Grass seed stuck between eye socket and carotid artery in Vizsla

In a busy family with 2 rabbits and 2 horses, sensitive Max fits in well, and he loves hanging out with the rabbits on the sofa or sharing the morning family cuddle with them on the bed. Megan Hofmann’s husband always loved the looks of Hungarian Vizslas, but the best bit is his nature, “so loyal, so loving – Max even likes to hold hands.”

Painful yelp

One morning, last summer, Max opened his mouth letting out a really painful yelp. Megan checked him over without find anything wrong, and he was eating and drinking normally, but on his walk he wouldn’t pick up his ball, and Max is obsessed with his ball. He wouldn’t open his mouth wide so they took him to Wear Referrals in Stockton-on-Tees.

Eye & carotid artery

Max was in so much pain they scanned him under sedation. A foreign body showed, sitting between the eye and a carotid artery; a grass seed had pierced the roof of Max’s mouth, travelling upwards. “You wouldn’t have thought something so small could actually be something huge,” says Megan. Max was on opioids for the pain, but the site was so awkward after 2 general anaesthetics the two vets sat down together saying, “How are we going to do this…?”

They came up with 3 quite radical options to get to the inch-long grass seed:

Remove & replace Max’s jawbone.
Permanently remove Max’s eye.
Use the strongest needle they had to penetrate the very tough muscle on the side of Max’s face, with ultrasound guiding them, hoping the needle wouldn’t snap.

Megan was horrified by the first 2 options, so the 3 women decided on the 3^rd, ringing in triumph to say, “We got it!!”

Psychological recovery

Max was in hospital for a week, coming home after detoxing from the opioids with pain relief and antibiotics. Physically, he endured the 3 surgeries well because he’s so fit, but it took longer to recover psychologically, “For ages he wouldn’t open his mouth or even pick up his ball, and he remembers where it happened.”

Avoid long grass

“A lot of people don’t know about grass seeds!” says Megan, which is why she’s keen to alert others to the risks. “We would not like that to happen again. Grass seeds are everywhere, and he’s an outside dog, needing lots of exercise, but we just try to avoid long grass in the summer to lessen the risk. We go to the Angel of the North nearby, football fields, or the beach.

The claim came to about £7,000. “Thank goodness he’s insured! It’s such a consideration for us now. We kept Max on Kennel Club because of the breeder, and the name gives you a lot of confidence. You don’t want to be messing about with insurance!”

Creating a dog friendly garden