Question:

[Texasgal]

Why does my dog eat weeds and grass?

We had to mow the lawn today ( yup, we actually had to mow in FEBRUARY!) he went out after the grass was cut and had a feast! Then he promtly came inside and barfed!

Why is that? he dosen't seem sick or anything. He never does.

[TexasTowelie]

1. Why indeed?

The grass is better when smoked.

[Texasgal]

2. HA!

My college roomate had a precious weiner dog that would always eat her pot. She'd stash it all over the house and that little monster would always find it!

That poor little guy, he was stoned through the 80's with the rest of us!

[kdmorris]

3. I wish I knew

I have a German Shepard mix that seems to do that to MAKE herself throw up, but for the life of my I can't figure out why she would want to do that. GSD seem to be prone to colitis, so maybe she already feels kind of sick to her stomach or something, so she tries to cure it by throwing up.

Probably assigning too many human traits to my dog

[Texasgal]

6. I've heard this before

that dogs do it to cure an upset stomach, but he seems fine!

I dunno! Hopefully someone can chime in here!

[liberal N proud]

4. So they can produce milk?

What I have heard is that settles an upset stomach. Don't have any evidence, just an old wives tale.

[Texasgal]

5. He'a male.

I dunno if the milk thing would be an issue. Unless males produce milk? I have no idea.

[liberal N proud]

8. I pretty sure it's not for milk

Male or female

[Stinky The Clown]

7. All of our three eat grass and then barf. Every dog we had before them ate grass and barfed.

I suspect every dog that's ever been eats grass and barfs. Common wisdom holds they do it for an upset stomach. There is little or no evidence that's true, it seems.

[MiniMe]

9. Some dogs barf and some don't

My last dog and my current dog both act like cows in the spring, and don't barf. I have no idea why they do it. My friend's dogs are the same way.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. For a behavior that is so common, it is amazing that no one knows

why dogs eat grass, or why some of them vomit when they do. Just know that this behavior has even been observed in wild dogs and wolves, so it is not a problem to worry about.

I have cats, not dogs, and they do the same thing, and puke afterwards too. I just make sure they don't come in the house until that happens. Ugh.

[cyberspirit]

11. Stomach issues

Sometimes they eat grass in order to throw up when they have some stomach/digestive issues going on like gas. Other times they just want to eat grass.

Why dogs eat grass

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Years ago, I watched my dog eating grass

It was like he was enthusiastically grazing! I totally panicked and called the vet ASAP. They, of course, acted like I was panicking for nothing. They said it was to settle stomach issues and that this was common. This was the second dog I had in my life, grew up with a dog I was very close to, but I'd never seen this before, either, and it scared me.

[roody]

13. It is the season.

I walk dogs at the shelter, and they are all grazing these days.

[fadedrose]

14. He was self-medicating a tummy-ache

Long time ago, with another dog, vet said to discourage it. But if the dog has it in his mind to eat grass, it takes a lot more than discouraging him to stop it.

When you see him eat grass, be watchful when he comes into the house, and when you see his stomach starting to go up and down and in and out, push him outside to avoid cleaning it up. Hurts you more than him...(most of the time).

[iscooterliberally]

15. I have 3 big dogs.

Two of them like to get into the cat food. I have 5 cats too. The 3rd dog doesn't eat cat food. He never eats grass either. I think the cat food upsets the other two dogs stomachs. They eat grass until they barf. Sometimes these two will beg to go outside in the same way that they would to relieve themselves, but instead they start eating grass. After they barf they come back inside relaxed. I do try to keep them out of the cat food, but things don't always work out that way. My vet gave me a white pill to give to my dogs for a few days that worked really well (sorry I can't remember what it's called). They don't 'look sick' when this happens. How could you tell if your dogs stomach hurts anyway? It's not like they can say, 'hey, my stomach hurts'. If your dog does this every once in a while, I don't think it's a big deal, but if they do it every day you should take them to the vet. I imagine that my dogs feel like I would after a night of too much drinking.