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Original poster

Is my dog doomed? Grass Seed Migration- Vet views/owner experiences

3 replies

LabsnSpringers · 21/10/2025 16:55

I have a nearly 2yr old yellow show lab, intact dog. In general he’s been a quieter and better behaved than our last, wonderful food thief, mad girl who was an utterly inexhaustible ball of fun until she was four- she instantly quietened down when we got our working springer pup who can still run like Mo Farah on speed at 10.5yrs- usually round hedges and through undergrowth.
Neither ever had a foreign body problem.
We thought our good boy had just grown up earlier than our girl.
But he has seemed quieter and quieter. I scalded my foot and haven’t been able to walk him for 6/52, but my husband has taken over- although he tends to do more on lead road walks than the off lead cross country walks I do.
I think he’s lost muscle mass and has also started to whine when I’m busy in the kitchen- I attributed this to missing our walks, his ears started to bother him so I booked an appointment at the vet ‘Not himself, lost condition, ?sore ears’.
On the morning of the appointment my husband remarked that he thought he had been holding his back arched like he was in pain and looked a bit wonky, when we looked together -holding him still-he had a large diffuse flat lump over his ribs that was hard to spot as it matched his natural contours.
The vet agreed and booked him in for a fine needle aspiration and imaging under sedation 2days later.
By then he had a temperature, no pus drained and USS showed a large amorphous mass over his rib cage, maybe extending between muscle layers. So he asked to convert to anaesthetic and have a look. He found a granulomatous mass as above and going through the abdominal wall into his abdomen.
He looked distinctly grim.
Working diagnosis tracking foreign body/grass seed migration.
At the moment he’s on analgesia and antibiotics awaiting histology and response to antibiotics. If poor response the probable next steps would be CT and maybe resection, which he warned would be huge surgery.
his CRP was about 16 and his monocytes were up a bit.
Are there any Vets out there who could give me an idea how common this scenario is, whether malignancy is high in the differential, whether there is any likelihood of antibiotics being curative?
From the always so reliable and reassuring Dr Google, this looks really bad and surgery only possible outcome. Although the case studies I read contained a depressing number of diagnoses on necropsy after euthanasia.
Any pet owners have similar experiences?

OP posts:
Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 21/10/2025 17:19

I am not a vet but I have got a 4 year old springer spaniel who had surgery 4 weeks ago to remove a foreign body that turned out to be a 6cm thorny stick.
About a year ago, she began to spike some high temperatures but there was no real pattern and often by the time we got to the vets they would be coming down again. By the beginning of the year she was beginning to get quite growly and grumpy with everyone but me. I took her to the vet again to rule out any pain etc but they couldn't find anything so I consulted a behaviourist who put it down to jealousy of our other dog and hormones / possible phantom pregnancy.
A few times in hot weather when she had been running her breathing got very noisy and heavy but again, it would all settle down again quickly. On walks she was as active and bonkers as ever.
Towards late spring we though we noticed a pea sized lump on her side but it was difficult to be certain as it kept disappearing and she is a very slim, bony dog anyway. Then she got a largish flat lump, about the size of a flat plum but again the vet wasn't concerned and we put it down to a lipoma. In around July it suddenly became huge and burst. It was cleaned out and she was given antibiotics. It came back and this time was cleaned out under sedation and she had stitches. As soon as the stitches were removed it began to come back again so we were referred to a specialist who did a CT scan. It was here that they found 3 foreign bodies. The two on her side were tiny and they didn't find anything specific, although they did scoop out and around the whole abscess and felt confident that it was all clear. The big shock was the stick. She had obviously inhaled it months ago, it had worked its way out through her lungs and tracked through her body where it was making it's way up to under her spine. Recently she had been reluctant to get in or out of the car and they think it was effecting nerves in her spine. They did a massive operation where they had to partially detach her diaphragm and remove the stick. She was in hospital for 5 days and on complete crate rest for 2 weeks BUT she is honestly a different dog. She is the waggly, affectionate, gentle girl I always new her to be. The growling has stopped and she is just so much happier even with lead walks and restricted exercise. It is obvious now that she had been suffering for months. It was a huge operation but she has bounced back incredibly and I have got my gorgeous girl back. The vet couldn't believe the change in her when I took her back to get her stitches out. Please feel free to dm me if it would help and good luck with your gorgeous boy.

