Grassy Poos

[Pawprints]

:D Great topic huh!

Just after some advice.

Mitch eats grass. I know dogs eat grass for various reasons but I think he eats to excess.

His tummy is often making squidgey weird noises and I know that when I go out to do poo patrol what I am going to find. This morning I found two poos that were pure grass. Hardly any 'poo' content at all and they smell absolutely atrocious. Not saying his poo normally smells of roses, but these are off.

Anyone have any suggestions as to why he does this?? He doesn't barf up grass, just poos it out and it seems to really upset his tummy.

[persephone]

He probably has an upset tummy FIRST- which is when his instinct tells him to eat some grass (I think)

Time to check on his worming/diet/treats, etc , to see if everything is normal and ok. ;)

Perhaps he needs a supplement or a probiotic?

Does he have other things to eat/chew in the yard?

Sorry can't be much help :D

[yellowgirl]

What is his usual diet?

[Pawprints]

I thought that too Pers but I can't determine what is all of a sudden upsetting him.

His worming and everything is up to date.

Treats are normal, nothing changed there. A schamko for bedtime, a pigs ear every now and then.

His diet is:

a tiny handful of Bonnie with yoghurt for breakfast.

Dinner can be:

a tiny handful of Bonnie, and mince

a tiny handful of Bonnie, mince with half a can of sardines

a lamb shank

I have been reading up on BARF and am looking at starting them both on that to cut out the kibble but I'm not going into that at the moment.

[Miranda]

It might be the kibble, I once tried Bonnie (for a VERY short time) and it didn't agree with my dogs at all.

[Pawprints]

Hmm he has been on it for years now but I did just change back from Bonnie Adult to Bonnie Working Dog for a while. :D

[persephone]

We used bonnie working dog for years & years- and all ours did very well. We stopped using it several years ago tho when the formula changed...

[yellowgirl]

Has Mitch always eaten lots of grass or has he recently started eating more? Has he always had a squidgey tummy or is that more recent also?

[Red Fox]

Great topic huh!

Just after some advice.

Mitch eats grass. I know dogs eat grass for various reasons but I think he eats to excess.

His tummy is often making squidgey weird noises and I know that when I go out to do poo patrol what I am going to find. This morning I found two poos that were pure grass. Hardly any 'poo' content at all and they smell absolutely atrocious. Not saying his poo normally smells of roses, but these are off.

Anyone have any suggestions as to why he does this?? He doesn't barf up grass, just poos it out and it seems to really upset his tummy.

I've had similar probs with Kei since his recent tummy bug. He eats the grass as he feels ill but then it irritates his belly again and the cycle goes on.

I haven't stopped him eating the grass but I have tried to limit it to a certain degree. I've started adding some Inner Health Plus powder and some psylium husk to his diet over the past few days too. Not sure if it's helping yet (early days) but so far it appears to be

I wormed Kei a little earlier than usual as well. Certain worms can cause the dog to feel unwell and eat grass. Even if they are up to date there is always the chance that they might have picked something up so it might be worth checking/treating for intestional worms too just to be on the safe side.

[ozjen]

My girl does the same thing when her belly starts making strange sounds, I think it is just the dogs way of self medicating as it usually results in fixing up her tummy. The only time she asks to go out during the night is when her tummy starts sounding of and then she goes straight to the grass and eats her fill. She happily goes back to sleep with a quiet tummy. Her tummy is so loud on these occassions that it is hard to ignore. She also does the totallly grass poop and also vomits up grass at these times but it does fix the problem . My dogs are on a RMB diet and have been for years. Sometimes like our tummy upsets you may never find the reason for it , I would only worry if it is happening frequently or if the grass is sprayed with chemicals. If it does happen frequently I would take a sample of urine and stool (without the grass) in a sterile container to the vet when I get the dog checked.

[Pawprints]

Yes they both eat a fair bit of grass, I swear they are crossed with goats. When we come home from a walk they go inside, have a drink, then go out and eat the long grass

I have tried to keep the long grass near the fence whipper snipped so they don't have a ready supply but its hard when the next door neighbours house is like a jungle next door and it comes through the fence.

I'll just keep and eye on it and try to start documenting the frequency.