Killer Weed: Foxtail Barb Is a Threat to Animals

The foxtail season is here, and animal control officials estimate that it may cost county residents about $800,000 in the next couple of months to have the insidious and potentially fatal weed extracted from their pets’ fur and skin.

Because there was little rain during winter, the weeds matured early this year and have already reached the dry condition in which they are most dangerous. April’s showers came too late to postpone the foxtail season because once dry, the foxtail barbs retain their irritating sting.

Normally, during winter and early spring the weeds grow lush and green on every hillside, in fields and untended vacant lots, said Ralph Danker, inspector for the Orange County Agricultural Department.

“In that state, they are harmless and good forage for cattle,” Danker said. “But after the rainy season, they dry out and their barbs get stiff and sharp. Cattle avoid them.”

But pets, mainly dogs, wander unwittingly into patches of the dried, tawny-colored weeds and often end up at veterinary hospitals. In most cases anesthesia and surgery are needed to remove the barbs.

“Foxtails are armed with scores of tiny barbs, all pointing backward,” said George M. Peavy of the San Clemente Veterinary Hospital.

“Once they are in the fur or skin, they can’t go backward. They burrow in and migrate through tissues with every movement,” Peavy said. “This time of year, we take in four or five a day, mostly dogs, with barbs in their ears, noses, genitals and between their paws. And (the injuries) are all potentially deadly.”

Jim Wadseck, staff coordinator at the Grand Avenue Pet Hospital in Santa Ana, one of the county’s largest, said he treated two dogs in one night last week with foxtails in their eyes. Frequently, he said, long-haired dogs are brought in with barbs all over their bodies and generally require anesthesia before treatment.

Joel Pasco, a veterinarian with All Creatures Care Cottage in Costa Mesa, said a foxtail barb recently got into a dog’s mouth, worked its way into the windpipe and down to the lungs, where it caused fatal abscesses. Some years ago, a dog that had become bloated died on the operating table in a Laguna Hills pet hospital. The veterinarian said a foxtail had worked its way through the skin, passed between two ribs and punctured the animal’s lung, releasing air that caused the bloating.

Dr. Nila Kelly, chief of veterinary services for the county’s Animal Control Department, said the foxtail season normally ends by late spring when the seeds carried by the barbs become established in the ground--about two months after they start their troublesome ways--and then begin to grow during the next rainy season.

Kelly estimated that each of the more than 200 veterinarians in the county take in about five foxtail cases a week.

“The average visit costs an average $20, usually followed by anesthesia at $30 to $40, plus surgery, follow-up care and antibiotics, for an estimated total of around $100 per case,” she said.

Over a two-month period, that would work out to about $800,000.

Cats suffer less from the weeds because they have small, upright ears and toes that are close together, and they generally groom themselves more carefully than dogs, veterinarians said. Occasionally, a cat will get a barb in its eye, but animal care specialists said it is relatively simple to remove it.

Kelly said wild animals such as coyotes and raccoons apparently avoid the weeds, or can take care of themselves if they do get stuck.

“I don’t remember seeing any wild animals (at the county animal control center) that had any problems with foxtails,” she said.

Danker of the Agricultural Department said foxtails, which come in several varieties, are native to Europe and were probably brought to California in the 1890s in the wool of sheep.

“Now they are a common annual weed here, their seeds spread by animals and wind,” he said. “They’re all over the place, hard to control and a definite brush-fire hazard.”

Pet owners should try to keep their animals away from the weeds and take the time to inspect them every time they come in, veterinarians said.

As for humans, anyone who has ever gotten foxtails in his socks knows how tenacious they are. The socks have to be turned inside out before the barbs can be pulled free.