Have you ever wondered why your dogs or cats sometimes try to eat grass?
If you own a dog, you will get used to it being able to eat just about anything. An author of How Stuff Works said he had a dog named Loretta Lou. Once, when he was 2 years old, he ate a bottle of cranberry pill. You took the dog to the vet to make him vomit. Dose. Two doses. No effect. Little Lou is still not vomiting or having diarrhea. Then all he wants is to graze. The vet is also mistaken for Lou.
Loretta also eats grass every spring and summer, which is not surprising. Dogs often eat grass. But Loretta never vomited or coughed or anything else when she ate weed, she had a “stony” stomach.
I don’t know why Loretta or all of the other dogs eat grass, the author said. Most people believe they are doing it because they are lacking something in their diet or because they are sick. However, is this the truth?
In fact, many people believe that dogs can get sick from eating grass or even after getting sick from eating grass. This is because pet owners often notice their dogs vomiting after a grassy snack, although it is never clear whether grazing causes illness, or if it does, subsequent vomiting or not. However, the scientific answer can be “no”.
In 2008, researchers at the University of California at Davis (USA) attempted to cut the grass and uncover the mystery. They conducted the study of 25 students with dogs. All are said to be herbivores. No one had seen these dogs get sick before they ate the grass.
The researchers also interviewed 47 dog owners who brought their pets to the university teaching hospital for outpatient care. 76% say they see their pets eating plants, mostly grass. Four dogs had fallen ill earlier, and only six subsequently vomited.
Scientists then opened a survey of 3,000 people by answering a series of questions online (the survey was then limited to 1,571 people). 68% saw their dogs eating plants (mostly grass) every day or every week. Only 8% said their puppies had previous signs of illness and 20% noticed they had been vomiting before.
Dr Benjamin Hart, one of the study’s authors, said: “Contrary to the general perception that the herbivore is associated with signs of illness and vomiting, we found that the herbivore was a behavior common in dogs unrelated to the disease, as well as in dogs that do not induce vomiting frequently afterwards. Vomiting appears to be random and not caused by ingestion of plants.
Dr Cailin Heinze, a nutritionist at Tufts University’s Cummings Veterinary Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, shook his head when asked to explain why herbivores in general and why some dogs vomited while others did not. She said, “A lot of them do this, we don’t know why. Sometimes it’s related to nausea / vomiting, and sometimes not, it doesn’t seem like grazing has anything to do with it. that, ”she said.
In another study, scientists found that cats also ate grass regularly and had nothing to do with upset stomachs or other illnesses. Most cats or dogs do not induce vomiting afterwards.
So far, science has not been able to explain why dogs and cats eat grass, only concluding that this is a common behavior of these animals. Make sure it has nothing to do with your pet’s illness.
Many people believe that dogs or cats are obligate predators, which means they can only eat meat. However, research has shown that dogs and wolves are actually omnivores and get a healthy portion of their nutrients from plants on a daily basis.
Numerous studies have found evidence of green plants and berries in the diet of wild wolves, suggesting that this makes up a small but important part of their food intake.
Additionally, grass is a great source of fiber, which can easily be missing from a normal dog’s diet.
