Foxtails are grasses with seed awns that are extremely dangerous to dogs.
Foxtail grass seed awns.
These awns can work their way through the tissue causing lesions and infections.
Grass awns are the seed pods of certain tall grasses that grow as invasive weeds.
Each individual seed contains spikes with barbs called awns which can lodge in horses mouths and gums or even scratch an eye.
Common examples of these weeds include foxtail and cheatgrass.
Foxtail is an annual type of grass that rears its head in the summer months.
Foxtail awns are barbed razor sharp needles designed to burrow into the ground with the seed.
Here is how to identify foxtails get them off your property and protect your dog.
The sharp needles on the seed heads of the foxtail plant can also work their way into any part of your dog from the nose to between the toes and inside the ears eyes and mouth.
These grasses can be found throughout north america and are especially prevalent in the western united states.
The applied nomer foxtail describes the bushy cluster of seed awns characteristic of these plants.
While the immature foxtail plant has no ill effect on horses the seed heads are troublesome.
Other common names for foxtail type grasses include cheatgrass speargrass bromegrass and needlegrass.
It gets the name from the seed heads it forms which look exactly like the foxes tails.
A foxtail awn is the sharp barbed seed head of a grassy plant or type of wild barley.
Awns of destruction for western dogs foxtail awns present the most insidious threat to the health of dogs in the western united states.