I am very happy to raise my Shiba Inu Momoko (7)
——————————-Updated on Friday, September 29, 2017————————– Some time
ago, I saw the news that a dog died after eating grass that had been sprayed with pesticides in the community lawn. It was very sad.
In the past few days, I have been thinking about what I can do for such things, even if I can help a little bit. The following is my homework and past experience.
1. About the behavior of dogs eating grass
By looking at a large amount of relevant online information (including complaints from dog owners, some popular science short articles, etc.), we can find that the situations or reasons for dogs eating grass can be summarized as follows:
1. Eating grass to induce vomiting, eliminate the discomfort in the stomach, such as ingested hair, undigested food, etc.;
2. Eating grass due to lack of nutrients, such as lack of trace elements, vitamins, etc.;
3. Eating grass due to lack of fiber in food, ingesting fiber to form good quality feces, and help improve the microbial environment of the intestines and reduce the smell of feces;
4. Eating grass to treat illness (this statement is more general, I think it should cover the above 1~3);
5. Eating grass because of boredom;
6. Dogs eating grass will rain (what the hell, that’s flooding).
So, do dogs in the wild also eat grass? This is difficult to know. However, we can refer to the eating habits of wild carnivores. After capturing herbivores, wild carnivores obtain plant food by eating the stomach contents of their prey. Among them, wolves, which are the closest to dogs, can also be observed eating plant fruits and other foods in their natural predation state.
Although dogs have been influenced by human eating habits in the long process of living with humans (such as evolving the ability to digest starchy foods), dogs have developed omnivorous tendencies.
At present, there is still controversy over whether dogs are carnivores or omnivores, and there is no systematic answer to why dogs eat grass. But precisely because of such controversy, coupled with the widespread phenomenon of dogs eating grass, it can be said that compared with our preconceived impressions, dogs are not 100% pure carnivores, and their demand for plant-based food should be far more than we imagine. Therefore, we have to face up to
the demand for dogs to eat grass.
Second, how can we let dogs eat grass safely?
In order to keep the green belts in the community neat and beautiful, herbicides (removing weeds other than lawn grass) and pesticides are sprayed regularly. The grass there is not safe; coupled with the attachment of parasite eggs, it is not hygienic.
The following is some of my experience in raising peaches, I hope it will be helpful to everyone.
Generally speaking, I have always adhered to a belief, that is, “If you have eaten enough at home, you will not eat when you go out.” So, what should I eat at home?
However, there is usually no grass at home~
(The picture above shows Taozi eating green bamboo shoots)
1. Use vegetables instead of grass.
What is the difference between vegetables and grass?
Vegetables are non-toxic, palatable and nutritious varieties selected by humans from wild plants, and we eat some parts of them, such as roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits.
To put it simply and crudely, vegetables are actually delicious grass.
Take Taozi as an example. She has about 2-3 opportunities to eat vegetables a week, and the vegetables she eats daily are generally the following.
Vegetable array 1:
Vegetable array 2:
Moreover, vegetables generally appear in Taozi’s diet in the form of “vegetables + meat”. For example, like this:
50g vegetables + 50g lean pork + 10g brown rice
If time is limited, you can omit the brown rice and use half a tablespoon of olive oil to fry the chopped vegetables until soft, add a bowl of water, and then add the chopped meat. After boiling, cook for another 5 minutes to make a delicious vegetable broth~
The taste of fried vegetables is much better than boiling directly, which helps to eat the vegetables well~
In addition, dry cucumbers, head lettuce, and tomatoes can be washed and eaten raw directly. Among them, Taozi especially likes to eat dry cucumbers, which are crunchy and full of fragrance~
The following is a video of Taozi eating dry cucumbers (headphone welfare).
However, even if I often supply vegetables, Taozi will still lack “vegetables” at a certain time of the year: she will go to pull the hay of her rabbit brother at home to eat.
At this time, I will make a big bowl of vegetable salad for her, which is called the “Five Elements Lack of Vegetables” salad, such as the following combination: cucumber, tomato, head lettuce, cooked iron stick yam, and a tablespoon of cooked fish.
If one bowl of the Five Elements Salad is not enough, then make two bowls. Supply one bowl every other day and soon the vegetable shortage phenomenon of Peach will disappear.
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