Why do Dogs Eat Grass and Throw Up?

The answer is simple: Nobody knows. There's a correlation between gastrointestinal upset and grass eating. This has led some people to posit that dogs eat grass in order to make themselves vomit.

First, plenty of dogs eat grass when their stomachs feel fine, and they don't vomit afterwards. Second, who in his right mind would believe that a hedonistic creature such as a dog - a creature that happily copulates in public, steals food off of tables, eats garbage, sniffs butts, and licks its own genitals - would ever WANT to throw up? Dogs don't suffer from self-image problems and bulimia.

They may eat grass when they feel sick, but I don't believe they do it in order to make themselves more sick. Let's go back to that first reason. Plenty of dogs eat grass whether they feel sick or not.

Some dogs just seem to like grass. My pal Buster is one of them. He is especially fond of the tender young grass shoots that sprout in the spring.

This brings us to another of the most common questions I have received over my career: Is it safe for dogs to eat grass? My answer to that question is no. Lawns may be treated with toxic chemicals.

Grass is home to parasites such as roundworms. Grass may become stuck in the mouth and the pharynx (the structure at the back of the throat). And, as I discovered recently, grass may be the source of another significant physical menace.

My day started off well enough. Buster and I were in Tahoe, and although spring was in full force back home in San Francisco, Tahoe was still markedly wintery.