This was a biopsy from a dog with an ulcerated lesion within the chain of the left mammary glands with soft tissue thickening. Histologically, there is extensive pyogranulomatous inflammation within the dermis that is centred around embedded seed material (with detected intact seed coat, inner integument and endosperm) (as seen in the digital images, H&E). Surrounding the embedded plant material are multiple colonies of bacteria.

This lesion highlights this seasonal issue when looking at soft tissue swellings and inflammation associated with grass seeds and that they can literally end up anywhere! The good news in this case is that there is no noted neoplastic process and that with complete surgical removal, which has been detected in the sections examined digitally, this dog should make a good recovery.