Puppy eating dandelions ... and the effects!

[subterraneanalien]

My 14 week old flat-coat retriever puppy has a penchant for eating dandelions, and I have LOTS in my garden! She eats the stems and the seed heads in particular, occasionally the flowers but not the leaves. I have looked this up and I gather that the plant is not toxic (phew) in fact the opposite and it can be used to good effect. However one of the effects is as a diuretic and it can loosen stools. Now my pup still wees during the night and her poos can be terribly soft, to the point of cowpat at times. We have to be right on it and clear them up pronto because she got into the habit of eating them. Yuck! I'm thinking the excessive weeing and the runny poos things might be down to the dandelions. I have been to the vet and she has some 'VetPro' digestive function paste (this was before I made the connection with the dandelions). What I wonder is, will she grow out of this? Is she bored? Is this a habit? thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Puppies chew everything and eat some ridiculous things - I've heard of far worse things being ingested by puppies! Evidently she's developed a taste for them.

Probably best to pull up the dandelions and see if the digestive situation improves. I'd be very wary of chemical weedkillers around a dog, especially a puppy.

What brand of food are you feeding puppy?

I think you need to go around your garden regularly and check, and pull them up so she can't eat them.

Having such loose stools isn't a good thing and it can't be very nice for her either!

I would pull them up and cut the lawn lots to keep them down.

Agree with PP to look at the puppies diet as well. What are you feeding?

Yes I am on a mission today to pull them all up. I know, it's horrid for her too and I don't like to think of her young digestive system etc struggling like this. She's on Chumleys complete dry food (for puppies) because this is what the (reputable) breeder weened her and the litter on to and it's what she has used for years for all her flat-coats, from puppy to mature. Any suggestions for a good, not too expensive alternative to consider? I realise that any changes to diet have to be done gradually. Thanks for your posts.

I use allaboutdogfood.co.uk to compare food quality and prices. If you put in your dogs age and size it will give you an idea of the quality and cost per day which helps you narrow down some brands to try. For good quality I stick to brands where the meat content is named and around 70%. That website will also tell you the ingredients so you can easily see if it contains a lot of 'fillers'.

My dog was eventually diagnosed with a stomach condition which flares up every now and again but we often had cow pats for poos when he was a puppy. I found that wet food was much kinder to his stomach and his poos firmed up when we switched over to a good quality wet brand. Might be something to consider if her poos don't firm up even with no dandelions and new dry food.

Thank you Bitey, lots to think about, and I'll take a look at that website. This situation is a bit upsetting because our last dog had autoimmune disease, he died young, only last October, and one of the on-going side effects of his meds was very soft stools. We had hoped that all that would be a thing of the past ... But, on the bright side, our puppy is adorable!