Eddie got into some foxtails
 

We went camping over the weekend and while walking on leash through a parking lot, I heard Eddie sneeze and looked down to see him standing in some foxtails, those nasty stickers. He sneezed fairly violently about 8-10 times, then stopped.

I examined him right away and couldn't see anything. But for the rest of the night, he sneezed 3-4 times every hour or so. I called a couple emergency vets and was advised to come in immediately if the sneezing was persistent or there was any blood. Well, neither happened. In fact, he went the entire second day without a sneeze.

But on Day 3, the sneezing started up again at night. Only 3-4 each time, but he sneezed off and on all the next day. I got him to an emergency vet , and he checked out fine. He was breathing evenly through both nostrils, temperature normal. She said that if it persisted, I could have his nasal passage flushed or the nose scoped. But both of those require sedation.

I'm just stumped on what to do. He sneezed 6-8 times late last night, then woke me up at 7:30 with about the same number of sneezes. But nothing in between. And no discharges. His energy level and appetite is good.

I dropped him off at my vet's this morning to get his opinion. Unfortunately, he's terribly busy today and leaving town this evening.

Oh no poor Eddie! Hope its nothing serious. Glad you took him to the vet.

Awww poor Eddie. I'd really hate to have him sedated to flush out his nose...although it sounds like he may have a few pricklies in there.

Oh NO! Poor EDDIE!! I hope he is able to sneeze out whatever is in his little snout! :(

Yeah, that's what I'm wrestling with. Every thing I've read says you shouldn't mess with them. They can go into his brain, actually they can travel anywhere in the body and then start abscessing.

But his symptoms aren't severe. Just periodic sneezing. But it's been going on for four days now. Everyone is telling me it's probably just an allergy, but I don't buy it. He was sniffing the foxtails when it started. I'm fairly certain something is up there. But do I risk having him die under sedation while trying to cure a sneeze? Ugh, I don't know.

Question...how exactly do they flush his nose? If the point isn't to have it travel UP...

I was thinking about saline solution...it's a small spray bottle and you use it on babies when their nose is stuffy. Maybe ask the vet if this could be tried?

Or since it's not really bothering him....wait it out...eventually it will come loose and he'll sneeze it out.

OMG Mike I just Googled foxtails..I never heard of this before. Wow poor Eddie..hope he is OK..the description I read was pretty scary. Keep us posted. Do the foxtails grow into the skin? What exactly is this stuff?

The best way to flush their nose is to sedate them and send saline all the way through the nasal passage, catching anything solid on a piece of gauze in the back of their throat. Well, that's my understanding of it.

One emergency vet advised that I try putting some saline (or water, because I was lacking saline) into his nose. I tried it with a spray bottle, just a small amount. But then another emergency vet said that could have been dangerous if it aspirated into his lungs. Have I said ugh yet?

Here's a picture
I hate these things - South Bay Pets

The ones Eddie got into had already gone to seed, so they were drier and looked almost like wheat.

The problem with them is they travel only one way once they enter the body. The prickly spines keep them from reversing course. They can enter the body from any location, the paws, ears, eyes, you name it. The nose is one of the worst places it can enter.

Poor Eddie.:( Sending prayer's for an easy and safe solution to his
problem. Hopefully he'll sneeze anything out on his own. It must
be driving him crazy having a tickle up his nose, if he does.
Hope the situation is resolved real soon for him.

Saline comes a bottle that looks like nasel spray. It comes out in a more of a mist. A bottle dropper would work I'd think....

Ugh is right.

Did the vet exam up his nose with a light?

Ah, that would have been perfect. I was thinking of saline like contact lens solution. But it wouldn't have made any difference. I was miles camping and no stores had anything like it.

The emergency vet I took him to did rinse his nose with saline as you described yesterday, but it doesn't seem to have helped.

Yeah, the problem with Yorkie noses is that they're so tiny you can't see very far. But, yeah, the vet had a good medical light and shined it up there without seeing anything. I did the same thing with a flashlight right after it happened.

With big dogs, the first line of treatment would be to sedate and fish around up there with a forceps. But Yorkies are so tiny it's apparently not practical.

AAWWW poor Eddie. Hope everything is okay and that he doesn't have anything up his nose. Send him lots of hugs and kisses from us.