When pets start licking the floor, owners at first just laugh. They think it looks funny and even worthy of being photographed or filmed. But in fact, such behavior should alarm the dog owner, because most likely it indicates a disease.
If your pet is licking the ground, this may indicate a serious illness.
Why does a dog lick the floor: reasons
Most often, attacks occur in the following circumstances:
- 30-60 minutes after the walk;
- after eating;
- while walking outside, the dog may start licking everything on the ground;
- after punishment, loud beeps, rudely given commands and other stressful situations.
With the above symptoms, a strong attack of nausea or a nervous reaction can be considered the clear cause of the behavior.
For example, gastritis leads to such attacks. Inflammation of the inner lining of the stomach occurs, which is accompanied by a coating on the tongue, diarrhea, refusal to eat, rapid weight loss, and deterioration of the hair and skin.
Gastritis occurs due to:
- feeding once a day or overeating;
- worms;
- low-quality industrial feed;
- monotonous diet;
- vitamin deficiency;
- if the dog regularly eats too hot or cold food;
- treatment with antibiotics or other drugs that adversely affect the intestinal microflora or mucous membranes;
- stomach ulcers;
- dental problems;
- disturbances in the hormonal system;
- neoplasms and oncological problems.
Vitamin deficiency may be the reason why your pet licks the floor
Irritations and injuries
We are all familiar with the expression “licking your wounds.” Thanks to the wonderful properties of saliva, “licked” wounds heal and heal faster. Additionally, "licking" is an evolutionary behavior. The dog washes away any dirt that has gotten into the wound, removes sharp edges, etc. However, try not to encourage this behavior in your pet. Leave wounds and injuries to your veterinarian and do not rely on self-medication. In some cases, the intervention of the tongue does not in any way contribute to speedy healing, but only aggravates the situation.
Why do dogs sometimes lick the carpet, sofa and choke, what to do in this case
If your dog licks the carpet because something was spilled or dropped on it, there is nothing wrong with it. After all, dogs have a keen sense of smell and can sense a delicious aroma even several days after they dropped something on the carpet. In this case, such behavior will not bring anything terrible to the animal.
Sometimes the pet deliberately tries to induce vomiting in a row, this is accompanied by anxiety.
Many dog breeders know why dogs chew grass in the summer, but in winter they are left to lick the carpet and upholstered furniture in the house. This is necessary to artificially irritate the vomiting center. In most cases, this is due to the presence of foreign objects in the gastrointestinal tract of animals. Attention! There are times when dogs try to fight the heaviness in their stomachs after overeating.
Carpet is an excellent replacement for grass in winter
Taste and aroma
Hand on heart, you and I also taste many things and objects. Well, almost everyone was guilty of this in childhood. You have to study a thing from a variety of angles, try to understand all its properties. Dogs do much the same. True, they can also boast an “additional” olfactory organ - the so-called vomeronasal organ (Jacobson's organ), located in the upper part of the palate. With the help of Jacobson's organ, four-legged friends look for partners for mating, recognize familiar dogs, greet them, and also smell people. And in general they get a “3-D” olfactory image.
Why can a dog lick concrete?
If a dog tries to lick concrete, it is worth changing the usual vitamin and mineral supplements to those that contain an increased amount of calcium and phosphorus. After all, without phosphorus, calcium cannot be absorbed, even when it enters the body in sufficient quantities.
As an emergency measure, you can give the animal medications containing calcium lactate for 1-2 weeks. Hypocalcemia may increase during pregnancy, lactation, growth, recovery from injuries and fractures.
Lethargy and drowsiness can sometimes be accompanied by a deterioration in the health and quality of the coat, and peeling of the skin. Also, do not forget that for dogs this can be signs of a disease caused by iodine deficiency. Since this is quite dangerous, it is worth paying special attention to this. For treatment, it is advisable to consult with a specialist and take the prescribed dosages of preparations with seaweed.
Licking concrete is a sign of iodine deficiency in the body
Excessive licking syndrome
Yes, such a syndrome exists; it characterizes a condition when an animal constantly looks for rough surfaces and licks them. As the condition progresses, the dog begins to lick absolutely everything, including its own paws.
Licking the limbs causes the formation of wounds that become inflamed and cause serious discomfort.
