Vegas is eating sand and getting sick

[KMARINO]

Oh how I wished and prayed to buy a house with a fenced in yard!! In fact I would not even look at a house unless it was fenced. Well we got one and Vegas can run free, I do stand at the door 95% of the time and watch him, but it is the 5% that is making him sick. At our other house where he was ALWAYS leashed he would grab a mouthful of sand here and there, Now he is just flat out eating it. Yesterday he threw up and it looked like wet cement, just a few minutes ago same thing!! He threw up again and it was pure wet cement sand!!!

Really???? Am I going to have to start leashing him again??? Does anyone have any suggestions??? The thought of leashing him again makes me sad, but I can't have him eating sand and getting sick. We have lived here 5 weeks and he just has done this the last two days. You would think after yesterday with him heaving all over the living room floor he would have stopped, NOPE he did it again today!! HELP!!!

[MENTION=2]desertskybulldogs[/MENTION], you have all sand does any of yours eat sand? Or do I have the only not so bright one that does?? Most of my yard is crappy grass, but lots of sand mixed in. Will it kill him???

 

[2BullyMama]

DAMN... no clue how/if it would hurt him. Could you sod the yard to get rid of the sand?

 

[Alice Kable]

I don't know if he would eat enough sand to hurt him but it certainly is hard on the digestive system. If you sod in grass he will probably eat it and puke, too. What we ended up doing was a fenced in concrete dog area. Ruggles is our first "eat anything and everything" Bully. Mack didn't eat grass before Ruggles.

 

[Sherry]

Oh no !!!! that can't be good.I never heard of such a thing. Poor guy and Poor you. replacing the sand is the only thing I can think of unless he catches real, real soon. This is sad.

 

[kazzy220]

Not sure what to say .... don't have sand here!! Can you replace it with something or grow something in that area?

 

[bullmama]

Not really sand here-- just dirt. Jesse likes to eat the gravel sometimes...

The only thing I can think of is to landscape somehow? If you did gravel you would lay plastic down first, and layer the gravel on top. Lots of work tho for your back!

 

[BruceP]

I think he can be trained out of this habit....... errr,,, we are talking about Vegas, aren't we? ... Nevermind!!!!

 

[Teresa]

yes bring in dirt and plant grass. Do u have pictures of the area that has sand ?

 

[Biogirl71]

Poor you! And poor Vegas...can't help himself. Maybe put up one of those temporary fences in an area with no sand for the 5% of the time you aren't watching him? They are easy to roll up when not using. I know when Frank would roam by himself in our last place (the only place we have had a fenced yard), he had an insatiable appetite for sticks. Then would throw them up on the bed in the middle of the night. And I was worried sick they would get lodged in his throat. Nothing I did would keep him from eating them. So he was only allowed supervision in the yard.

 

[KMARINO]

It is just going to have to boil down to him being watched 100% of the time, sod would die along with any other grass we have here in Floirda, we don't have good soil here because of the sand. Plus we have a quarter acre, way to much to sod. We are going to landscape some more in the back but again it is a huge yard. We are eventually going to add more to the cement patio and extend it quite a bit and add a Purgula for some shade. Vegas would never let Joe take him out at the other house and now he won't even go out the open door if Joe open's it, just me. (LUCKY ME ) But Joe and I have an agreement, since I do EVERYTHING for Vegas, face, bath, etc... Joe now goes to the door after I let him out and stands and watches him for me. He called him in this morning because he started digging a whole by the Palm tree.

 

[Lindathedogsmaid]

my grand pup ate sand ,-just because she was bored, and couldn't find anything else to pick up to play with!!! and it cost $2000 to take it out, we saw hr bite and swallow, and said that is going to hurt. less than 24 hr s later she was bloating and in the vets ! in her life time she ate rocks, sand , sticks, she just needed to have a toy or 2 to play with for attention at all times. sand is full of stuff too. fleas and god knows what else, but it will pack tight and stop digestion in a hear beat!!

 

[Lindathedogsmaid]

what about a small area that a kennel /or fenced in area, can stand on a pad of something that can be washed,hosed down, but not eaten ! and they can run free but with limitations! maybe cement pads ? some
one may have good ideas of a surface !!

 

[Lindathedogsmaid]

please-- he is going to need surgery to remove it ,soon if not today.it can kill him. by packing the intestines,tight, my grand pup did this. and she ate rocks when ever she could too. bored, and no toys, she had to try to pick something up to get you to play with her, and if she couldn't find a toy, a rock or sand would do !

 

[2BullyMama]

What about the little pebbles? Our breeder uses them for the kennel areas in her yard (she has 7 acres)