When a dog licks the ground it is because he wants to vomit, it is a way of causing vomiting naturally. Dogs are animals that have amazing primary instincts, this means that they know how to instinctively do things that nobody has taught them. Among them, there is the way to provoke vomiting when they are sick or have stomach upsets.
However, there are other reasons why our dog can lick the floor insistently, which we will explain in detail from Dogsis so that we can take care of their health in the most natural way possible.
Index of contents
- 1 My dog licks the ground non-stop and vomits. Why?
- 2 My dog licks the ground occasionally and does not vomit
- 3 Is it bad for a dog to lick the ground?
My dog licks the ground non-stop and vomits. Why?
Dogs cannot speak and tell us that their stomach hurts or that something has gone wrong and they feel like vomiting. They also cannot tell us that they are burning or have eaten too much and feel heavy.
But if they know what they must do to feel better, to eliminate stomach pain or burning, they simply must vomit. It is a primary instinct that they practice since they are puppies, when they feel bad dogs eat grass or they lick the ground a lot, convulsively, until the vomit arrives.
It is a completely natural way to provoke vomiting and thus end the annoying gut pain, even if they have not studied medicine, they are much smarter than they seem. If your dog begins to lick the floor of your house a lot, it is best that you take it out a little in the street or in the garden, because it will end up vomiting.
You should never scold him or prevent him from licking the ground, he does it to heal himself and it is something you must respect. If you scold him he will think he is doing something wrong creating confusion and / or trauma. Sometimes it is possible that the dog licks the sofa instead of licking the floor, sometimes they prefer the texture of the sofa to provoke vomiting.
My dog licks the ground occasionally and does not vomit
There are two reasons why dogs can also lick the ground without assuming they have a sore stomach or want to vomit. Although in these cases they do not lick insistently like when they want to vomit, but they do it occasionally and without obsession.
When a dog detects a food odor on the ground or another dog’s odor, it will lick the ground to savor that delicious odor too. If we drop some food at home, even if we pick it up and run a kitchen paper on the floor to clean it, the dog will know that there was food there and will lick that part of the floor.
Another reason is the absence of minerals, if our dog’s diet is poor in nutrients and of poor quality, the dog will seek the nutrients it needs by alternative routes. Licking the ground often provides them with minerals necessary for their body, so it is not surprising that they do so in these situations.
Is it bad for a dog to lick the ground?
Not at all, it’s a completely natural thing to do instinctively. Whether it is to cure a tummy ache or because they have smelled something interesting, we should never scold the dog for licking the ground.
However, if we must be cautious, if we have a dog at home that usually licks the ground, it is advisable to scrub the house only with water. If we use bleach or other chemical components (scrubbers), the dog will also lick its residues even if the ground is dry.
Taking a little care when scrubbing the floor to avoid toxic residues, there will be no greater problem because our puppy sticks some hickeys to the floor, absolutely nothing happens.
But if you see that your dog constantly licks and vomits daily, you should go to the vet because he may have a food intolerance or a serious digestive problem that must be treated with medication. That he does it occasionally even though he vomits is not a problem, that he does it very often if it is.