Eating grass

[Denise Mabie]

My 14mo old labradoodle eats grass daily. She has been eating Orijen since she was 8 weeks old. She started on the puppy formula and now I’m alternating between the Red Meat and Fish formulas.

Is there something else I should be feeding her?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You may have heard that eating grass is a sign that the dog is lacking some nutrient in his diet, but that's completely false. A lot of dogs eat grass just because they like it. Sometimes, a dog who typically doesn;t eat grass will do so if they have an upset tummy, or are nauseated, to facilitate vomiting. But if this is a regular habit of your dog's, there is no medical or nutritional reason behind it. 

Best bet is to supervise the dog in the yard and correct/distract her when she tries eating grass. On walks, keep her head up and work on teaching her to heel and focus on you when on leash. 

[Denise Mabie]

Thanks! I don’t let her out off leash so it happens while I’m walking her. I thought it helped settle her stomach,because she does occasionally throw up, so I’ve been letting her do it.  I had read that it meant something was lacking in her diet but that didn’t make since considering what I’ve been feeding her.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

All three of my dogs eat grass. They just like it, especially long strands- probably young weeds. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna ate grass and it never made her throw up... must have been part cow ;)

Riley on the other hand ingests little pieces of twigs and throws up many hours later -_-  A work in progress...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jasper is obsessed with twigs and sticks. He mostly chews them up and spits them out, but he does ingest some. Fortunately, no vomiting or diarrhea. I was due for one with a cast iron stomach, lol. 

[DonMarie and Picco]

I try to stop him but Picco will eat grass too then throw it up.  We tease that he has bulimia & wants to keep the weight down.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

:-)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Reviving this discussion since Riley has decided grass is her new favorite snack.  She doesn't vomit, just seems to like the taste maybe? She would sit outside and graze all day like a cow I'd I let her....it seems the grass eating ramped up once we switched to the adult Fromm food but that also coincided with warmer weather and new grass growth so probably unrelated.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have a goat here, too. We've had tons of rain and my yard is full of weeds; there is one particular type that Jasper just loves, and he grazes on them every chance he gets. It's clear that he's doing it because he likes the taste of this one certain weed, as he sniffs around, seeks them out, and only eats those. He also loves and begs for lettuce. So much for the "dogs are carnivores" argument, lol. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I've always learned that dogs are omnivores.  Definitely more on the meat side than we are but all you have to do is look at their teeth to know.  If you want to see a carnivore's teeth look at a shark or crocodile:p

I mean Riley certainly looks like a sheep and dogs at the dog park are constantly herding her so... :p

[Becka]

Sadie loves to eat grass, and she's even particular about which grass she'll eat--only certain parts of the yard are delicious, apparently. She also ate a dried blueberry today, after much tasting, testing, and spitting out! 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I'm pretty convinced Riley is one of those garbage disposal type dogs.  I have yet to see her refuse to eat anything even remotely edible.  It's a good news/bad news type situation because she tends to eat (or attempt to eat) a lot of non-food items like paper towels, small bits of plastic and random pieces of paper (including our daughter's drawings... which she is none too happy about).

The good news is we don't have to worry about her liking any kind of kibble we offer!  

We haven't offered her table food and don't plan to but I'm pretty sure she would eat a salad.