Chris Packham has made a plea for all dog owners to be hyper aware of a potential allergy risk this summer.
The broadcaster, activist and naturalist has warned that grass seeds pose a major safety risk to all pets out for walks in the next few months.
He issued the warning after his pet pooch Nancy had to be rushed to the vets.
Mr Packham, who lives in the New Forest, said his pet poodle needed treatment on two separate occasions after she had a reaction.
He said she developed weeping eyes and symptoms similar to conjunctivitis.
"Her eye was inflamed and clearly sore," he said. "She was becoming increasingly distressed."
It turned out that both times she had a grass seed stuck behind her eyelid, which was causing a reaction including irritation and pain.
On both occasions a vet was able to remove it without any long-term damage but said other pet owners need to be aware that it can easily happen.
He said Nancy now has to wear specialist doggie goggles when out for walks in places with long grass to prevent it from happening again.
Mirka Palenikova is a specialist in Ophthalmology at Seadown Vets in Hythe, and treated Nancy.
She said: "I could see there was quite a lot of discharge coming out from the eye and she was in pain so we had to apply topical anaesthetic into her eye to be able to examine her."
The vet said it is important for owners to be aware of the issues that grass seeds can bring and has advised all to check for grass seeds in their pet’s eyes, paws, ears and coat after every walk.
If left untreated grass seeds can lead to blindness, and in some cases needed a test like a CT or MRI scan to find it.
She added that it is a problem they are seeing more often in vet surgeries: "We are seeing maybe a case or two weekly,” she added. “With the weather warming as well we see more cases, and I even saw a cat recently with grass seed in her eye which was unusual.
"I would advise not to walk dogs in areas where there are obvious grass seeds or meadows with long grass."
