McKenzie 1, Foxtails 0 (but the game’s not over)
By Gina Spadafori
May 25, 2007
As Christie wrote earlier in her “I hate foxtails!” post, she and I were both at an emergency vet last Saturday afternoon dealing with issues of the foxtail kind. Hers was new — Rebel picked up a foxtail in his paw running in the San Francisco dog park. Mine was old — McKenzie (a/k/a McKutie, McFoxie and, now, McFoxtail) picked up hers along the American River in Sacramento almost three months ago.
I’ve been fighting that foxtail ever since.
It raised a lump the size of a bagel on McKenzie’s side. We biopsied it, treated it with antibiotics, had it surgically explored and then surgically removed. The foxtail itself, the surgeon couldn’t find. He tracked it into her abdominal cavity, where it look a left and disappeared under her ribcage. The mass went to pathology, to make sure it wasn’t cancer. (It wasn’t: Inflammatory tissue. Whew.)
But the mass came back, so the foxtail was obvious still in there. More antibiotics, and we were planning a CT scan to find the foxtail, followed by more surgery.
Veterinarians hate foxtails, too. They can make the best primary-care veterinarian and the best board-certified surgeon look like ninnies who can’t really manage to come up with anything definitive in treating a roaming piece of spikey plant crap. That’s just the way foxtails are — evil.
Last week at this time, the mass started sliding down McKenzie’s flank. Then it started to abscess on the underside, looking like something out of “Alien,” a nasty-looking red lump threatening to burst from her belly. I hot-packed it, hoping it would let loose. By Saturday afternoon, it was looking like the nastiest, largest pimple from hell, so I went to the emergency vet for help.
He took a piece from it, looked at it under the microscope. Poked around in the mass and relieved most of the pressure. And, of course, couldn’t find the &*$%&! foxtail.
McKenzie went home with another round of antibiotics, and I went with her, with no idea of what this spikey piece of plant crap would finally cost me — but with the knowledge that we were now over $2,500 and not done yet.
Today, the mass is all but gone.
Talked to my wonderful primary care vet and to the surgeon, too. We’re still on wait-and-see mode, but now the theory is that if we’re lucky, the foxtail migrated to a place where it formed the abscess, and once that mess got opened by the emergency vet, what was left of the thing came out.
It’s the most promising news in three months, and here’s hoping it’s over.
The picture is of McKenzie, of course, showing off one of her tricks: The ability to hold up to six items in her mouth at once. There are four in there as pictured, but honest, she can do six. Tennis balls, four’s the limit.
Again, if you live anywhere there are foxtails, avoid them if you can. If you can’t avoid them, be sure to check your pets from head to toe and back again after every outing, to find and remove these hateful things.
I HATE FOXTAILS!
Best Wishes!! Fingers crossed!!
Comment by Peggy (AKA: Big Fat Momma Cat) — May 25, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
Poor McKenzie, what a terrible trial to go through - oh I never knew foxtails could be so frightful.
Rebel picked up a fox tail in a dog park of all things and in SF but the river one doesn’t surprise me - the river is a nasty place for those things. In fact my son wants to let my dogs off leash at the river and run, something I am against, but for sure when fox tails abound, I don’t let them near the weeds, hard to do, and so far so good.
I hope this ends the foxtail hunt in Mekenzie’s sweet flesh. In fact after reading the article Christie posted, I mowed my back yard, which is mostly trees and plants and dog running paths, but I worried a foxtail might be lurking about.
I wonder how foxtails got their name?
Comment by Linda — May 25, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Okay - because they just look like a tail of a fox. But here’s some good info and advice if your dog every gets one:
http://www.sfdog.org/do/foxtails.pdf
Comment by Linda — May 25, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
I had no idea what foxtails were ( the tourists haven’t introduced them to my state YET) until a few years ago when a friend posted about the damage caused to her very short haired, thinly coated dog.
I am sorry you and McKenzie have gone through such a long, arduous,and frustrating experience with “El Seed”. I do hope that this is the end of both your ordeals.
Comment by Deb — May 25, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Good luck hope it’s all gone and none cross your path again McKutie.
