Obsessive Grass Eating

[BRTMember]

I finally thought I had found the perfect food for my maltese/poodle boy. This has been a cycle for him that just seems to be getting worse the older he gets. He’ll do really well at the start of a food, but after a couple of months he starts obsessively eating grass. I leash walk him, so of course I try to keep him from doing it, but it’s at a point where we will walk by a patch of grass and he will crane his neck to get a bite. It’s getting very frustrating for me because I cannot figure out what’s going on.

I switched him to Zignature Trout and Salmon exactly one month ago. He was doing great on it. No grass eating at all. Even now when I feed him he just gobbles up the food and gets excited when he sees me get it out of the cabinet. Poop is formed and firm. He does poop quite a bit, about four times a day. Besides this grass eating he’s active and happy.

I’m not sure what to do here. I know if I take him to the vet she’s going to want to put him on a prescription food. I’ve been trying so hard to avoid that. But, I feel like I’ve tried everything I can.

Do you think it’s a matter of adding a probiotic to his diet? The only supplements he gets are his hypoallergenic glucosamine chew and an Omega 3 pill.

• This topic was modified 5 years ago by  BRT.

[SusanMember]

Hi BRT, my Patch does this every time I start introducing him to a new kibble the first month he goes real well, now we are into our 2 month & he’s starting to eat grass again of a morning & before lunch..His poos are perfect nice & firm..He’s on a good dog probiotic, I think the new food either gives him stomach acid or makes him feel sick, but the Wellness Simple Duck & Oatmeal has been the longest that he’s been without eating his grass on, when trying a new kibble, Im mixing in a little of his vet prescription diet again & he seems better again & stopped the grass eating, he mite eat grass once a week instead of everday when Ive mixed in the vet diet…..I found you need to pick kibbles like the vet diets lower in fat% around 10% fat & lower in protein% I stay around 21-24% for protein & things seem OK, but as soon as I increase the protein & fat % Patch becomes a cow with his grass eating again, also pick an easy to digest limited ingredient kibble, that way there’s not as much ingredients to cause this, I want Patch off his vet prescription diet but if he feels better & it stops his grass eating maybe he’ll have to stay on the vet presription diet Eukanuba & I just mix in his Wellness Simple as well…. I found another Wellness kibble, the Small Breed Complete Healthy weight the fat% max is 11% but the protein is 28% & it has L-Garnitine that suppose to help the body utilize fat.. so when the Simple is finished I’ll try a bag of the Wellness Small breed Healthy Weight & mix with Patch Vet diet & see if I can slowly take away the Eukanuba Intestinal…Good-Luck

[MelissaandcrewMember]

Try feeding him a lower fat food. If I recall correctly, Zignature has high fat to meat ratio. No dog should be eating grass constantly, and in my experience its from an upset stomach.

[BRTMember]

So, the vet’s suggestion for now is to give him 4mg of Pepcid (famotidine) first thing in the morning to see if that helps. So far, so good. He didn’t eat grass at all this morning, but tried at lunchtime. I might also add a teaspoon of pumpkin to his food to see if that helps.

I continuously research food so I appreciate what you all are saying. Will definitely look into a lower fat food.

Thanks!

[DogFoodieMember]

Every time the subject of Pepcid comes up, I think of Losul’s post here: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/desperate-for-help-vomits-every-day/page/4/#post-47439

Take a look at what he wrote near the bottom of the post in the paragraph beginning with BTW.

[BRTMember]

Thank you so much for posting that. I had no idea. His vet basically told me I could give him 4mg of Pepcid every morning for the rest of his life (he’s 8 year’s old).

I guess I’m bad to the drawing board. This is been an ongoing struggle to find the right food and it’s getting worse the older he’s getting. I’m optimistic in the beginning then after about a month it goes downhill (and this is with almost every food I’ve tried).

The only one he had been on for years without problem was Natural Balance LID Venison, but I stopped feeding him that after the recalls.

[BRTMember]

I just wanted to post a quick update. Before switching foods again I thought I’d try adding pumpkin their kibble. It’s actually made a difference. I’m wondering if his poop was too firm and he was eating grass to soften it up(?). Just guessing here. But, I add a teaspoon of canned pumpkin to their kibble and he isn’t eating grass anymore. I’ll see how long this works. Thanks for all of the advice. If this bombs then off to Wellness Simple.

Oh, and I stopped the Pepcid.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by  BRT.

[CyndiMember]

So glad you got it figured out BRT, but you should switch foods anyway. Rotating foods is beneficial and maybe, since he started eating grass so much and then you switched foods and he stopped, maybe it would benefit him even more…. Just throwing that out there, but I’m sure you are just so happy he stopped eating grass.

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