Eating Grass

[Faith]

so, over the past week, Faith has picked up the habit of eating grass at least once a day.

at first i thought, ok she's got a belly ache, so she's gonna get sick. fine, i got the papertowels and cleaners ready.

well, it's now been over a week, and she's still just eating it, but has not gotten sick. she's not eating a huge amount, may-be 10 blades or so a day.

i've already called the vet, and he said since she's still eating, pooping, drinking water and has a normal energy level, there's really no reason to bring her in. he also let me know that he once had a dog who grazed like that it's whole life, had nothing to do with being sick.

has anyone else heard of this? she gets fed twice a day, and we've got her on Nutro Max, so i don't think it's a diet deficiency, but i'm open to suggestions.

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

Bogey eats small amounts of grass all the time. We call him our goat. He rarely throws it back up.

[Hildie]

My puppy has also picked up the grass-eating habit....he didn't do it when we first got him. The problem I found with that is he'd become distracted when we bring him outside to do his business. And....he's also vomited several times from the grass (I suspect that's what caused it because there was grass in his vomit) so I've tried to discourage him from eating grass. He still does it, but he doesn't eat as much of it.

[AussiesCollies]

I think some dogs just like grass. My Shepherd mix eats a few blades every now and then and so does my Border Collie. Some dogs are just a little odd

[sheplovr]

I found this as I often stand and watch them kinda pick on the taller grasses not been trimmed yet, then later I find that dog throwing up flem with grass in it.?? Never been able to find a true answer, so found this reply from vets that have the fostersmith catalog.

It's a normal part of their diet," says Holly Frisby, DVM, of Doctors Foster & Smith, Inc. in Wisconsin. Wild canine relatives of dogs--wolves and foxes--eat all of an animal when they catch it. They end up, therefore, eating grasses and plants in the intestines of these animals. Domestic dogs, eating prepared dog food, lack this part of their diet and so they eat grass.

"They just like it!" Frisby also says. She mentions a beagle that picks raspberries faster than his owner.

Another reason: dogs may eat grass when they have an upset stomach in order to cause vomiting. "The grass will bind with the offending material. Then the grass acts as an irritant and causes the dog to vomit, bringing up the poisonous material at the same time," says Celia Feiler, DVM, of Winston Veterinary Hospital in North Carolina.

Finally, dogs may appear to eat grass, says Feiler, when they are just running the blades through their mouth to gather information. Their sense of smell and taste may act together to detect if other animals have walked through their area or urinated on the grass.

And then there's the city dwelling dog-deprived of grass. For a mere $8 a three-ounce bottle, he can eat: Barley Dog, the "Original" Barley Grass Supplement for Dogs.