Dog eating leaves

catembi

catembi

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Dog is obsessed by eating leaves/greenery & I am not sure why! 7 yo Rottie x black lab. He has a thyroid issue so has been on tablets for ages & is closely monitored by the vets with 6 monthly blood tests. He has lost weight from 65 kg to 52 kg over a couple of years.

Sometimes (several times a week) he gets really unsettled & has a strange barking fit and wants to be let outside. Once let out, he dives to the nearest greenery & starts frantically eating it. Anything he can get - grass, random leaves etc. Then he seems to get it out of his system & wants to come back in. Seems healthy otherwise. His diet is a mixture of wet & dry food. The other Rottie is fed the same & doesn't have the same desperate urge to eat leaves periodically.

Does he need some sort of supplement or is it one for the vet, although you'd think that a deficiency would show up in his bloods? They did a full panel recently.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you!
 
Could he be feeling nauseous do you think? I had a little terrier Patterdale and she came to us in pup (obviously your boy can't be in pup!) and in the hours leading up to the birth she was frantically in and out eating leaves until each time she sicked them up. A twenty minute rest then off she would go again, stressing around barking and crying until she could stuff down enough to make herself vomit. Our vets seemed to think she was feeling sick and literally ate any rubbish to make herself sick to get rid of the feeling. She never did it again after the birth so really not sure.

Sorry, waffling away and probably no help but possibly an indicator.
 
That's interesting - thank you. I've never seen him actually throw up but perhaps he's feeling sick...? Who knows! His behaviour is exactly as you've described, stressing, barking & crying, & trying to let himself out by jumping up & pulling the door handle.
 
My Lurcher is similar.

She will ask to go outside and then will frantically graze.

The episodes are short lived, she is seldom actually sick and is seemingly completely healthy otherwise.

Her episodes are less frequent than your dog, but I would say probably 3-4 times a month or so.

She has routine bloods for her arthritis, for which she only had a panel ran about two weeks ago. All fine.

As the episodes are short and self resolving, I am not particularly concerned, however if anyone has suggestions in how to prevent it, I would also be interested.
 
I'd be wondering if there's GI discomfort - any issues with his stool? Enough fibre in his diet? Any changes to his drinking behaviour? (They can start eating greenery as a response to dehydration, but that doesn't sound like what's going on here.)

Because it's a new behaviour, it's distressing him and he's got a medical history, I'd keep a diary of when the episodes occur - what time of day; how long after his last meal (+ what he ate); how long since he last drank; when he last excreted/weed; and anything else that seems relevant - to see if there's a pattern forming. Then you have the information to give to the vet to see if that'll aid with diagnosis. No point wasting money on a supplement unless you know what you're trying to treat.
 
catembi said:
Dog is obsessed by eating leaves/greenery & I am not sure why! 7 yo Rottie x black lab. He has a thyroid issue so has been on tablets for ages & is closely monitored by the vets with 6 monthly blood tests. He has lost weight from 65 kg to 52 kg over a couple of years.

Sometimes (several times a week) he gets really unsettled & has a strange barking fit and wants to be let outside. Once let out, he dives to the nearest greenery & starts frantically eating it. Anything he can get - grass, random leaves etc. Then he seems to get it out of his system & wants to come back in. Seems healthy otherwise. His diet is a mixture of wet & dry food. The other Rottie is fed the same & doesn't have the same desperate urge to eat leaves periodically.

Does he need some sort of supplement or is it one for the vet, although you'd think that a deficiency would show up in his bloods? They did a full panel recently.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you!
Click to expand...

I posted this today on another thread. https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portal...paraesthesia_Mills_Coutts_McPeake_2023_1_.pdf.

I'm not suggesting your dog has behaviour problems but if you have a look at the Dog Pain Screen on page 16 it mentions A strong appetite for green plants e.g. grass or leaves.

It might be worth asking your vet to have a look at him to rule out pain or discomfort.
 
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This thread is very intersting, i had a look at what Skinnydipper posted. Need to look at it in details.

My 8 years old Basset Hound has started to act strangely, she had two episodes of suddenly wanting to eat anything in sight, one at lunch time
yesterday and aother one this morning.

Both time, it happen several hours after eating, this morning she started licking her lips and moving her mouth like she was going to throw up then rushed outside to eat some grenery..

Iv'e noticed that she drinks more than usual but the weather has been hot here.

I took her outside quickly and she ate some more grass then stopped, had a pee and a normal poo.

We did our walk normally and she seemed fine. She wasn't sick.

I gave her less food today and kept her usual routine.

She has monthly physio visit and is on a product similar to youmove recommended by my vet. ( we don't get it here )

She moves freely and act normally.

If it occurs again, i will take her to the vet of course.

Any advices welcomed
 
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