Ticks

Tick season in Colorado is typically April - October. Here some information to help you protect your pet from ticks:

Keep animals out of bushy shrubs, deep grasses, and dense vegetation.
Talk with your veterinarian to gain awareness of possible treatments and medications for tick prevention.
Do a DAILY TICK CHECK! Look around your pets head, neck, ears, and under belly.
Remove tick(s) and save (to verify the type of tick)

Foxtails

What Is a Foxtail?

Foxtails are a grass-like weed that grows prolifically throughout Colorado. It grows as well in pastures and lawns as it does in gravel driveways and cracks in the sidewalk. When the plant starts to grow in spring, it’s actually lovely; it’s a bright green, soft, fast-growing grass that many dogs find irresistible for chewing. As it begins to mature, it produces the structure that resembles a fox’s tail: a thick, bristly spike that starts out green and soft. As temperatures increase and the rains end, the grass begins to dry out and the spikes turn yellow. The drier they get, the more brittle they become, and the plume-like “foxtail” starts to fall apart into individual segments, each tipped by a sharp seed – creating a severe hazard to our pets.

Why Are Foxtails Dangerous for Pets?

The sharp, pointy tip can lodge into your pet’s skin, paw, nose, ears, eyes, and mouth and cause a painful infection if left untreated. Sometimes, pets eat a foxtail, and this can be an emergency because it can perforate the intestine or cause a severe infection leading to an abscess. Both cases may require emergency surgery.

What You Can Do

Check your dog after every exposure to the weeds, especially between his toes. If he has the kind of coat that attracts foxtails, brush or comb him thoroughly. A bath with plenty of conditioner can help you find pesky seeds.

Pull up the foxtail plant by the roots as soon as it begins to produce its signature plumes in the spring. Before the plumes appear, it’s hard to tell which grass is foxtail grass and which is not. Dispose of the whole plants – bag them securely and send them to the landfill. The seeds often survive even intense composting; so skip the compost bin.

Keep pets out of dry, grassy fields and roadsides.

Keep your pet’s coat clean and well-groomed. This may mean clipping fur short to help reduce grass seed accumulation and facilitate daily inspections.

Inspect your pet daily for hair mats (where grass awns like to hide) and examine the area between their toes.

Clip the hair between paw pads to reduce the potential for picking up seeds.

How to Tell if Your Pet Has a Foxtail in Their Paw

Constant licking between the toes
Limping
Swelling or discharge between the toes

How to Tell if Your Pet Has a Foxtail in Their Ear

Head shaking
Pawing at the ear
Head tilt
Pain when head or ear is touched
Redness and discharge from the ear

How to Tell if Your Pet Has a Foxtail in Their Nose (or has Inhaled One)

Sneezing
Coughing/gagging
Difficulty breathing
Discharge from the nose that may or may not be bloody
Sudden onset of bad breath

How to Tell if Your Pet Has a Foxtail in Their Eye

Squinting/pawing at the eye
Discharge from the eye: The discharge can be clear or slightly yellow or green, and rarely any blood
Swelling around or in the eye

How to Tell if Your Pet Has a Foxtail in Their Genitalia

Excessive licking of genitals
Blood in urine