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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 1, 2017 23:55:57 GMT
Has anyone ever had experience of their dog doing lots of air licking/licking the carpet etc.?
Ellie is driving me mad. She can't seem to settle, but five minutes ago she was fine. She's licking the carpet and the furniture, but won't go and get a drink. She's done it before, and seems to be settled by eating grass from outside, but obviously it's nearly midnight and there is no grass outside for her to eat so we likely won't be able to resolve it that way. Just wondering if anyone knew a reason for behaviour like that?
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Post by boxerluver30 on Dec 2, 2017 12:55:11 GMT
I've heard it could be due to discomfort in the mouth/throat. May be worth having a check to see if there isn't anything stuck in her teeth for example that she's trying to get out. Some other reasons could be gastrointestinal pain, nausea etc. If she is doing it repetitively it could be an obsessive compulsive behaviour if there's no medical reason. I would keep an eye on her and if she carries on then May be a vet visit is in order
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Post by chantel on Dec 2, 2017 23:32:23 GMT
My late dog did it - she licked the carpet, furniture, concrete outside , the wall it was a nightmare I couldn’t turn my back for a minute☹️Although I think with her it was dementia?
I have heard they do it if the are missing certain nutrients in their diet ☹️Also anxiety causes licking Riley licks the sofa /carpet when he is anxious ☹️
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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 3, 2017 20:44:23 GMT
Prior to her doing the air licking, she'd been chewing on an antler, so you may be right boxerluver30! My dad ended up taking her out so she could eat grass and she came back in and settled down. She was doing exactly what chantel describes, although as far as I know she doesn't have dementia. But she has done this before, so I'm really not sure what kicks it off with her. It's irritating though. I let her in the garden and she tried to eat all the plants, but since I don't know what plants they are and whether she's allowed to eat them, I couldn't let her continue.
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Post by chantel on Dec 4, 2017 19:40:41 GMT
Prior to her doing the air licking, she'd been chewing on an antler, so you may be right boxerluver30! My dad ended up taking her out so she could eat grass and she came back in and settled down. She was doing exactly what chantel describes, although as far as I know she doesn't have dementia. But she has done this before, so I'm really not sure what kicks it off with her. It's irritating though. I let her in the garden and she tried to eat all the plants, but since I don't know what plants they are and whether she's allowed to eat them, I couldn't let her continue. Just a thought but could she be missing some nutrients in her diet , when I was doing my research on this with my late dog it did keep popping up ☹️ But for me things were much worse ☹️It was constant licking, and like you say it can be quite annoying at times best to just keep an eye on her for now 😊
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Post by Pawsforthought on Dec 5, 2017 13:38:17 GMT
If it wasn't for the antler chewing prior to it, I would say could it be nausea causing her to salivate and that would explain her wanting to eat grass too as ours tend to do that if they feel unwell. Finn air licks after eating and sometimes after chewing. It could either be obsessive behaviour (as it probably is for Finn) after chewing her antler or, as boxerluver30 said, discomfort. Milo chews his stag bars too hard sometimes and licks afterwards but you can see the blood on the antler. Could be sensitive teeth also possibly, again causing her to salivate? Milo has worn his teeth down so that you can see the sensitive bits in the middle.
If it is tummy related, you could try giving her a small bit of mashed sweet potato, or even better some slippery elm if you have any. I would be inclined to give her some in her food for a time just in case she is feeling unwell. We give it to our two as soon as they show signs of upset tummies and it stops them from getting any worse pretty much every time.
If you can't see anything obvious in her mouth causing it and are worried about it being a new behaviour, it could be worth speaking to a vet about it. I wouldn't worry too much though; both of ours air lick for different reasons!
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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 5, 2017 23:41:13 GMT
Prior to her doing the air licking, she'd been chewing on an antler, so you may be right boxerluver30 ! My dad ended up taking her out so she could eat grass and she came back in and settled down. She was doing exactly what chantel describes, although as far as I know she doesn't have dementia. But she has done this before, so I'm really not sure what kicks it off with her. It's irritating though. I let her in the garden and she tried to eat all the plants, but since I don't know what plants they are and whether she's allowed to eat them, I couldn't let her continue. Just a thought but could she be missing some nutrients in her diet , when I was doing my research on this with my late dog it did keep popping up ☹️ But for me things were much worse ☹️It was constant licking, and like you say it can be quite annoying at times best to just keep an eye on her for now 😊 Not sure on that one chantel. It's certainly not something that she does on a regular basis, so I wouldn't think it's a lack of nutrients. She hasn't done it since the other night, so I think it may well have been to do with the antler chewing.
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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 5, 2017 23:46:33 GMT
If it wasn't for the antler chewing prior to it, I would say could it be nausea causing her to salivate and that would explain her wanting to eat grass too as ours tend to do that if they feel unwell. Finn air licks after eating and sometimes after chewing. It could either be obsessive behaviour (as it probably is for Finn) after chewing her antler or, as boxerluver30 said, discomfort. Milo chews his stag bars too hard sometimes and licks afterwards but you can see the blood on the antler. Could be sensitive teeth also possibly, again causing her to salivate? Milo has worn his teeth down so that you can see the sensitive bits in the middle. If it is tummy related, you could try giving her a small bit of mashed sweet potato, or even better some slippery elm if you have any. I would be inclined to give her some in her food for a time just in case she is feeling unwell. We give it to our two as soon as they show signs of upset tummies and it stops them from getting any worse pretty much every time. If you can't see anything obvious in her mouth causing it and are worried about it being a new behaviour, it could be worth speaking to a vet about it. I wouldn't worry too much though; both of ours air lick for different reasons! Ellie often wants to eat grass if she's feeling unwell too - well, not often like every week or anything - but this was different. She's not done it since that night though, so I think it must have been linked to her chewing the antler. My dad took her out so that she could eat some grass and she was much better when she came back in. It was just inconvenient that she wanted to go out at nearly midnight when it was freezing cold! Not the ideal weather for standing outside for god knows how long while she eats her fill of grass. I keep trying to think of ways to grow some of that grass in a pot in the garden but I don't know where to get some seeds for it. My dad thinks I should go and dig a clump of it out of the ground, but if I do that it's not likely to grow back once she's eaten it, is it?
