Dogs love to munch away on grass, and
some even make it part of their daily routine. Fortunately, most
experts believe it isn't something you should worry about. So why
exactly do they gobble up that green stuff in your yard? Dogs, unlike
their catty counterparts, are not carnivores. But they're not like
your garden-variety omnivores, either. For tens of thousands of
years, these opportunistic scavengers have devoured anything and
everything, as long as it fulfilled their basic dietary requirements.
The modern dog, partly because of evolution and domestication, is no
longer like its ancestors, which frequently ate their prey entirely,
including the stomach contents of plant-eating animals. Instead, dogs
today seek out plants as an alternative food source. Most commonly
the plant is grass -- since that is what is closest at hand -- but
wild canines are known to eat fruits, berries, and other vegetable
matter, too. Clearly, dogs can find their nutrients in a wide range
of plant foods, but that doesn't explain why Fido usually throws
up after eating grass. A dog will seek out a natural remedy for
a gassy or upset stomach, and grass, it seems, may do the trick. When
ingested, the grass blade tickles the throat and stomach lining; this
sensation, in turn, may cause the dog to vomit, especially if the
grass is gulped down rather than chewed. Although dogs don't
typically graze on large amounts of grass like a cow, they may nibble
on grass, chew on it for a while, and not throw up (an unwell dog
will tend to gulp the grass down in big bites and then throw up).
This may be because they find the texture of the grass palatable, or
just because they need to add a little roughage to their diet.
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