Dogs and grass - a warning

[Rouleur]

That's the result of my Springer eating grass that was too tough to pass through him. I've always let him get away with scoffing a bit here and there as firstly AIUI it's generally good for their stomachs, and secondly it always seemed to come out the other end okay.

He's always been allowed to roam fairly freely but as he never goes very far from me I've bked him plenty of times for doing it, so he knows he's not really meant to eat grass. Thing is there's a particular type which he seems to like more than others and I can only assume that without me realising it he ate a load fairly recently which got stuck in his stomach and intestines causing him to vomit and then not eat.

As a result he underwent a 1.5 hour operation to remove it and was given only a 50/50 chance of recovering, but a week later he's doing fine and getting noticeably better each day.

I wanted to flag this up to everyone as I see dogs grazing from time to time and I guess that people are like I was and assume that it's perfectly alright. Be careful people!

[jagracer]

Hope he makes a full recovery. That's quite worrying as one of my JRs goes out in the garden about once a fortnight and eats himself silly on grass, he comes in and you can hear his tummy rumbling and squelching all night where it's digesting. Why do they do this, are they lacking something in their diet?

[bexVN]

That is really unlucky and warning noted. My whippet likes to chomp on grass and he likes the big blades, I let him eat a couple when I see him then usually stop him, I'll definitely be more watchful.

Was it definitely grass or was there other plant material?

Hope he continues his recovery.

[Rouleur]

Thanks. It was definitely grass, I know the type and it looks a bit like straw and grows in spikey clumps. It's very stiff which I guess means it won't bend when it meets an obstruction, hence the blockage.

[SPR2]

Sorry to hear this and hope he will soon be better. It sounds like rye grass to me, very dry too.

[mr2mk1chick]

poor chap!
i hadnt heard of this happening before - unlucky.
my dog loves to eat longer strands of grass from the edges of our lawn, but i don't think this sounds as harsg as the stuff your chap ate.
my dog usually sicks up the grass quite quickly though.

anyone else know why they eat it in the first place? is it for roughage?

[Skyedriver]

Our Springer eats grass ocassionally.....
thats when she cannot get sticks, socks, Christmascards, books, horse sh*t, etc etc
we feed her on the best food, god knows why when she scrounges everything that aint nailed down.
Worst worry was the sock, it was in there for about 4 days before it came back.
Would have gone to the vet but didn't beleive she had eaten it, just puzzled where it had gone

[Changedmyname]

Our lab is the same as most on here, my mum used to say "There's something in that grass " of every dog we have had,they all do it,maybe the k9s like a salad with their meat?