Why Do Dogs Eat Grass? It’s Not Why You Think
While all of my dogs have occasionally eaten grass, Gina is absolutely obsessed with chomping on greens. She’s 6 years old, and I’ve observed this behavior since I adopted her at 16 months. There’s an old myth that dogs eat grass when their stomachs are feeling queasy to cause them to vomit. But, I’ve known this isn’t the truth with her, because she eats grass daily and has no digestive problems. I was intrigued with Stanley Coren’s post in Psychology Today on the topic. Coren refers to the only research study that has surveyed dogs to find out if their grass eating habits are related to illness or dietary deficiency. The research study took place at The University of California, Davis and was published in Applied Animal Behavior Science in 2008. The survey initially observed the grass eating behavior of about 75 dogs belonging to both veterinary students and patients at the UC Davis teaching hospital. When questioned about their dog’s beh