retrospective study of 182 cases. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 182(11), 1201–1204. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.1983.182.11.1201

• Caivano, D., Birettoni, F., Rishniw, M., Bufalari, A., De Monte, V., Proni, A., Giorgi, M. E., & Porciello, F. (2016). Ultrasonographic findings and outcomes of dogs with suspected migrating intrathoracic grass awns: 43 cases (2010–2013). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 248(4), 413–421. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.248.4.413

• Caivano, D., Corda, F., Corda, A., Moretti, G., & Bufalari, A. (2023). Application of ultrasound in detecting and removing migrating grass awns in dogs and cats: A systematic review. Animals, 13(13), Article 2071. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132071

• Dennis, M. M., Pearce, L. K., Norrdin, R. W., & Ehrhart, E. J. (2005). Bacterial meningoencephalitis and ventriculitis due to migrating plant foreign bodies in three dogs. Veterinary Pathology, 42(6), 840–844. https://doi.org/10.1354/vp.42-6-840

• Elbaum, R., Zaltzman, L., Burgert, I., & Fratzl, P. (2007). The role of wheat awns in the seed dispersal unit. Science, 316(5826), 884–886. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1140097

• Fauchon, E., Lassaigne, C., Ragetly, G., & Gomes, E. (2017). Ultrasound-guided removal of vegetal foreign bodies in the lower extremities of dogs: A retrospective study of 19 cases. Vlaams Diergeneeskundig Tijdschrift, 86(5), 285–290. https://doi.org/10.21825/vdt.v86i5.16167

• Johnston, D. E., & Summers, B. A. (1971). Osteomyelitis of the lumbar vertebrae in dogs caused by grass-seed foreign bodies. Australian Veterinary Journal, 47(6), 289–294. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-0813.1971.tb15495.x

• Koutinas, C. K., Papazoglou, L. G., Saridomichelakis, M. N., Koutinas, A. F., & Patsikas, M. N. (2003). Caudal mediastinal abscess due to a grass awn (Hordeum spp.) in a cat. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 5(1), 43–46. https://doi.org/10.1053/jfms.2002.0182

• Petersen, K. B., & Kellogg, E. A. (2022). Diverse ecological functions and the convergent evolution of grass awns. American Journal of Botany, 109(9), 1331–1345. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16060

• Philp, H. S., Epstein, S. E., & Hopper, K. (2022). Clinical and clinicopathological characteristics, treatment, and outcome for dogs and cats with confirmed foxtail foreign body lesions: 791 cases (2009–2018). Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, 32(5), 653–662. https://doi.org/10.1111/vec.13209

• Sériot, P., Dunié-Mérigot, A., Baudin-Tréhiou, C., Blond, L., Bernardin, F., Poujol, L., & Gibert, S. (2021). Treatment and outcome of spontaneous pneumothorax secondary to suspected migrating vegetal foreign body in 37 dogs. Veterinary Record, 189(1), Article e22. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.22

• Whitty, C. C., Milner, H. R., & Oram, B. (2013). Use of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of spinal empyema caused by a migrating grass awn in a dog. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 61(2), 115–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2012.731717

Note: This guide does not replace a veterinary examination, diagnosis, or treatment. If you suspect a grass awn or your dog has unclear symptoms, contact your veterinarian; for acute eye problems, contact an emergency veterinary service.

Frequently asked questions about grass awns in dogs

The questions we hear most often in practice