Dogs eating grass

Hi Rob,

The most common but certainly not the only reason for dogs eating grass is low grade pain or an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach, or in some instances feeling bilious, and more often than not this is diet related.

Therefore if it is only a recent occurrence you need to examine what exactly has changed in that regard.

If some type of meat forms part of the diet a change in the source from your supplier that you may not be aware of could be the culprit, or something may have occurred that has increased the bacteria in the meat, or an increase in the amount of preservatives mixed with the meat could be the cause of it all.

In particularly an increase in preservatives added to the meat can cause problems with the digestive system of the dog, as a preservative is there to reduce the effect of bacteria on the meat to stop it spoiling, and yet it is the bacteria of the gut that are involved in the digestion of the meat.

There is little doubt in my mind that preservatives can reduce the digestibility of food, and in the process make the dog feel uncomfortable in the stomach to the extent that they may eat grass in order to relieve this feeling.

While there is no known dietary requirements for eating grass as canines are unable to digest it, some dogs do appear to actually like the taste of fresh green shoots of grass, and as such are more likely to eat a few of these without any ill effects.

There are other causes such as a severe stomach ache where a dog will eat grass until it makes them vomit to relieve the stomach of its burden that is causing the gut ache or the sick feeling. However that is unlikely to affect all of the dogs in the kennel unless it is also diet related or some type of illness is causing the problem.

The only other cause that may occur to racing greyhounds, but then usually only youngsters bought home off the rearing farm that have suddenly been changed from a high fat diet to a very low fat diet is excessive quantities of bile entering the gut upon eating making them feel bilious.

So check out the diet to see what has changed in that regard, and if you wish to find out if the current diet is causing the grass eating reaction you could temporarily change it to rice and cooked chicken or stews and see if the behaviour changes.

Cheers,
Tom