They dive into the gardens, roll around in the greenery and… okay, wait a minute: why do dogs eat grass
This is a very common behavior and it is commonly thought that quadrupeds do it when they are sick. As always happens with dogs, however, things are more complex than you think.
The fact is that we don’t really know why dogs eat grass. This is one of the many aspects of dogs that has not yet been discovered. Pending the scientific evidence that tells us how things really are, scholars put forward hypotheses, highlighting that these are hypotheses and not certainties, and we are dealing with these today. Here are the most accredited hypotheses (not in order of importance).
Index
- The taste
- Girl
- Seeking attention
- They want to eat
- A legacy of the past
- They are not well
- Bridging nutritional deficits and improving digestion
- But grass is bad for dogs or they can eat it
Taste
One possible reason why dogs eat grass and that they love the taste, or rather, the tastes since there are so many different types of grass. There are dogs, in fact, who eat all the grass they find and dogs who instead carefully select which one to graze. Often the conditions in which and the weed also matter. Our Oban, for example, only eats it if it is wet. Boredom Outings
are not all the same for dogs, there are good outings and bad outings and one of the characteristics of bad outings is that the dog gets bored. The reasons can be different: for example, if you always visit the same place and there is always the same company, the dog loses interest.
The same happens if you do not walk, if our four zape is not put in a position to exercise the mind and body, if it is not adequately stimulated, if there are no friends to play with (this is more the case for puppies). . A way to engage and eat weed. Seeking attention
A mistake that many dog ​​companions make is to take them outside and not devote themselves to the dog but always talk on the phone or chat with other humans. The dog that feels ignored may require attention and may have learned that eating grass is a great way, because its grazing generates a reaction.
Protests and scoldings from the human are still attentions and for dogs, bad attention is better than no attention. Having discovered that the method works, the dog that feels ignored and wants to be spun, grazes grass. They want to eat
Dogs (understood as a species, single dogs are unique individuals each with its own characteristics and there are also dogs for which food is not important) would always eat and since in domestic dogs the diet is regulated, the eating grass satisfies the craving for snacks throughout the day. A legacy of the past
The ancestors of our dogs ate everything they could find, including the carcasses of herbivorous animals and the grass they ate. According to some theories, therefore, eating grass is an atavistic behavior inherited from ancestors. They are not well
As we saw at the beginning, eating grass is commonly associated with being unwell. In fact, it often happens that dogs throw up after eating grass. The scientific community is divided on this hypothesis because in reality it has not been established whether dogs eat grass because they feel bad or they feel bad because they eat it and these are two very different issues.
Even if it is not yet known whether they eat it because they feel bad or if they feel bad because they eat it, there seems to be a correlation (which is not a cause-and-effect relationship) between the way the herb is eaten and what it is. it happens later.
In fact, it seems that only dogs that eat grass very quickly vomit it up, while those that eat it slowly vomit it very rarely. Not only that, vomiting after eating grass seems more common in those who eat it occasionally while those used to eating it tend not to vomit it. Bridging nutritional deficits and improving digestion
Grass is rich in fiber and other elements and according to some theories dogs eat it to compensate for nutritional deficiencies in their usual diet. In this system, dogs would also eat grass to stimulate digestion. But grass is bad for dogs or they can eat
it In general, grass is not bad for dogs and you can let them eat it. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- What kind of herb is it?
Where is it? The danger is herbicides, chemicals and other substances harmful to health; - Eating weed is new to him / her If it is new it can simply be the discovery of a new flavor that they like, and in that case there is obviously nothing to worry about except that the weed is healthy, free. of herbicides, chemical agents and other harmful substances. Suddenly starting to eat grass can also be a symptom of something wrong and must be treated as all new dog behaviors – contextualized, evaluated and, if anomalies are suspected, contact the veterinarian for further information and then possibly a dog educator (who must be professional, serious and prepared).
A help to understand if eating grass is a symptom of a problem and how the dog eats it: if he eats it compulsively it is appropriate to investigate, if instead he eats it calmly, there is generally no reason to be alarmed .
