# What's the deal with Grass?



## Mizbri (Jun 13, 2012)

I have heard a dog eats grass when it has a tummy ache...but my dog eats grass all the time. She rarely has tummy troubles. Seems like she likes to eat it for fun, she rips it up in her mouth and runs, she lays in it and nibbles ect... This doesn't mean she always has a tummy ache right? And should I let her eat it as she pleases?
Thanks!


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## georgiapeach (Mar 17, 2012)

Some dogs just like grass, I think. As long as your grass hasn't been chemically treated, she should be fine.


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

All of my dogs eat grass. They just eat it, one will eat it and barf, sometimes not. I don't think it's a problem unless there's chemicals or dry foxtail seeds in it.


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## Swinn (Feb 17, 2010)

I imagine some dogs eat it out of boredom or to purge something from their digestive tract. But, grasses (and weeds) are sources of nutrients too...... Think barley "grass", wheat "grass", seaweeds (kelp, nori, spirulina). Dandelion is high in calcium and can be purchased (for our human salads) at Whole Foods for more then what most lettuces cost...

PetMD has some info on the nutritinal aspect too.. http://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/e...ampaign=Dogs&gclid=CPT7vtLY0bACFUu4tgodhxzt1Q


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

Swinn said:


> Dandelion is high in calcium and can be purchased (for our human salads) at Whole Foods for more then what most lettuces cost...


Haha! My yard is filled with them! I can just go out there and grab a handful if I want some dandelion greens instead of spend muchos bucks on an "exotic" food from an overpriced store.


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## Swinn (Feb 17, 2010)

Losech said:


> Haha! My yard is filled with them! I can just go out there and grab a handful if I want some dandelion greens instead of spend muchos bucks on an "exotic" food from an overpriced store.


Hee hee hee!! I totally agree!!!! We purposefully don't treat our yard with chemicals so I can and do pick young dandelion but I'm always FREAKED the our male foster dog may have lifted his leg on them...... EEEWWWWWW 

Almost all my shopping used to be at Wild Oats. I was SOOOOOO MAD when Whole Foods bought them out and closed em down -- grrrrr.. I actually quit shopping there all together. Luckily, we got a Trader Joes last year. They seem to be better priced then the regular grocery stores in my area ..


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Honestly, I don't even think the tummy ache thing is true. I've heard it over and over again but it doesn't really make sense to me and I've yet to see any real evidence to back up that claim. My dog eats grass and she never ever pukes because of it. She either thinks it tastes good or is fun to nibble on or both. People really overthink things sometimes, IMO, though I am of course not immune to it myself. ;p 

I just think somebody somewhere was like, "My dog pukes when he eats grass. He must be doing on purpose to make himself puke!" When obviously in reality it could be a plethora of reasons, and a coincidence makes more sense. I'm sure dogs just like to chew on grass and it probably gets stuck in their throats sometimes or doesn't digest properly (there's a reason humans don't eat grass) and that makes them puke. But I highly doubt any dog does that on purpose. That's like saying your dog ate chocolate on purpose to commit suicide. ;p


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Yeah buddy eats grass all the time, sometimes he pukes but I chalk it up to eating too much horse poo :S. Izze would also eat grass & she puked a lot, now I don't know if thats bc of too MUCH grass, or a piece that 'went down the wrong way' or what. 

Here is something (I think) that's related; my dogs like totally love ... Horse food (we feed a dry, pelleted feed, not the ones with molasses in it) that they love to eat, they have been getting grain free food & OH thinks that they are craving grain, (I just think they like the taste of it lol) so I got NVI prairie venison/millet just to test his theory. Who know he might be onto something.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

Funny, my dog will go for my rats' lab blocks if they're on the floor... I try to keep them picked up so they aren't wasted though.

ETA: My dog goes for a specific type of grass, she kept stopping to nom it on our hike today. No idea what kind it is. But she never pukes from it.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

My dogs both eat grass, they've both puked it up on a number of occasions, but most of the time they don't. I have, however, noticed a significant decrease in the grass eating since both have been switched over to a %100 raw diet. Not sure why this would make a difference but like mentioned it might be a nutrient thing, and/or purging the digestive system of something that does not belong.


