Advice on puppy eating grass?

boardsie08

Hey guys,

I got a Samoyed puppy about 3 months ago, she's 5 months now.

Lately she has started eating grass a lot, and just this morning she had a trail of grass coming out of her anus. Long, shards of grass, completely undigested had passed through her completely.

Now, from what I've looked up it seems that dogs eating grass is quite common for a variety of reasons, one being them having an upset tummy.

About a week after we first got her she had a very upset tummy (loud gurgling/squelching noises) and we brought her to the Vet straight away who gave her antibiotics and a solution to mix with her water (I think it was like Dioralyte for humans), that seemed to do the job.

About two weeks late she had it again, so off to the vets with her again, and the Vet seemed to think she was ok, and wasn't too concerned when there wasn't blood in her stools etc..

She has all her shots, been wormed etc.. but again last night, and today her tummy sounds upset, and she's been burping quite a bit too, and get's these "hiccups"

We've brought her to the vet 3 times already for this alone, and whilst I would of course bring her again straight away in a heartbeat if there was anything seriously wrong with her, I must admit it's getting costly having to fork out E40 each time for him to take her temperature, tell us she's fine and go about our business again.

She's been kinda off her food too - now whilst she does eat it, eventually, she hasn't been wolfing it down like she used to. Normally she would devour it as soon it was left in front of her, but now she sniffs it, backs away from it and doesn't go near it. She does eventually eat all her meals, but her appetite seems to have diminished?

In all other regards she seems fine and healthy, playful, active, alert etc..

In short, she's a little off her food (but *does* eat it eventually), suffers from the odd burping, and hiccuping, and now and then she gets an upset tummy which makes gurgling/sqlueching noises.

Does this sound like anything serious? As I said we've brought her 3 times already to the Vet about this who wasn't too concerned.

We're currently feeding her Pedigree puppy nuts, and only give her water to drink, no milk whatsoever.

The only other thing I can think of is, being a puppy she's chewing everything in sight, and whilst she has lots of rubber chew toys etc.. I'm slightly concerned that she may have swallowed a piece of plastic or something some time ago that has caused a blockage somewhere which may be causing this? Does that sound plausible?

Has anyone ever experienced anything similar? What caused it, how did you resolve it?

Any information, tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

LovelyTom

If you think there could be a blockage or are worried about your pets health at all bring him/her straight to the vet.

Dogs eat a lot of grass if they have digestion problems or they're still hungry.
Have you been feeding your dog more as he/she's been growing?

boardsie08

Yes, we feed her 3-4 times a day and have gradually increased the amount she has been getting as she has grown quite a lot over the past few weeks.

I don't think it's a problem of her being hungry, as there are times when there is a bowl full of nuts and she will still go outside to eat grass and ignore the nuts.

As I said already we have brought her 3 times already with this complaint, and yes of course, obviously we'll bring her again straight away if needs be, however at this stage after having brought her 3 times already to the Vet only to be told that she's fine and only to bring her in again if there is blood in her stools, or she's vomiting (neither of which has happened) I'm not sure if a 4th visit will make any difference seeing as her symptoms haven't changed/worsened. Unless there's some specific check/test I can request to have done, as as it is, when I bring her in they just take her temperature, listen to her tummy and say she's fine.

I'm just wondering if I should be changing her food, or doing anything to help resolve this? The vet didn't give any advice on this regard, again only to keep an eye out for bloody stools, vomiting etc..

She's had her parvo shot, along with an 8-1 booster shot last month, so she's up to date with regards immuinization.

In doing a bit of research with my trusty, ever helpful friend Google, I see that raw hide can swell in the tummy and cause problems - she currently does have a raw hide bone which she chews on, so perhaps it's this that's causing the problem. Time to bin this I think!

LovelyTom

What brand of puppy nuts are you feeding her? are they different from what she was eating when with her breeder?

I wouldn't think it's the raw hide unless she's eaten the whole thing but I have heard of them cutting dogs gums. As an alternative there are chewy rubber bones that are flavoured which my dog prefers to the raw hide.

