00:00Foxtails are a type of wild grass identified by its bushy spikes that resemble a foxtail.
00:05Here in Medway, many dog walkers will be aware of foxtail barley, also known as wool barley.
00:10They might not be a threat when fresh, but their seeds can cause serious harm to pets.
00:14Barley seeds have sharp points with tiny barbs that can hook into fur, skin and pores,
00:18and if they are inhaled or fall into the ear canal, they can cause serious infections.
00:23I'm here in Hossington Park to find out more about the locals' concerns about the
00:27increasing growth of wool barley. Not this year, but in the past, my previous dog had a really nasty
00:32piece of it in her ear and it cost quite a lot of money to get it out. It was
00:37quite a big problem.
00:39Took quite a few minutes for the vet to hook it out and then she had a course of antibiotics
00:45and
00:45was in pain for a few days, you could tell. Not nice. I think it was just an infection because
00:51of
00:51it so we did have to take her to the vets and they removed it. Me and her walk here
00:55most days and
00:56over the winter months it's not as bad, but in the summer it is growing pretty long, especially for
01:02small, smallish medium-sized dogs because they're so low down. Yeah, definitely now it's growing a bit
01:07larger. Ideally, we would like it to be cut down. It's just not nice, you know. It's a public park
01:12and
01:13it should be kept in some sort of order.
01:23So we most commonly see it migrating through toes or going down kind of a dog's ear. If it goes
01:45down
01:45down there, it often causes ear infections and it can migrate and damage the eardrum
01:51kind of as well. So it causes hearing loss and sort of problems. You know, I've had dogs losing
01:57eyes before because it's, you know, the grass seed has got into their eye or kind of behind their eye
02:02and caused an abscess. We've also had dogs inhaling the grass seed and causing, you know, really severe
02:10kind of lung disease and lung infections kind of as well. So yeah, they are quite nasty things
02:15that can cause quite serious problems.
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