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## UF Girl (May 31, 2012)

PackMomma said:


> My dogs both eat grass, they've both puked it up on a number of occasions, but most of the time they don't. I have, however, noticed a significant decrease in the grass eating since both have been switched over to a %100 raw diet. Not sure why this would make a difference but like mentioned it might be a nutrient thing, and/or purging the digestive system of something that does not belong.


I have wondered about this. My dogs are mini cows they all graze and eat figs. My poor fig trees are constantly under I attack. I feed high end kibble, but it's still kibble. I have wondered if I switched to raw if would it stop. 

Every foster dog that I have had eats the grass too. I like to think I just have sweet grass.


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## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

Both of my dogs eat grass, my doberman is practically a goat.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

I do know from my own experience that when Leeo was having his first symptoms of something wrong with his health ... he would gobble mouthfuls of grass as quickly as he could and then he would vomit and go into a pancreatic attack. So it must also be an aid to digestion during illness or to rid the body of toxins ........


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

I think there is some truth to eating grass with a upset tummy. Jackson does it with both though. It's funny. 

When we are outside, sometimes it seems like more of a nervous habit. If he's got a lot of energy and has been running and chasing my dads dog and swimming, etc, he immediately hops out of the pool and quickly starts munching on grass, like he's trying to release some pent up energy or something, it's weird. I always thought maybe it was the moisture in it, and his way of getting some? LOL I don't know. Then sometimes it's purely out of boredom, or maybe the fact that it just tastes good.

Yet the one night when he was throwing up ALL night long and ended up in the ER, he kept racing to the door to go outside and he would start eating grass in order to make himself get up whatever was left.

But oddly enough, I can tell a difference between his "I am just eating grass for fun" or his "I am sick and need to eat grass" haha. It's very rarely because he's feeling sick. And he never pukes from just eating grass on a daily basis.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

UF Girl said:


> I have wondered about this. My dogs are mini cows they all graze and eat figs. My poor fig trees are constantly under I attack. I feed high end kibble, but it's still kibble. I have wondered if I switched to raw if would it stop.
> 
> Every foster dog that I have had eats the grass too. I like to think I just have sweet grass.


I am continueing to monitor the grass eating, but I have noticed they don't eat nearly as much of it now that they don't eat any kibble what so ever. They were previously about half raw, and half high quality kibble fed. My dogs would nibble on grass every day, each time they were outside. If one of them did have an upset tummy, they would gorge on the grass until they puked up whatever was ailing them. Neither dog has had a slight digestive issue, or seems to be as interested in grazing on grass since we've made the %100 raw switch. So although I'm no expert and can't say for sure if its because of the raw diet that is decreasing their interest in grass and roots, something has definitely changed.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Maybe it is the canine equivalent of Jello? Tasty yet soothing if you have a tummy ache.

Max eats grass both because it tastes good and when he has an upset. Sometimes it comes back up and sometimes it comes out the other end.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Dobermans are definitely known for grazing... I've never had the opportunity to observe the variety of grass. 

My Lab-GSD mix picks out and eats chicken grass (which is like crab grass, but smoother), stops to eat clumps of a round leafed grass that I've never identified, and selects long strands of bermuda to snack on. He does Not snack on crab grass... However, when he is sick (???) he will signal me to go outside (and won't go to the bathroom), then rush to chew up crab grass... he'll keep chewing and within 5 minutes he will start churning and throw up. I can't generalize this to other dogs... but one datum point seems to establish the fact


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## Lafiel (Jun 20, 2012)

Coco eats grass frequently, it's just something she does... if I'm sitting in the grass I'll hold a piece at its roots and she'll go for it! I guess the grass I pick is best, haha. Sometimes she does throw it back up, but is don't think it's related to feeling sick. She eats it way too often for that.


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## Roloni (Aug 5, 2011)

My dog eats grass...
but
Im more concerned about her eating mushrooms....


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

Roloni said:


> My dog eats grass...
> but
> Im more concerned about her eating mushrooms....


Ooh, we get these weird mushrooms that like, melt into black goo when you touch them! It's soooo strange. They will be fine for a little bit, and when they are big enough for the dogs to notice, I'll go out and try to pull them, but they just liquidize! It's so odd. I think they are called Ink caps, or something like that.


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## SassyCat (Aug 29, 2011)

How old is she? When did it start? It may just be a puppy period or she's having troubles with food she's eating or she may have tape worms etc. Grass can be fun to chew sometimes, some labs eat rocks and dirt as well.


