Advice Please!

[MaxG]

Hi all,

Sorry of this has already been answered somewhere, but I'm after a bit of advice/reassurance please!...

Our Max is 20.5 weeks old & since day 1 has been obsessed with eating/chewing grass, leaves, twigs, bits of garden plants/bushes etc. I don't think we have anything poisonous in our garden & up till now he's never been sick, although there's often grass etc in his poo (sorry!). We think that sometimes he just chews stuff & spits it out, but other times he must actually eat it!

This morning,  I didn't notice him eating any grass, but I did look out of the window in time to see him throwing up - because this is so unusual for him, I went to take a look & it was basically a pile of grass. (He hadn't eaten any breakfast yet). He seemed to need to do it again, which he did - a couple of times - only tiny bits. Then, he wandered round for a  bit, nibbled at a bit more grass & then I called him in.

On the whole, he's incredibly healthy & the only other times he's EVER been sick have been when his worming tablets haven't agreed with him & he's generally had an upset system - both ends! (We've tried 2 different types which weren't good but have now found one that doesn't seem to affect him!)

He hasn't eaten or drunk since he threw up & has been wanting to sleep, but this isn't particularly unusual for him - he often doesn't eat much till lunchtime & usually goes back to sleep round this time - he's crashed out at the moment - not sure if I'm over-reacting because of this - if he was racing around, I'd probably not think too much of it!

Do you think he's ok? Should I try to stop him eating grass? I know dogs do it when they need to throw up for some reason, but he never has before - he's always eaten it & been fine.  Should I be worried?

Just now, he coughed a couple of times - like he had something stuck in his throat - nothing came out though & he stopped - what d'you think?! (He's done that before every now & then). Should I tempt him with a biccie to dislodge anything that may be stuck?

On another note, not sure if it's connected, but he's got one of those knotted raggy type pull/chew toys, which he loves - the problem is that the bits come out really easily & he seems to actually eat them - it's often appearing in his poo!  Should I take it away from him? I've tried pulling on lots of them in various pet shops & they all seem the same - loads comes out!!

Sorry to ramble on - am I just completely over-reacting??!!

Thanks!!
Kath.

 

[Sue H]

Hello Kath - it sounds as though Max is a completely normal 5+ month old Cocker -they eat anything and everything if it will possibly go down !!

Eating grass is fairly normal, but possibly not in the quantities you describe, so try to accompany Max when he is rummaging about in the garden, and stop him chomping like a herbivore !  They are basically craving roughage to help their digestion or to promote regurgitation of indigestible stuff (like raggers??!!) so maybe stopping the eating of toys might mean he won't fell the urge to eat grass !

Tell us what else he eats - what you are feeding him and what treats he has - this may help us to give you better advice !!!

[MaxG]

Hi Sue - thanks for your reply!

He seems ok now - had a long walk/run & been playing/sleeping in usual quantities throughout the day - his cheeky/naughty streak is still operating!!

He ate his usual lunch (pedigree puppy pouch) & has had some of his dry food (Purina puppy) & a few treats - couple of markies, a smacko, a Bonio - all of which are what he usually has. Plus, he's drunk the usual amount of water.

I read somewhere about dogs eating grass cos they're missing something from their diet so I gave him some chopped up carrot & cucumber this afternoon & he scoffed it with gusto, so maybe we should give him veggies once a day or every other day - d'you think? He's had them before but not regularly to be honest.

Maybe it was just an 'off' day - I'll definitely keep a close eye on him though. Up till now, he's rarely ever been sick & his poos are nearly always as they should be, so it can't be that his diet is bad or anything & he's the correct weight according to the vet & his breath doesn't smell & he has plenty of energy & seems very happy, etc etc etc so I'd have said he was very healthy generally.

I've confiscated his raggy type toys though!!

He's always chewed at grass etc & I haven't noticed it getting any more frequent recently, although he did chew a few huge red ivy type leaves that blew into the garden yesterday - ?! Think he spat them out though??!!

 

[Joelf]

My dogs tend to eat grass first thing in the morning; there is some thick grass they seem to particularly like & Domino was sick a couple of times this week. Like Max he brought up some bile, grass & some sausage treats he had been given on his walk! I'm sure their stomachs are designed to reject something that upsets them; one of my labs ate a stinking dead fish on the beach & then brought the whole thing up in the car on the way home! It took me months to get the smell out of the car!!

[Spanielsmum]

My 2 are devils for eating plants and stones and twigs. They don't seem to be sick with it though, although I do try to remove whatever they are chomping on as I know there are plants which are poisonous like Clematis and Holly to name just 2. Norris likes to eat grass as well, but with no ill effects so far.

Despite the fact that I watch them when they are outside, I've found many things in their poo, such as chewed up plastic pegs, bits of plastic crisp bag, strings of ragger.....at least it makes life more interesting when you're clearing it up in the park.

[MaxG]

Thanks guys - made me feel a bit better & gave me  a giggle anyway!!  

Know what you mean about the foreign bodies in the poo experience - I watch Max like a hawk & am forever removing things from his mouth, but yet there are still bits of crisps packet, raggy, yoghurt pot, etc. lurking in there sometimes - yuk!!  

He's a bit of a swine for small stones too, & again, although we jump on him in an instant, to remove them, we still find the occasional tiny one coming out the other end - worries me, but what can you do, apart from keeping him away from them as much as poss?!  

I almost panicked the other week when his poo was green, till I remembered he'd had one of those flat hard chewy sticks that are various colours!! Thank god it wasn't a red one - I'd have been on the phone to the vet & made a right prat of myself!!  

He's always had a real passion for greenery - he regularly swaggers into the kitchen with a stalk of something hanging out of his mouth & there then follows the usual stand-off between us, with me trying to get it off him & him trying to make me chase him like a big game & hang onto his prize for dear life - little monster!! (It's the same when he steals the laundry - we were nose to nose over a sock yesterday, with neither of us backing down - ridiculous!!)

Gotta love 'em eh?!?!