Beagle Or Goat?

[Pawprints]

I am at a loss what to do with my beagle. He eats an enormous amount of grass, he is like a goat out in the backyard munching away!! Any time of day, any given day.

Even when I take him on a walk, when he is in the offlead area, he runs around and then stops and muches grass. I tell him off and so he runs around again, plays with other dogs, sniffs etc, then stops to eat some more grass.

When we get home, he has a drink, then straight out into the backyard where the cooch grass is a bit long near the fence and grazes away!

His tummy often gurgles so loud afterwards. He will eat his dinner, then get on the hammock to have a sleep. Then he goes out the dog door, and sure enough if I follow, he's at the grass patch. He'll come back and have a sleep, then off he goes again.

His farts are horrendous and sometimes his poo comes out almost pure grass with a little mixture of VERY foul smelling poo.

I was considering changing both dogs to BARF and have been stocking up on the offal and diced meats to then implement the new diet but I am loathe to start trying a new diet when something is obviously not going right now. I am also looking at changing and phasing out their kibble. (Was looking at Barkos)

He currently gets Bonnie Working Dog in morning with a scoop of yoghurt (Natural yoghurt). Dinner is Bonnie and about 150g of VIP Platinum Turkey and Lamb roll. They have had this for a long time, but I want to change to a natural diet and have educated myself accordingly to do so now.

The additions are sometimes a lamb shank which replaces brekkie or dinner. Or half a tin of sardines twice a week with dinner. The only change I can think of is that I changed to Bonnie Working from Bonnie Adult about 2 months ago.

He has had this grass eating/farting/grass poo behaviour for longer than that. Perhaps its the Bonnie althogether that doesn't agree with him? But they have both been on Bonnie since I got him almost 1.5 years ago.

Its VERY hard to pinpoint when he eats more grass or when he has a really off tummy as I work full time. He eats grass most of the time and sometimes it occurs after we have been out for a walk and he has munched on it during and after. How do I know what food has caused that then?

My other beagle eats a bit of grass but not as much and she has a fine tummy, no upsets etc.

What should I do?

Cut him back to just kibble and no meat and see what happens?

Give him chicken and rice until I hear no more gurgling and see no more grass poos?

Take a sample of the grass poo to the vet?

Take him back to bland then introduce a lamb shank and see what happens? or sardines and see? or yoghurt and see?

[Ellie's mum]

I'm no expert Pawprints but have you tried putting green vegies in his diet, maybe it's a fibre imbalance that he is trying to correct himself.

Also i would watch out for fertilizers and stuff in the grass that could be causing the smelly farts and poo.

Hope this helps

[persephone]

Sounds as if he may be nauseous or have some irritation in his stomach,,,... and I'm not at all sure how you could find what may be causing it....

[puggy_puggy]

The dogs i have come across that munch on grass are those fed dry food.

Change him to a raw diet but make sure you include veggie slops.

[Pawprints]

I'm no expert Pawprints but have you tried putting green vegies in his diet, maybe it's a fibre imbalance that he is trying to correct himself.

Also i would watch out for fertilizers and stuff in the grass that could be causing the smelly farts and poo.

Hope this helps

No fertilisers or anything used in my backyard so thats safe.

Hadn't thought about the fibre aspect - thanks

[megan_]

Mine eat grass and they get a combination of EP Holistic and raw. There output is fine and their health is good. Some dogs just like eating grass.

Maybe the dog roll is contributing to the stink? I find if I feed too much raw my girl gets an upset tummy, hence the combo.

[Di*]

Mine eat grass and they get a combination of EP Holistic and raw. There output is fine and their health is good. Some dogs just like eating grass.

Maybe the dog roll is contributing to the stink? I find if I feed too much raw my girl gets an upset tummy, hence the combo.

Agree. My four have a raw diet with plenty of veggies and they still love their grass. No probs with farts. Sometimes some very grassy poos but otherwise fine.

D

[badboyz]

Beagles can be obsessive about things like that. However I really don't like the diet you are currently feeding and doubt it is doing him any favours. I would definately work on changing his diet to include much more raw and ditch the vip totally, except maybe as a training treat.

[sas]

His diet sounds all over the place and he's getting a lot of junk food. I'd start with putting the dog on a balanced high quality diet whether that be BARF or Kibble, give it 8 weeks and then go from there.

Some dogs are just grass eaters and it's not fair to scold the dog for doing something that is very natural to them.

Edited April 22, 2010 by sas

[stormie]

I'm suss on the gurgling tummy and foul gas/poo. I know my dog goes nuts for grass when he has the slightest upset tummy.

Firstly, I have him given a once over by a vet, with a fecal analysis done just to make sure there's no worms in there. Then I'd be looking at a change of diet to something a bit simpler.