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## dan m (May 19, 2012)

Great thread. My one year old Peke loves to graze. He likes the grass clumps left after I mow the lawn. He also like to chew and eat small branches. For some reason, he loves Black walnut shells left by the squirrels and it takes a lot of convincing to have him drop it. He used to eat every dandilion head he could find but now they are no interest to him.


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## itsjustmebre (Mar 29, 2011)

Neither of my dogs are grass eaters...though Bella will eat grass when she's got an upset tummy(you can tell because she doesn't act fully herself with an upset tummy, and then she wants to eat grass lol). Both Bailey and Bella have been dirt eaters though...something smelled super "good" in the dirt, but it was really gross...had to train them out of that one haha. My first dog, Diesel(a lab lol), always wanted to eat rocks and broken concrete pieces haha. I'm not sure why he loved them so much, but he did lol.

~IJMB


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## ChesnutMutt (Jul 8, 2012)

I've heard that dogs aren't able to comprehend that "I feel sick-so I should eat grass"

my dogs have never puked while eating grass..but I do notice that Jada eats a lot when shes happy and excited. Maybe Bailey eats it cause she eats it lol


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## marsha=whitie (Dec 29, 2008)

PackMomma said:


> My dogs both eat grass, they've both puked it up on a number of occasions, but most of the time they don't. I have, however, noticed a significant decrease in the grass eating since both have been switched over to a %100 raw diet. Not sure why this would make a difference but like mentioned it might be a nutrient thing, and/or purging the digestive system of something that does not belong.


I was just thinking the other day how Bryna eats grass now, where when she was on kibble she didnt.


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## Maximum (May 4, 2012)

dogdragoness said:


> Yeah buddy eats grass all the time, sometimes he pukes but I chalk it up to eating too much horse poo :S. Izze would also eat grass & she puked a lot, now I don't know if thats bc of too MUCH grass, or a piece that 'went down the wrong way' or what.
> 
> Here is something (I think) that's related; my dogs like totally love ... Horse food (we feed a dry, pelleted feed, not the ones with molasses in it) that they love to eat, they have been getting grain free food & OH thinks that they are craving grain, (I just think they like the taste of it lol) so I got NVI prairie venison/millet just to test his theory. Who know he might be onto something.


Are your dogs still eating the horse food since you started them on NVI prairie venison/millet?


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

kafkabeetle said:


> Honestly, I don't even think the tummy ache thing is true. I've heard it over and over again but it doesn't really make sense to me and I've yet to see any real evidence to back up that claim. My dog eats grass and she never ever pukes because of it. She either thinks it tastes good or is fun to nibble on or both. People really overthink things sometimes, IMO, though I am of course not immune to it myself. ;p
> 
> I just think somebody somewhere was like, "My dog pukes when he eats grass. He must be doing on purpose to make himself puke!" When obviously in reality it could be a plethora of reasons, and a coincidence makes more sense. I'm sure dogs just like to chew on grass and it probably gets stuck in their throats sometimes or doesn't digest properly (there's a reason humans don't eat grass) and that makes them puke. But I highly doubt any dog does that on purpose. That's like saying your dog ate chocolate on purpose to commit suicide. ;p


I dunno. When Kabota has to puke from his GERD, he is a grass eating machine. He won't do anything on a walk but eat grass until he pukes. Then he's fine. I've learned to short circuit this by feeding him snacks every so often, now he doesn't eat grass much at all.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I posted my experience earlier (maybe another thread):
1. The general rumor is that Dobies graze, and I had a Dobie-GSD did graze.
2. My current Lab-GSD will graze b/c he wants to ... usually specific types of grass.
3. However, he will specifically rush outside when he needs to throw up and will go to a specific patch of grass that is similar to crabgrass... which he never grazes... then he'll eat it... and start churning.
4. This is completely different from regurgitation, which is a much faster process...which he can't control... and doesn't seem to be a full, stomach emptying process like vomiting.


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

Hammie likes to nibble grass. Sometimes he pulls the grass and just drops it all over. Sometimes he eats it. Sometimes he seems to just chew on it but not eat it. He's only barfed up grass once.


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## Mommy_to_HaileyMay (Jun 14, 2012)

My pup likes dead leaves. She eats them somewhat often (maybe a leaf or two every other day). I try to stop her but it's a lost cause. She doesn't seem to care about grass though.


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