Yesterday as we were heading out the gate for a walk, tanka started licking up in the air like he had peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth, then he started eating grass. He eats grass a lot, but not like this. He meant busuness. He even laid down and started eating. WHen I moved toward the gate after a minute or two, he came right along, not even caring about the missed walk. I had looked in his mouth and there was nothing there. He ate more grass after we came back to the yard and I let him go, then I took him inside.

I watched him close all day. he ate, drank, played, slept. he only did the licking right then. He did seem a little lethargic if left on his own, but he does that some days, it's hot, and he hates the heat. if I engaged him, he engaged me.he was really laid back in the evening, and when I checked him for ticks, he got up and moved away and went to lay somewhere else.I think he didn't feel good.

Near to morning, he threw up a huge pile of grass with a small stone, and piece of carrot he had from my salad. He seemd fine again. But again, this morning he made the licking the air thing, and nothing there. This was in the house, not at the same place as yesterday.Nothing going on, no one around, nothing stressing him, or abnormal. I listened for stomach sounds both the day before and this morning. They were fine. He pooped fine on the walk. Played, seemed fine. He has not done it since.

can anyone shed some light on this? WHy does a dog do the licking?

Any chance he got a bee sting?

Vince is a bee killing machine. We’ve got a real problem this year and I swear he’s killed over a hundred. When one’s got him he does the type of licking you’re describing. Often he will go for a nibble of grass afterward, not the way you’re describing but it may have some sort of soothing effect on the sting. I have no idea what that’s about.

Just a thought.

That would be a perfect and very realistic explanation for yeaterday morning, because he put his nose to the grass right before he did it. Ithought he picked something up, but he hadn't. I looked. But then it wouldn't make sense for this morning when we ere inside, unless it just happened to bother him. He is very sensitive to bug bites and things, just like his Mom. And I mean me, not dog mom.

No bees, your dog just had an upset stomach.

Dogs do that when they are nauseous or otherwise not feeling very well. Also explains the grass eating.

JMO, but I wouldn't allow the grass eating. It isn't medicinal and is only an exercise in frustration at not feeling well. The only thing that grass does is make an indigestible, irritating mass in their stomach. Then they either puke it out or have diarrhea. In the case if my dog, grass eating irritates his bowel to the point of bloody diarrhea.

Not good, and I discourage it.

Hmmm... Tanka had something wrong for probably the first year+ of his life, off and on diarrhea, and numerous bacterial infections. I kept having tests done at the vet, and antibiotics. Finally did what I thought was best and gave him two rounds of metrodonizale, and it cleared it up, that was back in about January of this year. Wish I had listened to myself way before that, instead of the vet.

ANyway, I bet he got in the habit of eating grass. all those months of fighting whatever was wrong. He eats grass most days, only a bit her and there, but at some point, he does. When we go to the barn, he tries to eat hay. He rarely throws it up, but every once in a great while he does, usually sometime during the night. Like last night,but I was pretty much expecting that, with as much as he ate. he even chews on the long grass that hangs over the porch when we sit on the porch.

That will be fun to try to stop, an ingrained habit.

Well, I probably didn't help his stomach at all today by giving him his Interceptor. He was overdue a couple days.

Thanks. Now I can just worry if the upset stomach is from the ticks. :-(

 Quote: julie sloan

ANyway, I bet he got in the habit of eating grass. all those months of fighting whatever was wrong. He eats grass most days, only a bit her and there .... That will be fun to try to stop, an ingrained habit.

How old is he?

Does he have the leave it command?

What's his diet? If it's raw, does it include some produce or green tripe? (I do not think that a diet insufficiency is a common trigger for grass-eating, but might as well rule it out anyway.)

I agree 100% with Michael about discouraging grass-eating. It has its use in some dogs, who you will see gulp down unchewed grass and immediately vomiting. But as for "grazer" dogs, I think the jury is still out on why.

But this form of pica on a daily basis has no good side to it, IMO, for all the reasons Michael gave and for the pesticide/fertilizer reason as well as the auto-exhaust reason with grass near a street or driveway.

He is 22 months. Yes, he does, although it is not 100%. We are actively working on it.

No he doesn't eat raw. he eats origin senior for the summer and adult for the winter.Same flavor, chicken based.

Yes, I agree. I just didn't see any reason to address it if it wasn't making him throw up, but I will address it. At least we are 100% organic, and live in the country, so the toxins are reduced as opposed to chemicals or town life.

We have always wondered why he does it too.

He is laying around today acting like he doesn't feel well, although I fed him alight dinner and he ate. I went for th thermometer to take his temp and the end was broken right out of the box new. Grr... ANyway, he was going to the vet in the morning anyway to weigh him for his HW med(he's right at the 100 pound mark so he gets weighed every month) so I will get them to take his temp while we are there just to make sure he doesn't have a fever and we need to be more concerned.

As for now, he's eating, drinking, will play if I engage him, and not vomiting or having diarrhea.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

No bees, your dog just had an upset stomach.

Dogs do that when they are nauseous or otherwise not feeling very well. Also explains the grass eating.

JMO, but I wouldn't allow the grass eating. It isn't medicinal and is only an exercise in frustration at not feeling well. The only thing that grass does is make an indigestible, irritating mass in their stomach. Then they either puke it out or have diarrhea. In the case if my dog, grass eating irritates his bowel to the point of bloody diarrhea.

Not good, and I discourage it.

My dog is raw fed & eats grass all the time, every chance she can get = she neither vomits or has diarrhea.
She is also fed green tripe, the real deal.
I think of it more as roughage, maybe not normal = tell her.

OK.....

Bet your dog would like a meal of cooked chicken bones washed down with antifreeze, too. Your point?

 Quote: Michael_Wise

OK.....

Bet your dog would like a meal of cooked chicken bones washed down with antifreeze, too. Your point?

Asshole