Lawnmower Droppings

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Haley has an obsession with lawnmower droppings. I'm not referring to loose freshly cut grass but the big globs that fall out from under the deck when the grass/weeds are lush and thick in the spring. Yesterday DH cut grass and I had to keep my eye on Haley every second to keep him from gobbling these droppings up. I did catch him with a mouth full; pulled one out and found another on it's way down his throat! I am real concerned about these globs causing a blockage so I spent a couple of hours scouring the yard for them with Haley on the porch to keep him out of trouble. I still have other parts of the yard to check.

Will these lawnmower droppings cause an obstruction? Anyone have any idea how to stop Haley from eating them. We have two acres of yard within the e-fence and it is not possible to find every compacted glob of grass.

 

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Yuck!  I have no idea if that will hurt him or not, but I'd guess not???  But, maybe you could ask the vet.  Obviously, I would not just let him do it, but it maybe  really hard for you to keep him away from all of them.  Interesting obsession he has! 

[Sharon & Monty]

I had a golden that did this.  I didn't want her to eat the grass clumps, it seemed so gross.  I can't think of any issues that ever developed because of it.  There are carbs and protein in grass, so maybe it's good for him!

[Margaret & Pebbles]

You have a huge yard, so it's not easy to just go around and pick them all up.  Pebbles would do this when she was a pup.  She liked them when they were wet chunks and she would gobble them up.  I only have half an acre, but still that is alot of area to go around and collect these chunks so she wouldn't eat them.  She never got sick on them.  The following year she never bothered with them, guess she outgrew it.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Haley is three. Cole', r.i.p, ate them for almost 14 years but he had guts of steel!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We have this same problem.  We try to mulch when we mow or use the grass catcher, but in the spring it is hard because of the rain etc.  When it is wet it just clogs up the grass catcher.  I'm always outside with the girls so I try to keep them from getting them, but it is really hard.  They like to find one, let the other one see it, then take off running for a game of catch.

[Margaret & Pebbles]

Your right, the mower gets so clogged with the wet grass and then these huge chunks are everywhere!  Plus everytime my dogs go out they come in with green feet!

[F, Calla & Luca]

The secret is to not mow when the lawn is wet, a bad idea all around.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If it's just grass in the clumps, it shouldn't cause an obstruction, unless he eats a tremendous amount. It's basically just plant material. Raw plant foods are not easily digested, especially by dogs, so it can cause vomiting and other GI upsets. But if it doesn't come back up, it should pass through.

This may be a dumb question, but aren't there things you attach to lawn mowers the collect the grass clippings?

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Yes Karen, but theses droppings are clumps of usually wet lush grass or weeds that build up on the blades and then fall off the blades and not get sucked into the bag. We have same issue here. I feel they are natural and organic, so I've not worried about them causing a problem. They show up again one way or another when Bella eats them.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

In the spring, at least here in Ohio, the grass is so thick and lush and the weather so wet either from rain or heavy dew that it rarely gets a chance to dry out.  It is impossible to use the bagger when it is this thick and damp it just clogs up.  We are already (in March) cutting twice a week to try and stay ahead of the Spring growth.  Once we get into the drier summer months we can bag as we cut.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

 We had record breaking temperatures here for 10 days in March, and everything that grows is way ahead of schedule, including the grass. But the waste disposal companies are not picking up the yard waste yet. So all over the neighborhood, there are bags and bags of lawn clippings still sitting out at the curb. We haven't had much rain yet. My landscaping service doesn't start still April, and they take the clippings away with them, TG, because those bags are amazingly heavy.

Sue, they do leave the clippings on the grass every couple of cuttings; it is supposed to be beneficial for the grass.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Yes, we have a CycloneRake that does a good job of picking up the grass and some of these droppings but short of a true tornado I don't think it is possible to suck them all up with this lush spring grass.