Eastcott Veterinary Referrals

🌾Grass Seed Alert: What Every Dog Owner Should Watch For 🐶

Dogs love running in long grass and through crop fields and thankfully this doesn't cause any problems for the vast majority of dogs. Dogs do often get grass seeds stuck in their coat - this can cause irritation or even possible small abscesses to develop if they burrow through the skin. Rarely, dogs can inhale seeds or cereal awns and this can cause much more significant problems.

These inhaled seeds can end up in the lungs where they can migrate through the tissues before entering the chest cavity. This causes life threatening pneumothorax (free air released into the chest) and associated infection (pyothorax). These dogs then need major surgery to find and remove the seeds together with any infected/irreparable tissue. We do stress this is a very unlucky event should it happen to your dog but we have seen a lot of these cases over the last 3-4 weeks with our soft tissue surgeons removing multiple seeds from multiple dogs during this time.

Thanks to our skilled surgeons, anaesthetists and ICU teams here at Eastcott Referrals, all of our patients are now back home with their families and are currently doing well but seeds represent a bit of a hidden menace this time of year.

Our advice - keep grass short in gardens and do not let dogs run through overgrown fields/cereal crops at this peak "seedy" time of year. Also be aware that many inhaled seeds can be removed using a bronchoscope if caught early enough so please do contact your vets if your dog starts coughing after running through the fields! 🐾

Images show - A CT image of a dog's chest. The green arrows show areas that contained seeds, the double arrow is free air (pneumothorax). A pot containing seeds surgically removed from a dog's chest on Friday. The long grass culprit!

👁️ On Tuesday , we welcomed some of our local referring vets to Eastcott Referrals for an Ophthalmology CPD Day.

The day combined practical and theory sessions covering ophthalmic examinations, ophthalmic emergencies, glaucoma, uveitis and corneal ulcers.

By sharing knowledge and practical skills, we can help vets recognise and manage ophthalmic conditions earlier—whether cases are treated in primary care or referred to our specialist team. Ultimately, it’s all about ensuring pets receive the right treatment at the right time, achieving the best possible outcome for both patients and their owners.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to an engaging day of learning and collaboration. 🐾

🚨 Last space remaining! 🚨
Due to a last-minute cancellation, we’ve got 1 FREE place left on our very popular Ophthalmology CPD day at Eastcott Referrals on Tuesday 7th July.
✅ 5 hours of CPD
✅ Build confidence in ophthalmology exams & cases
✅ Practical, hands-on learning
This won’t be available for long!
📩 Email [email protected] to secure the spot