dogs eating grass

[Avacado7]

.....my dogs eated canned dog food and kibble. They also will eat grass. I have been told that they eat grass so they can get rid of whatever is bothering their tummies, but I am suspecting they are craving raw?? One has tummy issues and is on a "gastro formula." I am hoping to change their diets. Does anyone know about the grass thing??

[oai]

i think i remember someone from here said that the fur ones are eating the grass, because they are missing some nutrients from the food they are eating. so they get it from the grass.

my mom's co-worker told her that the dogs eat the grass in search for their medicine.

my pups eat grass, too. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/SHOE_tutorials/current%20emo/thlove.gif my jack russell has lyme disease, and she is barely weak. always so energetic.

the only thing is they will poop or hurl the grass. besides that, it doesn't look like they get ill from eating it. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/SHOE_tutorials/current%20emo/confused.gif

[spicyfull]

They can be Forgers. Mine would search around and see which one she wanted to eat. She loved Calendula. I also grew WheatGrass for them. Lets face it, Dogs are Just SMARTER THAN WE ARE, on any given day.

[Whisper]

I received my copy of Dr Pitcairns: Natural Health for Pets yesterday. He has a section where he says how natural it is for dogs and cats to eat grass, either as a type of medicine or a tonic, and how to grow wheat grass specially for them to add in their food or let them have it to graze on in the garden in pots, plus which vegetables to feed as part of their diet.

He is against canned food and produced kibble -- and has some good recipes that I may try with mine in the next few days.

I have been really impressed with this book so far. The changes in the health of the animals cited have been just as spectacular as with some of the people on this forum!!! Being a vet he has seen some remarkable things too. I sent for three raw books on Amazon and this was the book I would recommend for being the most interesting, and the one that i think is going to be easiest to implement. The hardest thing is probably going to get my husband to feed my eldest dog with the mixtures!!

Hope this comment helps,
Whisper.

[oai]

time to grow some wheat grass. :)

[RawKnitster]

I used to feed my jack russell terrier commercial canned and dry dog food. As she got older she started getting sick more and more often. She would eat grass until she threw up. Not anymore. Hasn't happened for 6 months, since I switched her food and treats to venision (hypoallergenic). Now she gets a raw dehydrated dog food made in New Zealand called "Addiction" It reconstitutes with warm water. She loves it. (No way I could afford it for a big dog!) For snacks she get Raw Dog vege crackers, and raw veges. No more stomach problems!

[RawDrop]

I would think that the dogs and cats that are throwing up the grass is possibly because it has been treated with something that they don't like. Now that we have a dog, I have told my partner he can no longer us any weed killer on the grass in our garden. If he wants to weed, he will have to pull them out by hand. But really, it is only nettles, and that is healthy for humans.

Does anyone have any other tips about what veg to feed a dog? I am, sadly going to have to feed her some canned, until I can get enough scraps from our local butchers. But last night she got thawed fish, and she loved that.

[yogashmoga]

i have a show dog boxer that would eat grass and throw up constantly. i had been told this was the nature of the breed. further research suggests that chlorophyll is important to a dogs diet. she now eats about 50% raw. i make her pates that include my leftover greens (zuchini ends, lettuce, fresh herbs, etc.) i also include spirulina and wakame, which she LOVES. i don't feed her raw meat, but i do feed her solid gold dog food (wolf king with buffalo meat) 50% of the time. she by FAR prefers her pate, which i drizzle in olive oil.

she no longer eats grass because she is getting enough chlorophyll in her diet. she has stopped vomitting on a regular basis, and her coat gets compliments everwhere we go.

[Halo_effect]

Since we've added raw green tripe to our dogs' diet, they haven't touched a blade of grass. I'll have to find the source to let you know exactly what it is, but there's something in there that gives them what they need. It's stinky stuff, but it does wonders for them.

If you're interested, check out www.greentripe.com if you can't find any in your area, or look up Oma's Pride and you can click on your state to find a raw green tripe distributor near you :)

[Emma-Liza]

Dr Pitcairn's book has been invaluable to us with our many large dogs over the years. I still make dog food based on his recipes that we feed along with a good kibble (Timberwolf's Ocean Blue). It's almost impossible to fix 100% of a large dog's diet from scratch.

He has some great suggestions for recovering dogs' diets too.

All my dogs have eaten grass, clover, young leaves, etc., probably at one time or another, for all the reasons there are--to get greens, to clear the stomach, because it tastes good, because it's there :) ....sometimes it stays down, sometimes it comes back up. One thing for sure, if I see one grazing, I leave her out there for awhile! :D

[mongodelight]

my dog likes grass too. She also likes banana and raw cacao beans.
But most of the time my parents feed the dog dead cooked meat. Its their right to poison the dog.

