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.

Crud...I was hoping perhaps if they saw it...they could swap it out with a q tip without pushing it in or up.

Poor little Eddie boy. :( i hope he feels better soon, and some thing can be done to relieve his discomfort. My thoughts are with you.

Oh gosh! Poor Eddie. :( I have no advice but I hope and prayer that a solution is found soon and Eddie is better.

Oh Eddie! You poor thing. :(
Gosh Mike I don't know what I'd do. It's scary to think of an abcess forming in his face if left untreated. Maybe a good flush and round of antibiotics just to be on the safe side?
You boys will be in my thoughts.

On a lighter note you are camping during the best weather ever! Where did you go?

:( Oh poor little guy. I hope he sneezes out whatever is irritating him. I've never heard of these nasty plants but I did find this. They mention using oil.

Foxtail in nose of Doxie

Mke, Im sorry that you are going through this with poor Eddie. I will keep him in my prayers and hope that this can be cleared up in a natural way by him sneezing them out. I had never heard of such a thing until now! One more thing to add to my list of worries with my pets! Great!! :)

Poor Eddie! I hope he feels better soon! :(

Oh my gosh! I hope Eddie's going to be ok. I'll be watching.

Yeah, I'm leaning toward trying to be more proactive on this. Unfortunately, my vet is swamped today and evidently hasn't had a chance to examine him yet. He's been there for 4 hours now. I'm on hold with him now hoping to ask him what's up.

As for camping :), each year they have an annual "road lottery" that allows winners to drive in to Denali National Park. We won this year and lucked out on the day. They do it for four days, and all the other days were cloudy and rainy. Ours was perfect, and Mount McKinley was visible all day. Plus we saw the usual assortment of bears and moose and wolves, oh my!

I was so busy tending sick dogs and a mother in law who was on crutches that I didn't take many pictures, but here's a couple of the mountain. The one show shows a few classic cars that made the drive.

Oh how scary! I hope Eddie will be okay!

Mike I just now seen this poor baby boy:getwellso
Phoebe, Melody and Shayna send you tons of love and puppy kisses Eddie:hearts-en

Wow those pictures are just gorgeous:p:thumbup:
You are such a nice guy taking care of your mother in law:D;)

Hoping Eddie is ok.

LOL, it was against my will :p

Nah, poor woman fell on some wooden steps while we were at a restaurant. Not a good thing to do when you're 74. She tore some ligaments. We took her to the hospital, and they gave her some meds and crutches, and she toughed it out. A 12-hour ride through the park in the back of a van. We offered to take her home, but she didn't want to miss the trip.

Thanks, everyone, for the Eddie comments. I've been online and talking to vets all day. So far, most are advocating a wait-and-see approach because of his lack of symptoms other than sneezing. But I'm one good sneezing fit away from scheduling a scoping and flushing tomorrow. I'm going to watch him closely tonight.

Poor Eddie. I sure hope that the sneezing stops and you don't have to do the scoping and flushing - that just doesn't sound like much fun for an active happy go-lucky Yorkie Man! Good luck!