My boy eating grass in the middle of the night

[JSparkles]

New behavior in my 4 yr old boy, Mackie. Eats well morning and dinner time. Plays with our 6 yr old girl , Ruby. All seems well… bedtime outside for last call then up to bed ( both pups sleep on bed with us) middle of night starts low bark (persistent) take him outside and he just wants to eat grass. No bathroom needs. What is going on?

 

[bradl]

Welcome! Why dogs eat grass seems one of the enduring mysteries of dogdom.

Sometimes they appear to do it to trigger a later vomit, possibly in order to clear out something they regret they ate. Indeed ours will often vomit  later. 

Elroy will occasionally.do as Mackie does. Even when let out for their before-breakfast bathroom break he will simply eat grass, urgently, even; when he comes in he may ignore his food bowl (did aliens kidnap my real dog?). We don't leave a bowl down for picky eaters so we always take the bowl up and offer it again later in the morning. Sometimes he will eat it then, slowly, suggesting to me that the grass-eating was somehow related to an upset stomach of some sort. Other times he eats normally. Rare case he won't eat and we put the bowl up until normal dinner time. Usually by then he is ON IT with gusto. Usually these incidents last only a single day.  

Observationally, both our guys seem especially prone to fixate on grass eating in the Spring when there is fresh new growth. No idea what that's about.

[Newman]

yep, fonzie does the same thing as what brad said. usually before vomiting or just having an upset stomach. luckily, he hasn't been grazing recently.

has Machie's diet changed at all? or maybe he got into something he shouldn't have 

Edited February 5 by Newman

[Sam I Am]

Sam in the summer occasionally does the grass eating thing first potty  prior to breakfast then looks at his breakfast like he doesn’t want to eat it. I have solved the issue with giving him a small piece of his meat prior to letting him out to potty. No grass eating at all. I think what happens that sometimes because their stomach is empty the acid in their tummy  makes them feel nauseous so they run out to try to relieve it…the small offering prior to their breakfast seems to work for Sam. In Makies case have a snack handy and see if it works for him.

Edited February 5 by Sam I Am

[JSparkles]

Thank you all for your kind comments!

I did take Mackie to the vet and brought along a stool sample. Dr wanted bloodwork and examined stool. Prior to entering vet building, Mackie had another #2 episode in the parking lot. It was mucous coated and slightly blood tinged. Sooooo… she prescribed metronidazole am/pm for 10 days. Also 4 days of anti nausea medication celenia.  Mac did calm down and at day 7 I called the vet as he started eating grass again. My gut feeling told me the medication side effects were now causing nausea. Sure enough looked up the drug metronidazole and it can cause nausea.

so I called the vet and said  let’s go To simply treat high acid with over the counter medication. Reluctantly the vet got back to me with: try pepcid 

famatodine 10 mg once daily . We give it to him at bedtime.  Viola! No more grass eating!   I’m sorry I didn’t just do this first. 
hope this helps someone in the future

 

 

 

 

[bradl]

Glad it's sorted for Mackie!

We were at wits end trying to find why Dundee would gack and vomit frequently and a half-pepcid with meals brought that to a stop.