grazes worse than a cow

[patchhounder]

I have had several dogs that would eat grass when you first turn them out but my male dog seems like he can not get enough of the stuff. Is he missing some kind of vitamin or nutrient? Don't know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!!

[Emery]

I have two different possibilities.

1. The dog could be lacking some nutrients and the grass gives it to him.

2. The dog uses the grass to settle its stomach. The reason I say this is because when I was stationed in Iceland, Rocky the K-9 we had would do this. He didn't like to ride in the van per se. He would get out and eat some grass and that would make him throw up. Then he would be fine for the rest of the day.

One question, what do you use for dog food?


Emery

[Bev]

I'm not stating one thing or another, but sharing an observation. We switched brands of dog food here recently because an acquaintance is a distributer and he wanted us to try it. After a week on the stuff the majority of our hounds became "grazers". After 3 weeks of watching this, we went back to our Diamond green bag and the grazing stopped immediately. Hmmmmm.

[Beagleman973]

Many dogs eat grass because it tastes good to them, nothing more than that. It tastes sweet, dog candy if you will. Many times they eat too much and it comes right back up, so many people think they eat it to settle their stomach.....when actually they are gorging themselves on what they consider a sweet treat. My point is...most times it has nothing to do with lack of nutrients, just a dog with a sweet tooth.

[Emery]

I will say for certain that the k-9 dog I watched do this didn't gorge himself on grass. He would take a couple of bites, run around for a few minutes after that and then throw it up. It was kind of a ritual just before we would start work for the day. Then we wouldn't have any mess in the van. The other handler had this down to a science after many experiences so that he wouldn't have to clean up the van every day.

Emery

[Boomer]

Mine do it when their stomach is upset (we can tell when one of our dogs has an upset stomach - it makes a lot of noise). Once they throw-up, they are back to normal and go about their business. They even seem to know which grasses do it to them. Sometimes it is due to enjoyment...sometimes when the mowing is thick, there are hard clumps of grass stuck together. All of our dogs enjoy munching on those. I've seen dogs chew on grass out of boredom or frustration, but they rarely ate the grass in those circumstances.

In addition to food causing stomach problems (some dogs are more sensitive than others or have certain allergies/intolerances), it could be bacteria in food bowls/bins or water bowls.

[Bev]

Don't you find it odd though how not one, but 17 hounds suddenly become grazers when their feed is switched? Switch them back and they quit grazing within 48 hours?

[Emery]

As I mentioned before, there were two possibilities, upset stomach and lack of something in their diet.

Bev, I think the second of the two fits your situation. The proof is in the pudding.

Emery

[MasonsBeagles]

This is a good topic. However I went from Diamond to Hi Pro and mine seemed to graze no matter what. They grazed on Diamond just as much as they do know. Both feeds are good in my opinion but I wish I could find one that would make them stop.

I have considered the greens. I have been told that you can feed your dogs turnip greens every so often and that will cut their grazing out.

But that reminds me of a Jerry Clower story. He and Marcell Ledbetter met one day to go coon hunting. Marcell walks up with the boniest poorest looking pack of hounds hed ever seen. Jerry asked Marcell said man those hounds sure is poor lookin. What ya feedin em? Marcell said turnip greens. Jerry said well my dogs wont eat em. Marcell said mine wouldnt either for the first thirty days.

[DDWBeagles]

My sister has a dog that just went through back surgery. Her vet placed the dog on a diet a month before the surgery. The dog was only getting 3/4 cup of dog food and a full can of green beans (drained). The dog lost weight, yet felt full all the time.
Two weeks after the surgery, the vet cut the green beans out, upped the food to a normal amount and asked her to put a few rabbit pellets in with each meal. Doesn't have much to do with the grazing topic, but nor has any of the greens/fiber made her dog sick. My bet, is Bev is onto something and grazing is diet based.

While we're on the topic, I was shocked and surprised to see my photo in this months MAG (posing with my son while Dale P. judged the youth catagory). Thanks Bev, that shot was quite a hit around the house today. GRIN

[S.M. Beagler]

Hello Emery and Bev....... lack of nutritional value of bev's new food may have not led to them eating grass. a nutritional letdown wouldnt take place that fast.. however if the new dogfood was something none of them were used to... then that could easily cause them to have upset stomachs, and grass has certain chemicals that helps the dogs' stomach. sometimes they throw up sometiems they dont.

[warddog]

We have two house dogs that get fed the same thing and have for several years. I have noticed that the male every so often wants out to do nothing but eat grass. He heads straight out grazes on grass UNTIL he throws up. He will graze and dry heave until he throws it up and I noticed it always has a yellow mucus in it. I'm thinking he does this when his stomach has acid on it. He is a really picky eater all the time and the other house dog will eat anything you give her. She never eats grass and never gets sick but the male does it quite frequently.