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Constant Grass Eating

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German Shepherd K

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hi

Looking for some advice.

I have a German shepherd cross who constantly searches for long grass to it. Sometimes makes her sick (just the grass and orange bile comes up) and sometimes not sick. You know when she is in need of grass as her stomach gurgles so loud you can hear it in the next room, she won’t settle, barks at you constantly! She regularly doesn’t eat anything but grass for 72 hours!

About a year ago I spend £500 on lots of blood tests but brought back nothing. Over the years vets have had her on different medication for excess acid/indigestion etc but none worked. I’ve tried her on different foods over the years but nothing. It does seem to be getting worse as she gets older - she’s 13 now.

When I say eats a lot of grass I can literally be standing there for 20-30 as she is munching on grass like her life depends on it. She hardly comes up for air!!

Any tips/ advice would be much appreciated. Mystery to me and mystery to the different vets I’ve been to over the years. She had me wandering the streets at 3am the other night as her stomach was gurgling that much
 
What do you feed her, and how often? How about if you fed her smaller portions of her normal food but more frequently to keep her tummy from getting empty?
 
We’ve tried this also! But the problem most of the time is getting her to eat. She’s never been a one to gobble her food down. I sometimes even hand feed her just to trick her into eating.

She has Wainwright’s dry food mixed with a pets at home own brand (I was fed up of throwing expensive food in the bin so this way it’s a bit cheaper). She has lamb or fish flavour (when she was younger she always got blocked anal glands with chicken flavour so I still clear of it in case there’s a bit of an allergy to it). On a morning she has it mixed with 1/3 tin of butchers tripe mix (any other wet food gives her diorreah). Then on an evening she has it mixed with white fish that I cook fresh for her!!
 
Have you ever tried her on a raw diet? If not, would you consider it? You might also consider giving her an alternative vegetable source. You can make your own, or try something like Nature's Menu frozen veg nuggets, or a mix like Smartbarf (I'm sure there are others).

There's no guarantee, of course, as the underlying cause isn't known.

What are her poos like? Apart from being full of grass, I'm guessing...
 
JudyN said:
Have you ever tried her on a raw diet? If not, would you consider it? You might also consider giving her an alternative vegetable source. You can make your own, or try something like Nature's Menu frozen veg nuggets, or a mix like Smartbarf (I'm sure there are others).

There's no guarantee, of course, as the underlying cause isn't known.

What are her poos like? Apart from being full of grass, I'm guessing...
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No I’ve not tried a raw diet - will look into it. Her poos are generally fine unless she finds something on the floor that the kids have dropped! Sausage also doesn’t agree with her.
 
Do ask if you have any questions on the raw diet - there's several members here who feed it.
 
German Shepherd K said:
I would t know where to start so any advice would be welcomed with open arms
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The basic outline is that you feed a variety of raw muscle meat, bones and offal (around 80% meat, 10% bones, 10% offal) - and you can add in extras like veg, raw egg, yoghurt... A good website is this one: About - (I don't use them myself so I'm not just trying to promote them!) - they have a booklet you can download for free as a pdf.

It takes a while to get your head round it, but is easy and simple once you've sussed it out. Though for larger dogs, it helps to have plenty of freezer space. My dog had soft poos and dreadful wind whatever kibble I tried him on, but he firmed up and became a lot ore fragrant pretty much overnight when I switched. His coat felt softer too.
 
German Shepherd K said:
I would t know where to start so any advice would be welcomed with open arms
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You could start by trying giving her little raw meat treats between her normal feeding. If your family eats meat, you could take a a little of mince off from your portion before cooking and see if she is interested of having a nibble before buying raw meat in for her. Any chewy bits from steaks/roasts etc. Chop a wings off from chicken before it heads into oven....
If she accepts those and providing you start in small amounts here and there, her tummy soon get used to her new diet and you could start exploring what you could get her from the pet shop frozen section.
If her grass eating is reaction to commercial dog food ingredients she should start showing different behaviour as the portion of commercial food is getting less and less.
Fresh Chicken wings are often cheaper in supermarket than buying those that are sold in pet shops...maybe you have a good butcher in town who is happy to sell some meat off cuts for right price? But don't feed much fatty cuts as it hard to digest and it is too much energy to use up too...little 'white stuff' does not matter in the meat but in excess it can bring troubles.
Frozen chicken hearts goes down well with my girls...they are just right kind of little bite size pieces. I put some in bowl and cover it with boiling water and wait for a minute or two before draining the water off. They are then slightly warm but still raw to serve and very tempting to their taste buds.

Just something to think about...
 
Chicken wings might be a little small for a GSD - you don't want anything she might try to swallow whole and get stuck in her throat. Though I think it's OK if you break it up with a hammer first, or hold it for her to chew. I give chicken carcasses (what's left after the breasts, legs, wings, etc. have been removed) to my large dog.
 
Finsky said:
You could start by trying giving her little raw meat treats between her normal feeding. If your family eats meat, you could take a a little of mince off from your portion before cooking and see if she is interested of having a nibble before buying raw meat in for her. Any chewy bits from steaks/roasts etc. Chop a wings off from chicken before it heads into oven....
If she accepts those and providing you start in small amounts here and there, her tummy soon get used to her new diet and you could start exploring what you could get her from the pet shop frozen section.
If her grass eating is reaction to commercial dog food ingredients she should start showing different behaviour as the portion of commercial food is getting less and less.
Fresh Chicken wings are often cheaper in supermarket than buying those that are sold in pet shops...maybe you have a good butcher in town who is happy to sell some meat off cuts for right price? But don't feed much fatty cuts as it hard to digest and it is too much energy to use up too...little 'white stuff' does not matter in the meat but in excess it can bring troubles.
Frozen chicken hearts goes down well with my girls...they are just right kind of little bite size pieces. I put some in bowl and cover it with boiling water and wait for a minute or two before draining the water off. They are then slightly warm but still raw to serve and very tempting to their taste buds.

Just something to think about...
Click to expand...
This sounds great - thank you. I always give her a little bit of raw mince when I’m using it to cook and she loves it. Thank you
 
JudyN said:
Chicken wings might be a little small for a GSD - you don't want anything she might try to swallow whole and get stuck in her throat. Though I think it's OK if you break it up with a hammer first, or hold it for her to chew. I give chicken carcasses (what's left after the breasts, legs, wings, etc. have been removed) to my large dog.
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How much would you feed as a meal? Twice a day? She weighs about 26kg - she’s very slim as we guess she is crossed with lurcher/greyhound (rescue dog).
 
The general recommendation is 2-3% of bodyweight per day. So based on 2.5%, that would be 650g per day - I'd split it into two meals of 325g. (Veg etc. would be on top of that amount.)
 
JudyN said:
Chicken wings might be a little small for a GSD - you don't want anything she might try to swallow whole and get stuck in her throat. Though I think it's OK if you break it up with a hammer first, or hold it for her to chew. I give chicken carcasses (what's left after the breasts, legs, wings, etc. have been removed) to my large dog.
Click to expand...
Ah...indeed, I forgot the size difference to my monsters...:rolleyes:
 
German Shepherd K said:
This sounds great - thank you. I always give her a little bit of raw mince when I’m using it to cook and she loves it. Thank you
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The fact that she is already liking the taste of raw mince is very encouraging. Some dogs do find raw meat bit 'weird' if they've never experienced it before.
 
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