shelter dogs eating grass

[lute]

i volunteer at the humane society and when i take the dogs ut to run aroung they ALL eat a bunch of grass.they graze like little cows. i was wondering why they do this and if it is a bad thing.

thanks:)

[Kfamr]

Sometimes dogs eat grass if they have upset stomaches. It's not the case all of the time.. but it could be.

[G.P.girl]

my dog used to eat grass and then throw up all the time. i don't think she had an upset stomach ache though. mayb eshe was justwierd

[slleipnir]

Josie eats a lot of grass too actually..And sometimes she'll throw up from it as well O_O

[Twisterdog]

My dogs had grass in their yard years ago, but they killed it all by digging giant craters. Now they just have dirt.

When I let them out in the grass front yard, or take them to the park, they all eat grass like crazy.

My guess is that there is something in grass that dogs need, in a small quantity. Perhaps a dog that always has access to grass just nibbles a few blades here and there, and gets what they need. But dogs that only have access to grass once in a while wolf down a lot of it at once.

I, too, have noticed shelter dogs kept on concrete and dirt doing this.

I have heard that the "dogs eat grass when they feel sick, because it makes them throw up" theory is actually a myth. I don't know for sure ... but my dogs don't usually throw up after eating grass.

[lute]

my dog eats grass too,but never throws up afterwords. i never looked at it as they ate it cause they needed too. i just thought it was like some sort of stress thing for shelter dogs or something like that.
thanks for everyone's input

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Drake LOVES grass! He never throws up afterwards.

[Canis Amicus]

Me too, i walk dogs from a shelter. All of them eat grass, only very few of them throw up, among these, few of them have allso diarhea. But the majority do not throw up.

[MariaM]

This is my theory. Lets say they are perfectly fine and they eat grass. Nothing will probably happen. If they have an upset stomache though, then they will probably throw up. When Oscar got sick (I think he ate cardboard =/ silly dog) we came home and there was puke all over my aunt's hardwood floor. It had cardboard and grass in it so we figure he ate the grass to help him. They said he doesn't usually eat grass. So maybe some dogs just like grass and some don't.

[mugsy]

I did a dogpile search and here are a couple of articles about it....

http://www.petplace.com/articles/artPrinterFriendly.asp?conID=21790

http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2003-12-19-wonderquest-dogs-grass_x.htm

[Toby's Mommy]

Boo Boo also eats grass (along with an assortmant of other things) I have never seen if throw up though.

[Kathleen]

Our two dogs both eat grass when we are out and also on our property. In fact my dad and I call them our sheep because they eat so much grass.

I read that it cleans them out when they need too clean out their system.

OUR last golden retriever would eat it and then throw it all up.

Cats need it and in fact they say if you have inside cats, you should grow grass for them to nibble on. Maybe that is why cats go after plants inside and eat them.