More Frightening Plant Life

About 2 weeks ago we noticed a walnut sized lump on Billy's neck, right where a lymph node should be. It was rock hard but Billy didn't flinch or express discomfort when we poked and prodded it. Since this is turning out to be a real annus horribilis, I immediately assumed malignancy. The veterinarian took a look at it and decided that the lump needed to be removed, so Billy had day surgery. The results were not cancer, but a foxtail, a plant like something out of science fiction horror. A foxtail is a spiky weed whose seedlings burrow like a fishhook into dogs. The seedlings create a pocket of pus and then use the pus to drill and advance through the dog's body. Foxtails that enter the foot can end up in a dog's brain, traveling all around the body using their Innerspace/Fantasic Voyage puscraft. I've heard of parasitic organisms doing all sorts of freaky, terrible things, but I didn't expect that sort of behavior from a plant! Foxtails are a scourge, but some reason only affect dogs - horses and cattle graze on them with impunity. It must be an unfortunate evolutionary accident because I cannot see how drilling into a dog would serve the purposes of this demon plant except to make itself mobile for a bit and then create a really big pile of starter fertilizer after it kills the dog. Billy has fully recuperated and the upside is that he had his nails clipped while he was under his general anesthesia, which is about what it requires now.