Pet owners are being warned to stay vigilant to the dangers of a common grass seed as Australia enters the warmer months. Found in long grasses across the country, grass seeds known as awns may seem innocuous but pose a major danger to pets such as dogs if they come into contact with them. “Awns have little sharp points and barbs that attach to dogs fur, they’ve only got one direction, and they work their way into the dogs once they attached,” Melbourne Veterinary Dr Diana Barker told 7NEWS.
com.au. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today “They can cause lots of different problems.
” Awns are sharp, arrow shapes with bristles and grown from grasses such as spear grass, wild oats, barley grass, brome grass and cereals — which include rye, wheat and barley. They are equipped with many small barbs pointing backwards, which enable the awns to attach themselves to a dog’s fur and which only allow movement in one direction – inwards, towards the animal’s body, according to animal welfare organisation Four Paws Australia. Once awns anchor themselves into a dog’s coat, they can work their way further into the fur during passive movement.
“The most common problem we see is awns getting between toes,” Barker said. “They kinda of lodge in there, and they can cause little abscesses, which can be quite painful for dogs. “Other places they can go are inside ears, down ear canals, up noses and down throats—those cases tend to be a bit more serious, if th.