Comment by Rose — May 25, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Foxtails are a diagnostic dilemma for everyone. I’ve seen them under the skin in the fore and hind-limbs, in the body wall, and in the lungs. It seems that they can either enter through the skin, or be inhaled into the airways and lungs. There are a few imaging options for finding the foxtail, or at least the area that it has migrated through. Ultrasound can pick up the ones in under the skin if there is a draining tract and swelling to guide where to look. Radiographs, or x-rays, can sometimes indicate that there is an inhaled foxtail in the airways or the lungs. They often produce abnormal opacities in the dorsal, accessory or right middle lung lobes. The airways leading to these lobes are easy for a foxtail to enter since they branch straight from the trachea.
For those that are in the chest or abdomen, CT is a great option to find the focus of disease and try to track the foxtail itself. Foxtails can migrate through the subcutaneous tissues, or travel to the chest or the area under the spine. The foxtail itself is sometimes visible on CT, and sometimes not, but you can certainly see the inflammation in the lung or body wall, and can often follow the migration route itself. I think CT can provide valuable information on the main site of inflammation and direct the surgical approach. Eventually, the body can break the plant material down and get rid of it. We often see pathology reports from affected tissue that just say “plant material” that is microscopic in size.
I hope McKenzie heals quickly! Best wishes,
Allison Zwingenberger DVM DACVR DECVDI
Comment by Allison Zwingenberger — May 25, 2007 @ 11:14 pm
Poor McKenzie! And poor Gina! (And with that tennis ball picture, it sounds like she’s trying to tell you she wants to play Flyball.)
Comment by Theresa — May 26, 2007 @ 6:02 am
My problem with Flyball: The NOISE! I’m not sure I could handle all the barking. I’m kinda sensitive to it. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 26, 2007 @ 9:00 am
Gina you have some wonderful dogs! so obviously loved :) crappy foxtails - I read about them once you first posted your saga - that’s enough to keep us firmly planted on the other side of the country, thank you.
I pulled up this flyball website that was just put up - have no idea how to train for this but this looks like something my dog would absolutely love. Any idea if little dogs are welcome in any portion of this event? surely the bigger guys could outrun them on most days, but I would like to hear from anyone who knows about little dogs/flyball - he’s a Toy Fox Terrier. (no tail Gina - no foxtail… *smiles* - ok, a teeny tiny one…)
Comment by shelly — May 26, 2007 @ 10:54 am
http://lowchensaustralia.com/health/collsilver.htm
Gina-
wonder if you could use this Colloidal Silver instead of or in addition to the antibiotics- i only just came across this this afternoon; I’ve been on this website most of the day today. Kudo’s to whomever it belongs to -
Comment by shelly — May 26, 2007 @ 10:58 am
I had my first agonizing experience with foxtails today - - 3 of the nasties were lodged in Buddy’s rt ear, and luckily, the vet was able to extract all 3 of them whole. My worry now is that the sneezing that Buddy has been doing in the last month, is due to 1 or more foxtails in this trachea or lungs. I’m on disability, and have no money for a vet. I’ve already imposed on the animal rescue group where I adopted Buddy, but they don’t have the funds to explore his lungs or trachea. I live in Albuquerque. Can anyone offer ideas of what I can do for Buddy, before it’s too late??
Thanks, Diane dianekozelka@gmail.com
Comment by Diane Kozelka — June 27, 2008 @ 10:28 pm
Here’s one site that lists some organizations that provide financial assistance for meeting veterinary expenses:
http://www.1888pets911.org/ani.....SSID=eeb71
Comment by The OTHER Pat — June 28, 2008 @ 9:58 am
Here’s another:
http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/ne.....urces.html
Comment by The OTHER Pat — June 28, 2008 @ 9:59 am
And here’s a Google search to help you find more:
http://www.google.com/search?c.....p;oe=UTF-8
Comment by The OTHER Pat — June 28, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Hello, this post is dated 2007. Has everything been fixed with your doggy’s foxtail? Is he doing OK? My dog has the same problem and $1000 later, no fix yet. We are seeing a surgeon on Monday. Please update me if possible. Thanks!
Comment by Jaimie Benson — July 18, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
Yes, McKenzie is fine now.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 18, 2008 @ 3:27 pm