Hay Eating Dog?

[Westerlea]

[b]HELP!!![/b]

One of my Beaucerons has taken up a fetish for eating the hay for the horses. So far he has been fine, and it is not so much that he is eating it, but I am wndering if it is ok for him to do so? :-?
I haven't actually caught him in the act of swallowing it down, just caught him with it in his mouth and stuck between his teeth. :roll:

[Pumpkin the musher]

My dogs eat their bedding straw all the time, especially if it has clover or alfalfa in it. Don't worry, unless they would eat huge amounts that would cause compaction, it will come out looking just like it did when it went in... :wink:

[courtnek]

kinda off topic, but my Golden used to eat ROCKS, literally chew them up and swallow them. It was determined by the vet he had a mineral deficiency. They put him on vitamins and he stopped. Maybe a diet deficiency?


:o

[StarFox]

My dog likes to chew/eat our rabbits hay. I think he just likes to chew on it, when I catch him chewing on it it's sticking out of his mouth like he is some hillbilly dog. :lol:

[mouseatthebusstop]

Gladis loves to eat grass

[imported_nea]

Web often nibbles on the guinea pigs hay. There haven't been any problems for him except that sometimes his bowels have long strings of hay in them :o but it doesn't seem to bother him..

[imported_Cassie]

My dogs will eat horse manure when I take them to the barn. I don't see any harm in it and IMO I think its quite good for them. Wolves and other wild carnines make up a big percentage of their diet by eating vegetation, prey droppings, berries, grass so on. Also when they eat their kill they will eat the stomach contents as well. The stomach of the prey holds alot of undigested grasses and other food.
With my dogs I go a step further. I actually grow grass for them :D
I grow wheat grass and barley grass and let them nibble on it. Grass has alot of great nutrients and its also great for digestive cleaning. Our Canines are not true carnivores like our cats are. Canines eat alot more than just meat to keep a well-rounded diet.
Allot of people who feed raw diet will actually feed their dogs the cows stomach to get the extra nutrients and they know its very good for them

[imported_Kat]

Alfalfa in itself is really good for dogs. It has a lot of nutritional value. Just be very careful that it doesn't cause compaction. We used to see a JRT at the surgery who lived at a horse riding school and he was always having to come in for enemas. Not a lovely thing to have to sedate a dog and have to flush out copious amounts of compact hay and straw!