Why is your dog eating grass?

Please, do not panic if your dog ate grass. It is 100% safe, do not worry. Your dog is not a human.  Therefore, all dogs need grass once a while. 🙂

When I walk my dogs with friends, too often i see them pulling the leash as soon as they start eating grass but the question is, is it ok or, it’s unsafe for my dog to eat grass?

Here the answer

Don’t be alarmed if you see your dog grazing on your lawn. Not only it’s totally normal and 100% safe but it’s even healthy. Actually, you even should let your dog eating it. I keep saying, dogs are not human but animals from the wolves generation and in the wild, it has been seen wild dogs, coyotes, and wolves eating grass once a while.

Here’s why

There is three main reasons why they need grass.

First, upset stomach push dogs to eat grass to help to vomit and reject what is upsetting their stomach. So if your dog suddenly starts grazing at your lawn ending up vomiting, rest assure that is totally normal. No need to call the vet. Notice how your dog looks better after vomiting. (Yes I know, it’s strange but it’s natural for dogs).

The second reason is to help to digest. When i let my dogs going outside in the backyard, i often see two of them eating grass without vomiting. They just graze like a tiny cow for around 15 minutes.

What you should worry about though is if the grass has some kind of chemical product that some people use for killing worms or destroy dandelion. Anything that is related to herbicides and pesticides used on lawns can be quite toxic, especially if ingested. In that case, i would probably prevent my dog to eat grass since it’s dangerous for them or stop using these kinds of chemical.

Another place you should worry about is in the parking lot at your shopping mall. The grass is so dirty that i would not even eat on the grass myself.

But around the home or in the forest, it’s 100% safe.

I have no proof about it but some say grass “might” treat intestinal worms.

In my opinion, for treating intestinal worms, i would go with the pills from the vet or using a natural way such as adding a tiny piece of garlic twice a week mixed in the food. Yes, garlic, not onion of course! Garlic served in a  very small amount is totally safe and even good for eyes and the intestine. Even though many claim garlic is dangerous for dogs, please, trust my strong culinary experience, it is safe if served in a very small amount. I serve it to my dogs for over 15 years and all my student in the seminars are doing the same without any side effect.

The third reason could be caused by nutritional deficiency or iron deficiency. If you feed your dog with exclusively dry food, it could be the reason. If you feed with raw meat, maybe there is something missing in your diet, probably fiber or iron. Please consider adding other food to the meal such as broccoli or food high in iron.

As a side note

if you see your dog licking at sand outside or even sand in your floor’s garage, it’s probably caused by malnutrition, iron deficiency again, same as the grass i mentioned above. It’s easy to fix by providing well-balanced food. I always recommend, raw meat with veggies and vitamins. Normally, it fixes everything unless your dog as some sort of allergies to raw food.

By the way, if your dog eats sand, this is NOT so good. It will upset the stomach and i can guarantee you that your dog will be sick later the same day (several hours of vomiting) and eventually, will skip the dinner. But the next day all will be back to normal. Dogs vomit either because they are starving, thirsty or to release something bad they previously ate.

Once, my dog found a cheese still in the aluminum packaging. She ate the whole cheese with the paper. Later near dinner time, she started to make strong noise from her stomach. I knew she ate something wrong. And then once she started to vomit, there was a piece of the aluminum paper in the vomiting. They always vomit to recover from something. It is your duty to find why as a responsible owner 🙂 Yes, i know, so much work but we love them, right !! 🙂

Conclusion

The grass is safe for dogs. I won’t say i would replace a meal with only grass but it provides nutrition and it’s even high in fiber.

If you’re unsure what’s safe in your garden, check the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center web site, which maintains a list of toxic and non-toxic plants.

 

Thank you again for reading for the love of your dog(s).