Glowing

Pedigree food is McDonalds for dogs. Put her on a good quality dry food like Hills Science Plan or Red Mills - there are loads of threads here about good quality food!

It should help!

boardsie08

We're currently feeding her Pedigree puppy nuts, she's been eating these since we got her about 3 months ago, so I assume her stomach should be well adjusted to these after this stage, but perhaps this is the cause.

I also recently bought her a bag of Purina puppy nuts, haven't switched over over to these yet though. If/when I do I will make sure to mix them with the Pedigree over the course of a few days so she gets used to them gradually.

Actually, what brand of puppy nuts would people reccommend? I have a number of Puppy books and books on Samoyeds, the general consensus seems to be that all brands are equally good, naturally if I thought there was something better out there to give her the best start in life I would give them to her instead.

No, she hasn't eaten the whole raw hide bone - just been nibbling at the corners. We got this for her a few weeks ago, we were told these were safer for dogs as they were edible.

We had a few rubber bones/play toys previously which she was destroying, I was worried about her swallowing the rubber, hence getting her the raw hide bone.

However since I made this post I have been reading some awful things about raw hide causing stomach upset in dogs, so I think I just may have found the culprit! In the bin it goes!

After reading some horror stories about the damage raw hide can do I must admit I'm very surprised to see that pet shops still sell and endorse raw hide bones..

boardsie08

Glowing; just posted before I saw your reply!

Thanks, I'll look into those other brands you mentioned along with checking out the other posts discussing this

Glowing

I think the general consensus is to stear clear of supermarket brands (Pedigree, Purina included). The vets should sell the better stuff, it WILL be more expensive but since the protein value will be higher, but he won't eat as much.

There are some good tips here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055333464

peasant

Get good quality adult food (no need for puppy food any more) with a protein content of no more than 20-22%, introduce that gradually by mixing it with the Pedigree in ever increasing quantities, reduce the feeds to twice a day and just let her eat grass if she wants to.

Unless she's competing with a cow on the grazing stakes, a bit of grass eating is nothing to worry about ..it could simply be eaten to flush out the hair that found its way into the stomach while she was grooming herself.

boardsie08

I don't mind paying a premium for better quality food, I just want the best for her and plan to have her around for a long, long time to come!

Hopefully an end to the raw hide bone and a change of diet should do the trick!

jenjo23

peasant wrote: »

Get good quality adult food (no need for puppy food any more) with a protein content of no more than 20-22%, introduce that gradually by mixing it with the Pedigree in ever increasing quantities, reduce the feeds to twice a day and just let her eat grass if she wants to.

Unless she's competing with a cow on the grazing stakes, a bit of grass eating is nothing to worry about ..it could simply be eaten to flush out the hair that found its way into the stomach while she was grooming herself.

Just a question on this Peasent. I've been told by everyone I've talked to (vets, trainers, numerous dog owners) that puppies stay on puppy food for a year and then move them to adult food? Should you move them onto adult food sooner?

Would there be specific cases where they should stay on it for a year/move off it earlier?

I'm just interested, my guys 3 months, so would like to know when I should be changing him over.

peasant

jenjo23 wrote: »

Just a question on this Peasent. I've been told by everyone I've talked to (vets, trainers, numerous dog owners) that puppies stay on puppy food for a year and then move them to adult food? Should you move them onto adult food sooner?

Would there be specific cases where they should stay on it for a year/move off it earlier?

I'm just interested, my guys 3 months, so would like to know when I should be changing him over.

On close inspection you will find that puppy food differs from normal dog food (of the same brand) on usually no more than two things

1) kibble size
2) price

I think that answers your question

As long as the pup is big enough to eat bigger kibbles without choking (ca. 5-6 months), you can give it adult food. Just make sure that the food generally is of good quality.

jenjo23

peasant wrote: »

On close inspection you will find that puppy food differs from normal dog food (of the same brand) on usually no more than two things

1) kibble size
2) price

I think that answers your question

As long as the pup is big enough to eat bigger kibbles without choking (ca. 5-6 months), you can give it adult food. Just make sure that the food generally is of good quality.

Thanks Peasant, appreciate it!

