In recent years those of us who hunt and train primarily in the Midwest have seen a significant increase in problems related to grass seed awns, which until the last few years were thought of as common only in the western states. After dealing with a very serious infection last spring in one dog, last summer we had another case where one of our German shorthairs came very close to losing an eye. Our veterinarian found a Canada wild rye awn working its way behind the dog's eyeball.

Because of experiences like these, combined with what I'm hearing of the unusual increase in the number of grass awn-related problems as I travel to dog sports throughout the year, I felt it was time to give readers a heads-up on the potential hazards. To help, I've enlisted a good friend, Cathy Lewis, who recently has stepped up and taken the lead in identifying problem seeds, the disease process and treatments.

I'll first introduce Cathy, then ask her a few questions I feel you would like answered.

Cathy Lewis acquired her first field-bred English springer spaniel in 1995. She and her husband, Dean Reinke (who got his start with springers much earlier), train, field trial and occasionally breed their springers. Both are active with the ESSFTA, the springer parent club. When one of Cathy's trial springers, Tai, had recurring bouts of unexplained illness culminating in a pyothorax in 2005, Cathy was determined to find some answers about the cause.

Since then she has become much more involved, as she and Dean have dealt with four more grass awn infection cases with their own dogs as well as learning of fellow trialers' experiences. The ESSFTA established a committee to investigate the grass awn issue in 2007. Cathy was an initial member and now chairs that committee.

Bob West: Cathy, I think we should begin with an explanation of how a grass awn can cause an infection.

Cathy Lewis: Pieces of plant material, typically the awn (seed), penetrate the skin, or are inhaled or ingested as the dog runs through cover. The awns of the most problematic grasses are barbed, which allows the awn to ratchet itself along through the tissue.

The awn may carry bacteria as it enters the dog's body, and/or it may carry bacteria that are normal inhabitants of one part of the body, usually the mouth, into other parts of the body where it is abnormal, and establishes an infection, typically in the form of an abscess.

Foxtail barley, one known hazard, occurs most commonly in the western states but is now found throughout the United States [1]. Nimblewill is another plant with potentially dangerous awns; like foxtail, nimblewill is regarded as a weed and is not purposefully cultivated. In the past few years in the Midwest and Mid-eastern regions, Canada wild rye has been implicated in a number of canine infections. [2]