Emergency, ASAP (Dog issue)

Mim

Hey guys

Okay, just like, 5 minutes ago my dog started licking everything. I mean everything. The floor, the blankets, whatever she could get her mouth on. When I took her outside, she began eating grass and licking the sidewalks and streets. She's not thirsty and her eyes seem to be fine. She was making a weird little sound like she was about to throw up, but nothing came out.

Is she okay? Is she having a seizure? I'm really worried because I lost my other dog this day last year, so I'm in full on parent-panic mode.

bowen

It's a huge list of things. Go to the vet.

Anything from Anxiety to liver disorder or adrenal disease.

Improvolone

Vets are really good about taking calls and saying, "bring him in" or "sounds fine, you should do this and bring him if it persists".

Mim

The only part that sucks is that I do not have a car at the moment (dad took it for a work related trip and is 5 hours away). The closest person I know to have a car lives 2 hours from me.

I'm going to call the vet (Banfield) when it opens up (it says 9, but you know it always takes them a bit). I'm really freaking out because this is the exact day Harvey died last year, and it hitting some major emotions in me.

Sipex

Call anyways and see if you can get a neighbour to drive you.

bowen

How old is the dog and what breed is it?

Pel

I have a dog that flips out and starts licking the floor when he's stressed because he doesn't get enough exercise. I take him to the park and play for a few hours and he's happy and normal as can be again. In your case, though I'd be a bit more concerned: making hacking sounds and eating grass often means intestinal distress. Dogs have a very tough and resilient digestive system, but you should probably start looking for a culprit in your dogs culinary history.

Not to say that you shouldn't call the vet as well: you probably should, at least if this behavior persists for more than a few minutes. I just don't think that full-on panic mode is either warranted or helpful in this case.

Mim

bowen wrote: »

How old is the dog and what breed is it?

She's 5 and she's a ...well ..she might be a Norfolk terrier. We got her from the pound when she was 2, so I don't really know. I mean, other than the licking she hasn't done anything else.

I just got off the phone and they said she might've been having an upset stomach (which is why she began eating the grass). I'm going to talk to my friend and see if he can swing anything but I doubt he'll be able to and that's a huge favor to ask of him.

I don't have any neighbors that could drive me, they all seem to be at work.

I'm going to watch her for the rest of the day and see if she'll eat/drink anything (she had a treat which she willingly ate I think. Let me check that).

God, I'm really freaking out. I mean for this shit to be happening the same day as his death, the cosmos sure do like fucking with me.

bowen

Dogs do usually eat grass as part of their "wild" diet.

Did you change her dog food recently? Think of anything you did change recently. An upset stomach might make sense of the grass eating, but licking everything? Mmm I doubt it. Definitely get the dog to the vet as soon as you can.

Mim

bowen wrote: »

Dogs do usually eat grass as part of their "wild" diet.

Did you change her dog food recently? Think of anything you did change recently. An upset stomach might make sense of the grass eating, but licking everything? Mmm I doubt it. Definitely get the dog to the vet as soon as you can.

Not really. We changed from healthy weight to normal because our other dog ate the healthy weight stuff. Considering she's always been at a healthy weight, there was no need to keep feeding her that stuff.

When she was licking everything, I was able to hold her attention for a few seconds, also when I showed her the leash she got excited for the walk, but then went right back to licking. If my friend can come down today, then great but if not, I'll have to watch her till Sunday.

bowen

Try taking her outside and walking with her for a half hour and playing with her.

If she's still doing it, switch back to the healthy weight food. She may be missing some nutrition and that would definitely cause the licking. Then, when and if you can get to the vet, do that. This is all just "what I would do" and not veterinary advice. I figure I should say that before someone comes steamrolling in and goes "YOU NOT VET, BAD BOWEN."

Mim

bowen wrote: »

Try taking her outside and walking with her for a half hour and playing with her.

If she's still doing it, switch back to the healthy weight food. She may be missing some nutrition and that would definitely cause the licking. Then, when and if you can get to the vet, do that. This is all just "what I would do" and not veterinary advice. I figure I should say that before someone comes steamrolling in and goes "YOU NOT VET, BAD BOWEN."

Still doing the licking? She's done licking. After I brought her back in (after she ate the grass) she calmed the hell down. Actually, it was right after she ate the grass, because I remember I picked her up to keep her from eating more and she didn't go to lick my face (which she had done before she ate the grass when I picked her up and she went on her licking frenzy).

