Eating Grass

[Diana Erhart]

Now I have heard many times before about dogs eating grass to make themselves vomit.  But my Charlie seems to do the reverse.  He has done this several times in the past and again last night so now I am sure that he is eating grass to prevent himself from throwing up.  At about 1:30 this morning he started banging on his bells frantically to go outside.  I jumped out of bed and he was at the door running in circles and heaving.  I opened the door and he ran outside and started chomping grass as fast as he could.  Luckily it was warm out last evening so I just wrapped up and sat on our patio couch and watched for about 30-40 minutes as he chomped at the grass so loud he sounded like a cow. Finally he decided he was done and wanted back in the house.  Since he hadn't vomited at all I was once again leery of letting him by himself so I put him in bed with me so I could hear if he started to heave again.  I patted his back, he let out a giant burp and then snuggled in and went to sleep.  He has done this several times in the past too.  Does anyone else have a dog that seems to eat grass to settle their stomach?

[BG and Gavin]

Grass?  I haven't seen grass for over two months :(  I am soo jealous.  I have heard the same, that the grass settles the stomach.  Good for Charlie for alerting you that he needed to go outside.

[Michele, Biscuit & Mo]

When Penny was a pup, her tummy was so delicate that she often would throw up bile in the middle of the night (even if she'd eaten a treat before bed).  She went right for the grass.  She outgrew it, but yes, they eat it to settle their tummies.  Hope Charlie feels better!

[Diane and Alma]

Alma eats grass almost daily when we go on walks - a bit here and there.  I'm not sure why she does this as she is healthy.  Just be glad that Charlie has found some sort of Pepcid AC substitute and that your carpet cleaner can stay in the closet.

[F, Calla & Luca]

My two haven't seen grass in about a month but they like to nibble it when they do see it.

[Smita, Ollie and Juno]

Ollie loves to eat grass even when his stomach seems fine. We have renamed him "cow-doodle". I even have a post about it in my blog.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

All I can say is what a good boy for ringing the bells when he is going to be sick.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin enjoys eating the grass here or there, and I too heard it soothes their stomachs. We haven't seen grass here for a while though... :-(

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I'm not so sure about it not being a supplement to their diet.  Our Gracie Doodle had taken to seeking out the perfect blade of grass on her walks.  She likes the really big thick ones.  We notice her doing this more and more where in the past when we would walk her she never gave grass a second look.  While I was out of town my DH decided to add cut green beans to her food.  Oh my...she loves them!  We have cut her kibble down a 1/2 a cup and have added a cup of cut green beans.  They are frozen and we microwave them before adding them to her food.  She does not like frozen beans nor cold.  They must be warmed.  Gracie has never been a food motivated Doodle and would sort of graze at her food all day.  She also has never had human food nor been a begger.  Now when she hears the beans being poured into a bowl and the microwave oven, she is sitting right there staring up at the microwave oven.  Then she picks out each and every bean and eats them before eating her kibble.  She totally loves her beans!  And now we don't see her looking for the perfect blade of grass anymore.    Her poops have been much nicer and we haven't had any of the smell that we all know and hate.  She doesn't and hasn't thrown up either.  So, we truly think that she needed "green" in her diet.  She eats the grain free Acana kibble.

[Camilla and Darwin]

That is so interesting Nancie! By the way, the fact that she loves her green beans so much is outrageously cute. :-)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Starlit is a green bean eater too.   When I pick a batch out of the garden she sits with me while I husk the beans.  It is a, one for me, one for you, game. She loves the thickest grass too, Gracie   :)    

Geesh, we miss grass here in Ohio. 

We also pick little patches of clover and bring them into the cats ( who live indoors ).  For the cats this is a huge treat! 

[FriscoCoco]

I am new to the dog world and just get my puppy about a week ago.  I have been trying to stop her from eating grass and I guess it's a normal thing to do. lol