[carolg]

My dog has been living on raw foods for about 8 years now. She's thriving and actually doing fabulous. She's into game meat these days as I have a source. She now has over 350 pounds waiting for her tummy. I'm going to start hiding some veggies into her foods using my Cuisinart blade that grates fine. She also takes in her barley powder daily.

Thanks for green tripe info.

Yoga, wow, great for you with the pates eating boxer.

My dog not into treats because I never have given her any.

RawKnitster, wanna share the cracker ingredients please. Maybe one day my dog will be thanking you.

All,
Thanks for sharing. We love our dogs/cats so glad you are sharing.

Ferrett talk...my daughter has left his very large ferrett cage. Going to see if I can get a few bucks from locals here perhaps at craigslist.com. I already have clothing donations going to Goodwill so not thinking donating this to a ferrett rescue group yet.

carolg

[RawKnitster]

carolg, I'm so glad you brought this up today! I empty the Raw Dog Action Crackers into a tin and throw out the box. I called the store (Mud Bay) to ask them for the ingredients and found out that they have discontinued the product! :eek: I called around but none of their stores have any left. Mud Bay gave me a website (rawdogsnacks.com) and an address (P.O. Box 54 Palouse, WA 99161). The website won't come up. I'm going to send a letter asking where I can get them, or at least what the ingredients are. If I had a dehydrator I would know what the ingredients are, because I would have already tried making them myself.

I told one of the girls at Mud Bay how much my dog likes them, she said she likes them, too, because she's into raw food. I thought about tasting them myself many times, but didn't have the nerve. They sure smell good.

I just got the website up. Here is a link http://rawdogsnacks.com/

[RawKnitster]

Carolg, I got on the rawdogsnacks.com website (see previous post) and found the ingredients. Sent an email to the owner. She is shipping me 5 boxes (expiration date is March09). Charging me $3.00 less per box than I paid for them at the pet food store, plus tax and shipping.

She also gave me the name of another store that is going to carry them. I just want to thank you again for bringing this up, because the store she told me about bills itself as Washington's only 100% vegan store. I'm thrilled to find they carry raw gourmets items for people, too!

http://www.sidecarforpigspeace.com/main/products.html


Funny how one thing always leads to another in this raw life.

[carolg]

I used to make raw treats for dogs, but tested it on tons of animals besides the dog kingdom. They all loved it and was not raw however during those days but made with seasonings plus whole wheat flour I believe. It was hard to market therefore my interest left.

However, I bet with all the raw genuis' here we can make up our own raw dog cracker and you lots of bucks. How about it? Thanks for the link too.

OT = off topic here
Busy with kraut making:
Right now all I can think about is sauerkraut making. Not sure if you read I bought a large bag of green cabbage yesterday that onions come in this type of bag and I see I don't have enough large salad bowls to put kraut in so by tomorrow they will start shriveling down and I should free up some "bowls" for a few more heads left to do. I think this is my final batch of kraut for the next few months if they last that long. I don't have anything left from when I made it short while back. Thank God for refrigeratorS--two.

My kraut continues to be a raving review for the farmer's market workers. It's all raw. I believe you can search my name for recipe that basically is little water, cabbage, salt, garlic-optional, or other things you can add that I don't. Take 5-7 days if I can wait that long to eat, but taste daily adding more salt or not. Just can't take out salt you put in so start slow in adding salt and taste daily only.

Thanks for the link too. I'm also always glad to share.

carolg

[cbowden]

I've got rescued Cockers and two of them have VERY sensitive bellies. No wheat, no beef, no artificial ingredients, etc. I've been thinking of using flax seed flour as a base and adding pureed raw veggies and seeds. Then piping the mixture thru a piping bag (? - the kind you ice a cake with but with a large opening) into round or star shapes and then freezing.

Right now they are getting a frozen treat of slowly baked turkey jerky and I'd love to get them on something more healthful. They do eat raw carrots, celery, apples, etc. And I feed them a mixture of browned turkey with spinach or collards and baked sweet potatoes mixed with Natural Balance kibble.

No more stomach issues and very healthy kids since I've been doing this.

Thoughts on the flaxseed treat, anyone?

[goobygirl]

I made a flaxseed/pecan pate last week with lots of greens (some carrots/apples too) in it and the dogs did fine. They also used to get lots of flaxseed oil (at least a Tablespoon everyday in food). So, as far as I know it is not toxic or anything.

We also feed Natural Balance but the vegetarian brand. On top of that I add oil, cottage cheese, cage free organic eggs, brewer's yeast, and chopped up/diced fresh veggies/fruit (must be very fine, hard to digest), and then the pate.

My dogs will eat wheatgrass out of my hand as well, so why not try some of that?