My female Boerboel, Sugar, has got into a habit of eating grass after her evening meal, making herself sick, re-eating her sick and then she is being sick in the night and then wanting to eat that too, it looks like the entire contents of her stomach, and an awful lot of grass, it seems like she is doing it purely to eat again, it is driving me nuts.

She also eats as much grass as she can when we are over the fields, as does Kaiser, but he is never sick after. This is really becoming a problem, and it can't be good for her to keep vomiting. Last night she was sick twice, and both times it was like someone had thrown a bucket of water with undigested food on the floor, there are no signs of worms, she has no temperature, cool head/nose/ears, no diarrhea, and she is as bouncy and manic as always.

The eating grass over the fields I can stop her from doing, (she is also eating grass in the garden) though it is difficult when Kaiser is grazing like a cow too, they are obsessed with it! She is never sick straight away, (she reserves that for after her evening meal hours later, and I always make them be quiet and rest after meals, because of the whole bloat thing) she doesn't drink huge quantities of water after eating or exercise for the same reason.

It honestly seems like she is doing it just to eat again, and like the Duchess's baby, to annoy me - yes I am becoming irrational, lack of sleep does that to me!

I know I am going to have to sharpen up on the 'leave it' although I am already starting to sound like a bloody parrot, and I know it would be better if she was on raw, but that just isn't an option at the moment, practically, and financially, but can anyone please shed some light on why she could be doing this, and what, if anything, I can do to break the cycle?

Thanks.

Is there no vomiting if the dog is denied access to grass?

To be honest I have considered that, so today I took her out on her own on a road walk, she was trying to snap at the grass verges though.

I have gone out into the garden with her each time she needs to be busy, and I was thinking I will feed her half the amount of kibble she usually gets, so around 300gm, and feed her earlier than normal, the weird thing is, it is hours and hours between the grass grazing and the vomiting, but as soon as she has had her evening meal, which is around 5PM, she heads straight for the grass area and then of course throws up fairly soon after, then goes back to it straight away.

The throwing up in the middle of the night is hours after she has re-eaten what she chucked up, and that is when the grass re-appears.

I have no idea why this may be happening. My only thought is to wonder if there could be something lacking nutritionally but that's pretty unlikely.

But I do love the "Alice" reference.

"But I do love the "Alice" reference" I applied that to my human babies too!


Well as I have said, they are on a cheaper kibble due to the aforementioned skintness, but they have been on that for months, plus, Boerboels have the constitution of Ox's, last week while I was vacuuming, Kaiser got to a litre of cooling sunflower oil that was above the sink, on a high window sill, absolutely no effects at all - where there is a Boerboel, there is a way

In every other way, Sugar is fit as a flea, (touch wood) and once she has been sick, she is bouncing round like a nutter as usual.

Hey Tracey,
are you giving your dogs yogurt?

I had the same problem with Tucker, he would graze like a cow when we were on walks....but he never threw up after it.

I figured he had some stomach issues so it was suggested to me to start giving him plain yogurt with active named cultures in it in the mornings. First thing so that his stomach is empty and the "cultures" can do their thing.

It has definately helped with his need to graze...he still does it occassionally....but he isn't standing there eating it like he's a cow anymore.

I haven't got them on yoghurt, but if it helps her with the grazing obsession I will definitely get some, what size tub would you recommend?

I don't know if it is because the Boerboels are just piggy or what, but I bumped into a girl coming off the field at the weekend, and while the Pointers and the pup sat quietly waiting, both the Boerboels were chomping away on the meadow grass like bloody goats the whole time, I don't think she and I spoke an entire sentence because I was yelling 'leave it!' constantly, annoying and embarrassing!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

Is there no vomiting if the dog is denied access to grass?

I would want to know this. For a while, I'd probably move the dog along too fast for grass-eating or whatever I had to do to get this answer.

Lots of dogs eat grass, especially in spring. But this kind of sounds beyond the usual urge, especially with the regular vomiting.

Get whatever size you can find...larger ones are always better in the long run.

Just make sure that it's natural plain yogurt and that the active cultures are NAMED on the container and it doesn't just say active cultures. I found that anything in the Supermarket wasn't up to par...so I started to purchase my yogurt from a health food store.
And nothing with sugars added. Just plain.
Tucker (75lbs...less than your guys im sure) gets about 1/4 cup in the morning before he eats anything...then I also give him a couple tablespoons when I get home from work. I found that his tendency to graze was always on our walks later in the day. So I threw in the bit extra just to be safe before we go for a walk.

Make sure you give it to them gradually. Some dogs don't take to milk products too well. So I started out with just a couple Tablespoons & gradually upped it till i reached the desired 1/4 cup. I did it over a 2 week period so I could see how his system did with the dairy first.

Just keep in mind that it didn't totally stop him from snatching a few blades now and then, but his grass eating definately lessened over a couple weeks. For all I know he could just like the taste of grass...lol

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/nutritioninformation/f/FAQ_eatgrass.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/pets/dog-health/why_do_dogs_eat_grass.htm