Last evening my Cairn started to shake and tilt her head to one side literally seconds after my husband scratched her behind the ears. This morning I took her to the vet. The left ear, the same side of the head she is tilting downwards, was slightly reddened and had some wax in it. The right ear was a bit waxy as well.

The vet said that a grass seed can get into the ear canal and get covered by wax so it cannot be seen. I have ear drops for her now until I am back to the vet on Wednesday. If there is no improvement she will need to be anaesthetised to have the wax removed, as it is too close to the ear drum to remove it while she is awake. He said many times he's removed a plug of wax from an irritated and often infected ear and found a grass seed in the middle of all the gloop.

Of course, yesterday afternoon Abby had her head smack in the middle of my trendy stipa tenuissima grass trying to tear it out by the roots. It has very fine seed, even finer than lawn grass, and that's my theory on the source of her ear problems. (Not to mention the several times a day she rolls on the lawn or in the borders).

I am beginning to think Abby is accident prone. She is only nine months old and so far she has had a broken leg, a bout of gastritis, and now most likely grass seed in her ear. Thank goodness for pet insurance.

The heck with trendy grasses, I am keeping my lawn but I am getting rid of the stipa tenuissima. Just thought I would mention this for anyone else that has sucuumbed to the latest gardening craze for grasses, it may not be healthy for inquisitive dogs.

Stacey