Eating Grass

My 2 year old Oliver has been eating grass for quite some time. He never gets sick after eating it, but will stop to eat some if we are out on a walk. I just moved into a condo with a large field behind it and he finds the tallest pices of grass to eat! It's almost like it's a game to him. The vet said that I may want to switch his food. He is eating Bil-Jac Select and has been for a while. The breeder feels strongly that the raw food diet is the best way to go but I think it's out of my price range. Anyone have any suggestions?

I feed Faith NV Raw in the morning time but it is kind of expensive. Not too bad though. :flwr:

I've seen BIL JAC on a few food lists and it didn't come out all that well.. ..

I feed Kosmo Innova: Evo and I've had a good success with it. There are quite a few board members that feed this one. Also a few other good ones are Royal Canin, Solid Gold, Wellness, Merricks and Natural Balance to name a few.

biljac

I just read that Bil-Jac didn't do well on another post. The funny thing is that I was feeding him Innova and switched because 2 breeders recommended Bil-Jac. There is a store close by that sells Innova and Wellness so I may try switching him over slowly and see if that stops the grass-eating! I am starting to think I have a cow and not a dog!

Padden started out on Bil-jac and I switched her to Wellness puppy. She liked it but it seemed to be to rich for her tummy and she had runs for awhile. I switched to Innova Evo and she's doing great on it.


fyi: There is a pet store on Piedmont Road... I think called pet supply plus and they carry all the good brands of food that everyone talks about on this forum along with a few others if you have trouble finding certain brands!

Breeders have lots of different opinions on foods. As do pet cavalier owners. Most foods are pretty well balanced -- really you are just fine tuning in terms of ingredients and personal philosophy after a cerrtain point.

My general rule of thumb is to avoid supermarket brands as they are pretty mediocre -- but keep in mind the vast majority of dogs do fine even on those. For decades there wasn't any other choice and dogs got along fine. They are the cheap fortified processed food of the dog world though.

I would never go for the top lines and most expensive brands -- I cannot see they are worth the extra money, especially when simply adding some fresh wholsome foods to a good quality kibble will provide variety and REAL food as well. Premade raws are nice but again, so expensive that I'd be reluctant to use them when one can just add some fresh cooked or raw meat to a good kibble or homecooked meal anyway (I like to lightly cook beef or chicken for my dogs, or give raw chicken necks which are cheap and full of fairly soft, crunchy bone).

I can tell you that every online or in-print food evaluation will give completely different results so none of these are in any way, definitive guides. Indeed the Whole Dog Journal says just this about its own recommended lists -- noting different dogs will respond differently to different foods. One person's wonder-kibble will cause problems with another dog. WDJ also recommends rotating foods every now and then anyway as it isn't necessarily very beneficial to endlessly feed the same kibble.

This article speaks more common sense on selecting a dog food than anything else I have read -- debunking lots of the trendy ingredients and philosophies.

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html

I'd skip the long food content list from AAFCO as it is useful for reference but the interesting stuff is before and after the list.

I dont want to debate dog food because I have to agree we will all disagree!! If its rated a 6,5 or possibly down to a 4 - I consider them all good choices. Its a matter of personal choice which of those work (I hate fish therefore my dog has to :yuk: ) or the 6 star made my dog's stools loose even though everyone elses were great.

As for grass - its like dog poop. Lots of them eat it. The only time it is a concern is if its chowing down like a horse. I've seen that the odd time and it usually means tummy trouble. But eating a bit when they first go out in a day or on a walk in my mind is just having a taste cause they like it. Kodee having only had snow to date - is currently eating up my lawn. We are over the twig thing - that is old news to her now. But this new green stuff is the new play thing!

Lucky you. I don't have grass (apart from non-ornamental long grasses in pots -ie, weeds) so the 'twig thing' is ongoing. I thought it was easing off until I realised that Amber had been otherwise occupied. My great grandmother got me a little spaniel type doggy ornament thing in a tiny little wickerish basket. Amber ate the basket. I watched her very carefully for a couple of days but doesn't seem to have had any ill effects. I suppose it *was* tiny.. and even she couldn't have eaten it all at once, especially since I've found pieces of mini wicker all over their vetbed!

I don't know anything about that food you are giving your little one but I can assure you that the long wide grass is good for your dog!

If you think about it, we eat green foods because they are good for us..... the long wide grass contains goodness for the dogs. As long as they aren't eating tons of it, it's fine.

Maxx has a special patch that he loves and it's on the side of someone's garden that we pass whilst out on walks. I quite embarrassingly told the elderly gent who owns the house that Maxx loved his long patches of grass icon_blshing - he now mows around a long patch and leaves it for Maxx to eat :roll: :lol: spoiled or what??????