How to Remove Those Sticky Burrs on Your Pet

Pets love to travel the great wilderness moving among the trees and tall grass. Unfortunately, when they come back from their journey they may have picked up a few or a ton of burrs that have stuck to their skin like glue. Burrs are those rough, sticky little seeds from plants that somehow find your pet’s coat. But don’t take burrs lightly, burrs can cause your pet’s skin to mat or cause an infection, not to mention the difficult time you will have trying to remove them. There is a way to gently remove those sticky burrs that have leaped on your pet without causing too much pain.

Like ticks, burrs can hide in the smallest areas and can be difficult to notice, so make sure you go through your pet’s skin and other parts of their body thoroughly when looking to remove those sticky burrs. Investigate their paws, in between their toes, and all over. Run your fingers through the skin gently removing sticky burrs with your finger or with tweezers. Don’t let burrs stay in your pet’s hair for a long time it can cause the hair to mat making it even more difficult to remove. Make sure your pet doesn’t get wet before you remove burrs, getting wet can cause those sticky burrs to become even more difficult to remove from your pet, not to mention painful. If the burr is trapped among matted hair, gently pull the hairs apart from the root to remove the burr, once you have removed the burr comb or brush the hair to smooth things out.

If a sticky burr is really caught in the hair, try using some oil to help loosen it. You can use detangling spray from pet stores or a little vegetable oil will do the job. If you are having an extremely difficulty time removing the burr, you will probably need to cut the burrs out of the hair. Make sure you are cutting the hair and not the skin. If there are a lot of sticky burrs on your pet, you will need to take it slowly giving yourself and your pet a rest between removing the burrs. Removing burrs can be painful so give your pet a break every ten or fifteen minutes then start the process again.

Another way to help remove those sticky burrs is to keep your pet’s hair short and combed. Removing burrs from shorter, combed hair is much easier than trying to remove sticky burrs from long, uncombed hair. Of course, try to keep your pet from romping around certain burr-infested areas. Unlike a sticky burr that is difficult to remove in itself, foxtails are even harder to remove and instead of getting stuck in the hair, foxtails sink into your pet’s skin, which can cause internal damage. If your pet has been lurking around foxtail-infested areas they will start to sneeze, use their paw to rub their eyes, or shake and tilt their head. If you suspect a foxtail, take your pet to the vet immediately.