I will take her outside though. It'll have to wait till this afternoon because the area I can take her in to play in is having school right now. So it's going to have to wait, unfortunately.

edit: after she came back in, she was just looking at me. I gave her a treat and she ate it. I just gave her another one and she ate that too. But she's not over eating or over drinking. After the 1-2 minutes of licking the blanket, floor and picking up lent to eat it, then going outside to lick the sidewalk, street and eat grass, she came back in and was normal like nothing happened. She didn't seem confused. When she was licking, I was able to hold her attention for a few seconds and then she went right back to licking. Would a dog having a seizure be able to focus even for a few seconds?

bowen

I have no idea. Seems like it's not pica which is the primary concern with all that licking. Seems more like a digestive issue now than anything else. Though, taking her outside in the first place may have been what she wanted.

rfalias

Grass eating is common with upset stomachs. My dog will eat grass when his stomach is upset or he want's to throw up.

Who knows what she got in to. You may not even notice or think she could have, but once my dog was just playing with a toy and started dry heaving. When outside he grazed like a sheep and he was fine. The licking could have just been a manifestation of stress or the upset stomach.

Mim

bowen wrote: »

I have no idea. Seems like it's not pica which is the primary concern with all that licking. Seems more like a digestive issue now than anything else. Though, taking her outside in the first place may have been what she wanted.

pica?

bowen

It's when an animal or person eats things that aren't food. Feces, grass, rocks, dirt, carpet fibers, whatever they can get their hands or tongues on. This can cause intestinal blockage and is a real concern.

It's pretty clear your dog doesn't have it, seems to just have been a tummy ache or something similar. Be concerned if it comes back.

rfalias

Urge to eat non-food items

Edit: Crap beated!

Mim

Ahh. I was just super worried it might be a seizure, this is my BIGGEST fear as of right now. I'm still watching her. Right now she's just laying down calmly.

altmann

Only other advice I can think of is: Don't freak out around your dog and start trying to comfort it. If you do that, it can think something is wrong. Just act normal and treat it normally. If it's still freaking out and you're not, then you can start to think about it having problems. Dogs are usually pretty good at letting you know something is wrong.

Also, remember this isn't the same dog you had that died. It's different, and while there may be times that are scary, they are 2 completely different animals.

Sipex

From the sounds of it I'd say you're fine now but keep an eye on him. Probably digestive.

PolarBear

This happened to our dog and still does. It took a long time and a few vet visits. When it happens to Max he gets this white foamy stuff on his chin every time.

Eventually they said it was allergies. So we give him Benedryl allergy pills if it starts up and seems like a full on attack.

Of course, YMMV, see a professional, etc, etc.

Mim

PolarBear wrote: »

This happened to our dog and still does. It took a long time and a few vet visits. When it happens to Max he gets this white foamy stuff on his chin every time.

Eventually they said it was allergies. So we give him Benedryl allergy pills if it starts up and seems like a full on attack.

Of course, YMMV, see a professional, etc, etc.

She did get some of that, but I thought it was just spit from all that licking. I swear after she got that piece of grass in her mouth she looked at me like "What?"

She's laying down now and sleeping. I'm keeping a close eye on her.

NailbunnyPD

Obviously, call your vet if you are terribly concerned.

Sounds like an upset stomach. Dogs will eat grass in effort to make themselves throw up when their stomach bothers them. I think they lick because of salivation that occurs when you are on the brink of throwing up. I assume dogs suffer this like humans do.

You will want to keep an eye on how long it persist, what other symptoms arise, how much water is being consumed, whether they eat their normal food, and whether they are going to the bathroom (ideally, you want this to match consumption, but you're really looking to make sure they are not retaining water or have blocked digestive system.)

Arikado

My dog did something similar when he got into the restroom and lapped up some shampoo.

Mim

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

Obviously, call your vet if you are terribly concerned.

Sounds like an upset stomach. Dogs will eat grass in effort to make themselves throw up when their stomach bothers them. I think they lick because of salivation that occurs when you are on the brink of throwing up. I assume dogs suffer this like humans do.

You will want to keep an eye on how long it persist, what other symptoms arise, how much water is being consumed, whether they eat their normal food, and whether they are going to the bathroom (ideally, you want this to match consumption, but you're really looking to make sure they are not retaining water or have blocked digestive system.)

Oh I called them. They said it sounded like an upset stomach, but to keep an eye out for her.

After eating the grass, she's been fine. She peed, and now she's napping. She ate her treats just fine. She didn't like her bath.

The licking lasted for 1-2 minutes, and ended right after she got the grass in her mouth.

mully

Yeah, I'd say upset stomach -- or itchy tongue. Just watch out for puddles of vomit, for a little bit.

BeeOnThyme

this happened to my coonhound this morning, he started licking the wood work and floor furiously...gagging...but he ate some kibble. He ate part of a houseplant which helped him and he threw up... he had swallowed A 2-3 foot piece of cellophane packing tape. He was trying to find something to get himself to throw up the foreign object. So glad he is OK. It was very strange and scary behavior to witness.
If I had taken him to vet...an xray would not show cellophane tape. The dogs had attacked my Amazon packages a week before and started tearing up the box. I didn't see the transparent tape...I can only guess that's where it came from.