Why do cats and dogs sometimes eat grass?

Have you ever wondered why your dogs or cats sometimes try to eat grass?

If you own a dog, you'll get used to it being able to eat anything. A How Stuff Works writer says he has a dog named Loretta Lou. Once, when he was 2 years old, he ate a bottle of cranberry tablets. I took the dog to the vet to make him vomit. One dose. Two doses. No effect. Little Lou doesn't vomit or have diarrhea. After that, all he wants to do is eat grass . The veterinarian was also confused with Lou.

Loretta also eats grass every spring and summer, not surprisingly. Dogs often eat grass. But Loretta never vomits, coughs or anything when eating grass, it has an "iron" stomach .

The author said he was not sure why Loretta or all the other dogs ate grass. Most people believe they do so because of a lack of something in the diet or because they are sick. However, is it true?

Sometimes dogs will eat grass.

In 2008, researchers at the University of California at Davis (USA) tried to cut weeds and uncover mysteries. They conducted research for 25 students with dogs. All of them are reported to have eaten grass. Nobody sees these dogs sick before they eat grass.

The researchers also surveyed 47 dog owners who brought their pets to the university teaching hospital for outpatient care. 76% said they saw their pets eating plants, mainly grass. Four dogs were sick before and only six dogs vomited afterwards.

Scientists then opened a survey of 3,000 people by answering a series of online questions (the survey was later limited to 1,571 people). 68% saw their dogs eating plants (mostly grass) daily or weekly. Only 8% said their dogs had signs of illness before and 20% saw them vomiting before.

Dr. Benjamin Hart, one of the authors of the study, said: "Contrary to the general perception that grass-eating is related to signs of illness and vomiting, we find that eating grass is an act. It is common in normal and non-disease-related dogs, as well as dogs that do not regularly vomit afterwards, vomiting seems to be random, not caused by eating plants.

Cats also regularly eat grass and have nothing to do with stomach pains or other illnesses.

Dr. Cailin Heinze, a nutritionist at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University, who did not participate in the study, shook his head when asked to explain why the dog eats grass in general and the reason one The number of dogs vomited while the others did not. She said: "Many of them do it, we don't know why. Sometimes it is associated with nausea / vomiting, and sometimes it doesn't, it seems that eating grass is not related. diet".

In another study, scientists found that cats also regularly eat grass and have nothing to do with stomach pains or other illnesses. Most cats or dogs do not vomit afterwards.

Until now, science has not been able to explain why dogs and cats eat grass but only conclude that it is a common behavior of these animals . Make sure it has nothing to do with your pet's illness.