While I was on the computer this morning, Sparky came by. I thought he wanted to come up and chat, but he had something else in mind.
Sparky wanted to go outside, but not in the fun way. It was misty raining and we had taken a walk to the creek a half-hour before. Sparky wouldn’t normally want to go out, but I trust his judgement.
He wanted to eat some grass. This isn’t unusual for a dog, so I have a patch by the edge of the lawn that doesn’t get sprayed with anything or have poison ivy. After Sparky had eaten for a while, I brought him in. I sent him to his crate because his feet were wet, but he objected.
Sparky usually goes to his crate when we come in, and he often gets a treat. He gets sent to his crate before I put his food out, so the crate has positive associations. Since he wouldn’t go in, I thought maybe he shit the bed or something. I checked out his crate and took the photo at the top.
Do you see it? Here’s a closeup.
At the top of the photo, in the center, there is the back end of a splayed mouse. I disposed of the mouse and laundered his crate furnishings. I don’t know why Sparky didn’t want to go in his crate, he usually likes dead animals.
Yesterday, to organize the shed, I was pulling out the bee hive boxes and frames. It’s all low-value stuff, mostly wood, wax and some plastic. I broke it up to pull out the plastic, then burned the rest. I burned until about 11 pm.
Mice love bee hives, especially if there aren’t any bees. I had fleeting encounters with a half-dozen mice in the shed, and as I was breaking up the frames. Every frame was stuffed with mouse bedding and hantavirus.
When it as dark and we were outside, Sparky probably grabbed a mouse. It seems like a mouse in Sparky’s jaws would be pretty obvious when I unhooked the leash, but he can be sneaky.
The mouse had not been chomped on, but it was dead and kind of splayed out. I’ve no idea if that was the first, second or third mouse that Sparky got last night. He wasn’t feeling well, so I had him sit on the couch with me as I watched Youtube.
This was all before breakfast. Usually, Sparky would be looking for food or to play. He wakes up much better than I do.
Sparky isn’t big on watching TV, but he is usually looking out the window or trying to hypnotize me. He was just laying there, with bubbly noises coming from his belly.
I wanted to help him out, so I tried the hydrogen peroxide business to get him to vomit. I’d never done that before, so looked it up. For a 30 lb dog, it’s about 2 tablespoons. I used half as much. I squirted it into his mouth, and tethered him outside. After 5 minutes, he chucked up some yucky stuff.
Protip: That might not be all of it. Give the dog a half-hour.
Sparky isn’t hungry and is taking a nap, so he seems okay.
why dogs eat grass
Some people think that dogs eat grass to make themselves throw up, possibly due to ingesting something harmful. Others suggest it could be a sign of an upset stomach or a need for certain nutrients.
Ideas also include grass acting as a source of fiber to help with digestion, particularly to ease constipation.
He’s a smarty, he wanted to throw up, you helped it along
When I got my dog Fritzo, he needed a dog house. My Grand Uncle had an insulated one he built years back that he made for his dog. He was about to scrap it, but then he found out I could use it. Two dogs used it before my dog, I believe. I took it home and put it inside the garage out in Medina. My dog did not want to go inside. He wouldn’t go in. This went on for some days. I thought maybe it needed to be raised, so he’d be more comfortable walking in. I raised it with some short 4×4 laid on their sides. My dog Fritzo still would not go in. I had some scent be gone spray from a few years back when I would bow hunt for deer. Not sure how I thought of it, but I sprayed the inside of the dog house with it .
After that my dog went in his dog house. I believe he was smelling the former dogs scent and would not go in the dog house.