Pacino has no trouble with anything being too big for him to eat, he can have a dental stick gone in 2 minutes!

Phsyche

When my dog had an upset stomach and was throwing up for no reason I gave her Camomile tea for a couple of days. Two or three teaspoons during the day and it sorted her out:).

anniehoo

Mmmm i kind of dont necessarily agree with having to feed the highest quality food to your dog. If you can afford it, yes absolutely do but at the same time they will manage completely fine on an average brand of food. They are all formulated to meet dogs requirements, its a bit like humans eating cheap chicken over organic..we all know which one we should be eating but we do fine! My dog is 13 yrs old...never been sick a day in her life until she developed lymphoma last yr and that certainly wasnt from me not feeding her royal canin or the likes!

Killme00

anniehoo wrote: »

Mmmm i kind of dont necessarily agree with having to feed the highest quality food to your dog. If you can afford it, yes absolutely do but at the same time they will manage completely fine on an average brand of food. They are all formulated to meet dogs requirements, its a bit like humans eating cheap chicken over organic..we all know which one we should be eating but we do fine! My dog is 13 yrs old...never been sick a day in her life until she developed lymphoma last yr and that certainly wasnt from me not feeding her royal canin or the likes!

I dont think the premium brands are prohibitively more expnesive than pedigre or the other supermaket brands. I pay about €70 per month for a big bag of Hills Science Plan. If i bought two tins per day for a month i think it would be more expensive.

Sigma Force

I'd perhaps get a second opinion from a different vet, sounds like there is either a blockage or the pup has sensative tum. For now feed boiled chicken with rice instead and I would tbh take the pup straight to a vet and have an xray done in case it is a blockage. You know the pup better than the vets and it sounds like you aren't happy with the diagnosis. Ok vets are more qualified than joe soap but they don't live with the animal and they need the owners to tell them if there's something just not right.

Puppys can swallow all sorts of stuff even if you are very careful with them.

I'd chuck the ped chum it's horrible stuff makes them stink to high heaven.

boardsie08

Update:

This morning she had some very soft stools made and I was horrified to discover that there was blood in them. :eek:

Very worried about her now, going to bring her to the vets now (possibly a different one) I'll let you know how we get on. x

Honey-ec

Killme00 wrote: »

I dont think the premium brands are prohibitively more expnesive than pedigre or the other supermaket brands. I pay about €70 per month for a big bag of Hills Science Plan. If i bought two tins per day for a month i think it would be more expensive.

Just to clarify - Hill's is not much better than Pedigree or Purina. Everyone assumes it must be fantastic because A) it's reasonably expensive and so many vets push it. The fact of the matter is, vets get paid commission for selling it.

And I would never, EVER give rawhide to a dog. Anyone wondering why should cut off a piece of rawhide, leave it in a bowl of water overnight and have a look at it in the morning. Then tell me you like the idea of that happening in your dog's stomach!

The best thing you can give your dog to chew on is a raw marrowbone - most butchers will give you these for free.

Also, as far as I'm aware, Dentastix are not suitable for dogs under 9 months old.

Captain Ginger

Our dog has a very similar problem.

We solved it by getting a doggy food called "sensitive control" ask your vet about it, it's a big bag of biscut type things that you put in with their regular food.

Also our dog seems to find certain foods make him ill, like spuds/pasta and fish.

So to sum it up we feed ours a can of Winalot (dog food) and 5 handfulls of sensitive control and we no longer have an issue. And that's with giving him left over meat ad what not.

anniehoo

Honey-ec wrote: »

Just to clarify - Hill's is not much better than Pedigree or Purina. Everyone assumes it must be fantastic because A) it's reasonably expensive and so many vets push it. The fact of the matter is, vets get paid commission for selling it.

+1 with that statement

Boardsie08 i hope your dog is ok!

jenjo23

Honey-ec wrote: »

Also, as far as I'm aware, Dentastix are not suitable for dogs under 9 months old.

Given to my puppy by a veterinary nurse running our puppy class, so presumed it was ok, the other 5 puppies had them too and were fine.

mollydolly271

boardies08 u havent being on for an update i'm getting quite worried now???