Kate had been making strange noises with her throat or sinuses. I had no idea what was wrong. I kept thinking that 

something must be caught in her throat. I fed her a couple of medium size cookies in the hope that they would wash it down, that didn't help. I fed her a good dinner, and that didn't help either.

When my husband came home I mentioned it to him. He said that maybe she has a foxtail in her nasal cavity. Bingo! Of course, why didn't I link her symptoms with a foxtail diagnosis? I was pretty sure that is what was going on with her. Darn it!

Like everything in life, it happened on a Friday afternoon, and I was going to have to listen to her be uncomfortable trying to rid herself of this awful seed for the entire weekend. This just wasn't fair to her. I asked God if He could please help her and heal her if it was His will.

She struggled all night trying to clear herself of the deadly sticker. It just made both of us sick!

In her short seven year life, she has enough to deal with, without having to deal with one more life threatening event. She has had two intense hip surgeries at six months old, she had to get spayed at about 11 months old. She currently has Valley Fever and has been taking anti-fungals since late September 2011. She also has severe reactions to the anesthetic from surgery which lasts for about a week after each surgery.

The noises that she is making, makes us think that the sticker might be in her nasal passage but back near where it drains into the throat. At least that is what I would be doing if I had a sticker in my passage and was trying to get it out without the ability to "blow my nose".

So the thought come up, "What to do until Monday?" If anything. Well I am not the type to just not do nothing, I had to at least try SOMETHING!

So this is what I tried...Since eating didn't help her, maybe exercise might. So, in the morning, after feeding the livestock, I went to the barren pasture and threw the ball with the chuck-it for the girls. And since Kate and Tam are getting ready for the National Finals in September, they needed cardio training also.

They played for about 10-15 minutes, chasing the ball and each other having a great time. Then to cool off, they got to play in the pool for a bit.

The next thing to do was wait. After they were mostly dry, I brought in the girls and listened for Kate to make the weird noises. Since before she was regularly and often making them, to not hear her make it was nice. We heard her once in an hour, make that noise. So if this "experiment" did not work at least Kate got some relief. I will throw the ball for them again, later today. We also need her in for a titer check to see where her Valley Fever is standing. We will have her nose checked for foxtails while we are at the vets.


A comment to your comment about small rock substitute for your landscaping.

There are numerous alternatives to small rocks for landscaping, from wood mulch, synthetic mulch, large cobbles, plant material as a living mulch, to nothing at all. Your dog at this stage in his development needs to be strongly deterred from eating small rocks, which can become a nasty habit and also severely impact his bowels, with either the need for surgery or death could occur. I recommend removing the small rocks and replacing them with any thing else. Also, I would get him to the vet for a check up, as he could have nutritional reasons.

In addition to the above mentioned, I would keep him busy for quite a while. Plenty of exercise, and nice mental exercises to keep him engaged in you instead of eating rocks. Persistence will be the key to helping him.



An addendum to Kate's pollen intake: She is fine now. I guess that the pollen took some time to get out of her lungs. She has been good since the Tulelake trial, and that was over three weeks ago.