My dog ​​eats grass: is it healthy?

Have you ever taken your dog for a walk and he started eating grass in the park or in the field? Our dog also eats grass and it is not a bad thing. Let's see the reasons why our furry friends eat grass or other plants and you will see that you don't always have to scold them, since it is a very natural behavior.

Why dogs eat grass

An innate natural behavior

It may be surprising that, if we always have our dog's food ready and we keep a close eye on what he puts in his mouth, he sometimes eats the grass when he goes for a walk or when he is in the garden. Should we worry?

Not at all! The fact that dogs eat grass responds to their survival instinct. You may find it strange, but Mother Nature is very wise and our best friends respond to this instinct, among other things, by ingesting grass and the occasional plant or leaf from the ground. In fact, it's a behavior inherited from wolves, their closest evolutionary relatives.

The reason? The nutritional intake they get from plants. The best example is the intake of fiber, necessary for digestive purging. Dogs purge themselves by ingesting certain shoots.

Bad digestion

On the other hand, you should know that you will rarely see your dog eating grass or other plants left and right. Dogs are very selective in what they eat and use their sense of smell to find what they consider most suitable for purging. This will be normal when our dog has a stomach ache or is having a very heavy digestion.

In addition to the intestinal purging process, your dog may also eat grass to vomit. Purging affects the entire digestive system. Sometimes, the dog will need to expel something they have eaten that has not yet been digested, and that is why they try to make themselves vomit by ingesting plants.

The benefits of plants for dogs

Besides, do you know how many benefits some plants have for dogs? Some health problems (such as stress, anxiety, certain infections or arthritis) can be easily treated with certain plants.

However, as we will tell you in the next section, you will have to actively monitor what kind of plants are in your garden, inside your home or in the areas where you walk with him, some of them are very toxic and can seriously damage his health!

Should I let my dog eat grass?

First of all, if our dogs eat grass from time to time, there is no reason for us to worry. As we have seen, the intake of grass responds to an innate instinct of our beloved furry ones.

There is a very important point in all this: if we see that our dog eats grass very often and not other plants, we might have reason to worry. Why? Because it is very possible that our best friend is suffering some constant pain in the stomach, and his reaction is an almost desperate attempt to alleviate the discomfort.

Therefore, if we notice that our dogs begin to eat grass compulsively to provoke purging, it may be that something they are usually eating is upsetting them, in which case we will have to review their diet and eliminate foods until we find the "culprit" of this unpleasant situation for them.

Other times it is possible that your dog has something in his stomach that is causing him continuous discomfort and that has nothing to do with what he eats. He may have swallowed an object that he is not able to digest or expel no matter how much grass he eats. Therefore, if you see your dog eating grass compulsively, it is possible that he is doing it out of a desire to relieve that pain or discomfort.

However, and despite all the above, we must remain attentive to the type of plants they eat, as there are many dangerous plants for dogs such as ivy, poto, aloe, oleander, cica or poinsettia. Be very careful and keep your dog away from these plants because they are toxic for his organism and his life could be in danger. You should also be careful with the grass in public parks, as some municipalities carry out fumigation campaigns and your dog could be poisoned.

If my dog eats grass from time to time it is nothing bad in itself because he can obtain important nutrients for his diet while purging his digestive system. However, we are more relaxed about giving our best friend a nutritional supplement with the vitamin supplement for dogs and cats balukaVIT of Balukarich in vitamins and essential amino acids. Even if he doesn't stop eating grass, it's great for him!