Why does your dog want to eat grass?

Grass eating is one of those weird things lots of dogs do. But is it okay?

What we do know is that eating small amounts of grass is perfectly normal for a perfectly healthy dog. If your dog seems sick or vomits more than occasionally you should see a veterinarian for advice on changes to your pup’s diet. So, why do they do it? The truth is, animal scientists are not exactly sure. But we have theories.

Here are the current top 5 theories:

The Evolutionary Enjoyment theory or Attention seeking

In many cases, the dog owner is not able to provide enough exercise and physical activities to the dog. Its hypothesized dogs retain the genetic association with grass from their ancestors who hunted mostly grass eating animals. Meaning they seek it out because, quite simply, they enjoy the taste. So it gets exhausted and bites upon the grass, as a way to kill boredom.

For the dog, grass eating is very easy way to seek your attention.

The Deficiency Theory

A few dogs even eat grass for adapting to the fiber needs in their bodies. They might be encouraged with a proper eating routine, yet at the same time, their desire for fibers is fulfilled through grass only. This condition is called as Pica, where a dog tries to enhance its eating diet with grass, because of the absence of vitamins, minerals or fibers.
Dogs, like us, do not have the enzymes to break down cellulose, the main energy source in grass. So, they may just be grazing for a source of fiber.

This behavior should be corrected by making appropriate changes in the dog’s diet

The Camouflage Theory

Grass eating may have evolved to help conceal a dog’s scent from their prey. In the same way rolling in foul offal is sometimes thought to do.

The Nausea Theory

It's a normal way of thinking that dogs eat grass when they feel nauseated. But studies have shown that only 8% of dogs that eat grass show any sign of illness and only 22% of them vomit afterward.

Of those that threw up, the majority showed points of sickness before eating grass. An investigation by Purdue University school of Veterinary Medicine shows that like their wild ancestors, dogs may instinctively ingest grass to build inside mobility.

The Parasite Theory

Another behavior of wild canids is the ingestion of foliage to purge and eliminate intestinal parasites that increases contractions and intestines helping to push along parasites in the gastrointestinal tract and hopefully eliminating them.

The simplest way to define why dogs eat grass is because they like it. So some experts believe that grass eating may be a natural way for domesticated dogs to have varied diet. More reasons are cited on Dogrunch’s this article.

Regardless of what the actual reason is, you can rest assured that grass eating is a typical behavior of ordinary, healthy dog.

You can be thankful your dog is going for the grass rather than the crap since that is a thing that occurs.