Hi Everyone,
I've found this reference on the net which suggests my Oscar isnt the only Cocker to experience this. I'd still like to hear from anyone else who has experienced this.
I fear going to the Vet with this (at this stage) as I doubt Oscar would let the vet look in his mounth in the same way he lets me & I assume the vet will suggest knocking him out - which I'd like to avoid if at all possible.
"Cocker who has a hair growing on his Tongue
Q: My Cocker Spaniel has a really strange condition that comes and goes. He has curly black hair (like that found on his ears) growing out of the line of his tongue, at the back of his throat. Sometimes it grows quite long, and stretches down to the front of his tongue, and if he is panting, and it gets dry, he starts to choke on it. We did take him to the Vet, but he would not let the Vet look inside his mouth easily, and the Vet thought we were imagining it. Please help explain this odd condition, for although it is not affecting Henry, I worry it might be a sign of something else. Henry is 10 months old, and the hair appeared when he was about 4 months old.
A: I have not heard of this condition before, and cannot find a reference to it. I do not, however, find it difficult to believe. It sounds as though your dog simply has some hair follicles at than back of his tongue where they would not normally be. This can happen in other places (e.g. the cornea) following anomalies of embryological development and so it is possible in the site you describe. The best way forward would probably to revisit you vet for a more productive examination to be carried out. This may necessitate sedation or anaesthesia to fully examine the throat. Once the problem is better understood a course of action could be decided. It may be sufficient to simply pluck the hairs to remove them (my concern here being Henry's choking), or possibly the hair follicles could be surgically removed if they are accessible and not too extensive. My suggestion would be that the follicle were present from birth, but the hairs were not apparent until four months of age as they had not grown sufficiently to be visible until that time."