Original poster
LabsnSpringers · 22/10/2025 14:54

Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 21/10/2025 17:19

I am not a vet but I have got a 4 year old springer spaniel who had surgery 4 weeks ago to remove a foreign body that turned out to be a 6cm thorny stick.
About a year ago, she began to spike some high temperatures but there was no real pattern and often by the time we got to the vets they would be coming down again. By the beginning of the year she was beginning to get quite growly and grumpy with everyone but me. I took her to the vet again to rule out any pain etc but they couldn't find anything so I consulted a behaviourist who put it down to jealousy of our other dog and hormones / possible phantom pregnancy.
A few times in hot weather when she had been running her breathing got very noisy and heavy but again, it would all settle down again quickly. On walks she was as active and bonkers as ever.
Towards late spring we though we noticed a pea sized lump on her side but it was difficult to be certain as it kept disappearing and she is a very slim, bony dog anyway. Then she got a largish flat lump, about the size of a flat plum but again the vet wasn't concerned and we put it down to a lipoma. In around July it suddenly became huge and burst. It was cleaned out and she was given antibiotics. It came back and this time was cleaned out under sedation and she had stitches. As soon as the stitches were removed it began to come back again so we were referred to a specialist who did a CT scan. It was here that they found 3 foreign bodies. The two on her side were tiny and they didn't find anything specific, although they did scoop out and around the whole abscess and felt confident that it was all clear. The big shock was the stick. She had obviously inhaled it months ago, it had worked its way out through her lungs and tracked through her body where it was making it's way up to under her spine. Recently she had been reluctant to get in or out of the car and they think it was effecting nerves in her spine. They did a massive operation where they had to partially detach her diaphragm and remove the stick. She was in hospital for 5 days and on complete crate rest for 2 weeks BUT she is honestly a different dog. She is the waggly, affectionate, gentle girl I always new her to be. The growling has stopped and she is just so much happier even with lead walks and restricted exercise. It is obvious now that she had been suffering for months. It was a huge operation but she has bounced back incredibly and I have got my gorgeous girl back. The vet couldn't believe the change in her when I took her back to get her stitches out. Please feel free to dm me if it would help and good luck with your gorgeous boy.

That’s so shocking! How awful for her🥺

OP posts:
Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 30/11/2025 20:51

LabsnSpringers · 21/10/2025 16:55

I have a nearly 2yr old yellow show lab, intact dog. In general he’s been a quieter and better behaved than our last, wonderful food thief, mad girl who was an utterly inexhaustible ball of fun until she was four- she instantly quietened down when we got our working springer pup who can still run like Mo Farah on speed at 10.5yrs- usually round hedges and through undergrowth.
Neither ever had a foreign body problem.
We thought our good boy had just grown up earlier than our girl.
But he has seemed quieter and quieter. I scalded my foot and haven’t been able to walk him for 6/52, but my husband has taken over- although he tends to do more on lead road walks than the off lead cross country walks I do.
I think he’s lost muscle mass and has also started to whine when I’m busy in the kitchen- I attributed this to missing our walks, his ears started to bother him so I booked an appointment at the vet ‘Not himself, lost condition, ?sore ears’.
On the morning of the appointment my husband remarked that he thought he had been holding his back arched like he was in pain and looked a bit wonky, when we looked together -holding him still-he had a large diffuse flat lump over his ribs that was hard to spot as it matched his natural contours.
The vet agreed and booked him in for a fine needle aspiration and imaging under sedation 2days later.
By then he had a temperature, no pus drained and USS showed a large amorphous mass over his rib cage, maybe extending between muscle layers. So he asked to convert to anaesthetic and have a look. He found a granulomatous mass as above and going through the abdominal wall into his abdomen.
He looked distinctly grim.
Working diagnosis tracking foreign body/grass seed migration.
At the moment he’s on analgesia and antibiotics awaiting histology and response to antibiotics. If poor response the probable next steps would be CT and maybe resection, which he warned would be huge surgery.
his CRP was about 16 and his monocytes were up a bit.
Are there any Vets out there who could give me an idea how common this scenario is, whether malignancy is high in the differential, whether there is any likelihood of antibiotics being curative?
From the always so reliable and reassuring Dr Google, this looks really bad and surgery only possible outcome. Although the case studies I read contained a depressing number of diagnoses on necropsy after euthanasia.
Any pet owners have similar experiences?

How is your dog? I hope everything turned out okay.

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