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Post by tonib on Dec 8, 2017 18:48:02 GMT
orpheous87 if you want to grow grass in a pot, we do that for the cats using cat grass seeds, usually sold for indoor cats but I've also planted some in a couple of pots outside so it grow to a bit of length when we mow the lawn (or should that be if not when!!!!) I see no reason why it should be just for cats. A friend of mine does dig up grass from unwanted places & puts it in pots for the cats in the run or out in her, non-grassed, garden.
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Post by Pawsforthought on Dec 9, 2017 11:45:03 GMT
If it wasn't for the antler chewing prior to it, I would say could it be nausea causing her to salivate and that would explain her wanting to eat grass too as ours tend to do that if they feel unwell. Finn air licks after eating and sometimes after chewing. It could either be obsessive behaviour (as it probably is for Finn) after chewing her antler or, as boxerluver30 said, discomfort. Milo chews his stag bars too hard sometimes and licks afterwards but you can see the blood on the antler. Could be sensitive teeth also possibly, again causing her to salivate? Milo has worn his teeth down so that you can see the sensitive bits in the middle. If it is tummy related, you could try giving her a small bit of mashed sweet potato, or even better some slippery elm if you have any. I would be inclined to give her some in her food for a time just in case she is feeling unwell. We give it to our two as soon as they show signs of upset tummies and it stops them from getting any worse pretty much every time. If you can't see anything obvious in her mouth causing it and are worried about it being a new behaviour, it could be worth speaking to a vet about it. I wouldn't worry too much though; both of ours air lick for different reasons! Ellie often wants to eat grass if she's feeling unwell too - well, not often like every week or anything - but this was different. She's not done it since that night though, so I think it must have been linked to her chewing the antler. My dad took her out so that she could eat some grass and she was much better when she came back in. It was just inconvenient that she wanted to go out at nearly midnight when it was freezing cold! Not the ideal weather for standing outside for god knows how long while she eats her fill of grass. I keep trying to think of ways to grow some of that grass in a pot in the garden but I don't know where to get some seeds for it. My dad thinks I should go and dig a clump of it out of the ground, but if I do that it's not likely to grow back once she's eaten it, is it? Find some couch grass, chop it right down to the ground (or choose an eaten bit!) and dig up the roots, pot them on with some of your soil into a pot to bring inside. It will absolutely grow back. Trust me, couch grass grows back :L
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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 9, 2017 21:57:07 GMT
orpheous87 if you want to grow grass in a pot, we do that for the cats using cat grass seeds, usually sold for indoor cats but I've also planted some in a couple of pots outside so it grow to a bit of length when we mow the lawn (or should that be if not when!!!!) I see no reason why it should be just for cats. A friend of mine does dig up grass from unwanted places & puts it in pots for the cats in the run or out in her, non-grassed, garden. I've often thought about getting one of those pots tonib but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind of grass that Ellie would eat! Ellie often wants to eat grass if she's feeling unwell too - well, not often like every week or anything - but this was different. She's not done it since that night though, so I think it must have been linked to her chewing the antler. My dad took her out so that she could eat some grass and she was much better when she came back in. It was just inconvenient that she wanted to go out at nearly midnight when it was freezing cold! Not the ideal weather for standing outside for god knows how long while she eats her fill of grass. I keep trying to think of ways to grow some of that grass in a pot in the garden but I don't know where to get some seeds for it. My dad thinks I should go and dig a clump of it out of the ground, but if I do that it's not likely to grow back once she's eaten it, is it? Find some couch grass, chop it right down to the ground (or choose an eaten bit!) and dig up the roots, pot them on with some of your soil into a pot to bring inside. It will absolutely grow back. Trust me, couch grass grows back :L Lol, will it? The problem I have is identifying the right bits of grass. There's loads of it out there so I'm sure no-one would miss a bit if I can get some. I want to get enough to fill a fairly big pot so it lasts a while.
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Post by tonib on Dec 12, 2017 0:49:45 GMT
orpheous87 if you want to grow grass in a pot, we do that for the cats using cat grass seeds, usually sold for indoor cats but I've also planted some in a couple of pots outside so it grow to a bit of length when we mow the lawn (or should that be if not when!!!!) I see no reason why it should be just for cats. A friend of mine does dig up grass from unwanted places & puts it in pots for the cats in the run or out in her, non-grassed, garden. I've often thought about getting one of those pots tonib but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind of grass that Ellie would eat! You can buy just the packets of seeds orpheous87, just google cat grass seed to see plenty of suppliers. I've bought Vitakraft in the past but usually when I see it online when ordering something else or else in the Range or other stores/garden centres but have used other brands as well.
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Post by orpheous87 on Dec 12, 2017 2:20:04 GMT
I've often thought about getting one of those pots tonib but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind of grass that Ellie would eat! You can buy just the packets of seeds orpheous87 , just google cat grass seed to see plenty of suppliers. I've bought Vitakraft in the past but usually when I see it online when ordering something else or else in the Range or other stores/garden centres but have used other brands as well. I may give this a try. Will report back!
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