Note! It is important to distinguish between episodes of random licking and obsession. It is obsessions that are a symptom of real physical illnesses.
When to sound the alarm
To determine the disease that caused the vomiting, you need to conduct an external examination. You should be concerned if you notice an uncharacteristic smell from the mouth:
- Ammonia or urea, which is a sign of kidney failure. A sharp manifestation may indicate heavy metal poisoning.
- The smell of acetone, which may be a sign of diabetes.
- Putrid odor, indicating diseases of the intestines or oral cavity.
Typically, these dog health problems are chronic and should be treated by a veterinarian. He performs a full range of diagnostic measures, prescribes treatment and the right diet.
Obsessive licking of the carpet and/or floor covering also occurs in other diseases:
- Stomach upsets. To solve it, you should let the dog starve and change the diet.
- If the dog begins to lick the carpet pile in fits, against the background of poor appetite, this indicates signs of chronic recurrent gastritis or ulcers.
- Incorrect amount of food consumed. Food that has not had time to digest wanders through the stomach and is excreted back. Usually, after vomiting in such cases, the dog can feel good and cheerful.
- Aggressive reproduction of worms entering the stomach.
Cleansing the stomach as a natural process
Experienced dog owners know that their dog loves to chew grass and regurgitate it while walking. They take this calmly, since such a procedure for cleaning the stomach is a natural need of the animal. Similar to this is carpet licking, which aims to collect obstructive deposits in the stomach on the swallowed cake and get rid of them.
An experienced dog breeder will not attach any importance to this if such attacks of personal hygiene are not chronic and obsessive in nature and occur no more than once or twice a week. If a dog constantly licks the carpet pile and eats grass, this indicates excessive secretion of bile and its entry into the stomach. This means that the owner overdid it with fatty foods for his pet. Associated signs of improper feeding are soft stools and rapid greasy fur.
An attentive owner has a healthy dog
If a dog licks fur or eats grass, it should regurgitate what has entered its stomach. If the vomit contains no blood or worms, and the dog feels cheerful after such a procedure and does not have a fever (cold wet nose), then this is not a reason to panic. The main thing is unobtrusiveness and frequency. In this case, you can play it safe and put the dog on a diet (take a break from feeding) and observe the dynamics of his behavior. The life and health of pets depends on the attentiveness of the owner!
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Foreign bodies in the throat or digestive tract
If a puppy frantically licks the carpet, after which he vomits and cannot go to the toilet for a long time, you should think about intestinal obstruction. This happens if your pet swallows a large bone or piece of a soft toy. In such cases, the animal must be urgently taken to a specialist, as surgery will most likely be required.
Attention! Intestinal obstruction can also cause gradual bloating, but constant gagging does not cause vomiting.
If your dog is licking the floor, at the first sign of vomiting it is worth considering options for placement of the foreign body:
- In the mouth you can usually find sticks or bones stuck between the dog's back teeth. One of the first symptoms is frequent movement of the jaw and copious flow of saliva, the pet rubs its face with its paws, and sometimes there is bleeding from the mouth in small quantities. Surgery may be required to remove a foreign body from the mouth; you should contact a clinic.
- A foreign body in the throat causes signs of sudden suffocation and nausea. This condition requires immediate intervention. The owner can lift the dog by its hind legs and shake it as first aid. In emergency situations, you can sharply squeeze the sides of the chest several times.
- In the esophagus, a foreign body is accompanied by vomiting after eating and dehydration. To check, you need to collect a fold of skin on the dog’s withers and release it; it should soon return to its previous state.
- In the trachea and lungs, the foreign body causes general oppression of the dog, which increases at high speed.
- The presence of a foreign object in the stomach is more difficult to diagnose. Sometimes they can remain in the organ for several years without showing symptoms. If it moves, periodic vomiting occurs.
- In the small intestine, the object causes uncontrollable vomiting, dehydration, and severe pain in the abdominal wall.
- There may be sticks, bone fragments, and needles in the rectum. Because of this, the dog hunches over, becomes constipated and has blood in its stool.
At the first sign of a foreign body in your dog’s body, you should consult a doctor.
Self-soothing tool
Let us again turn to human behavior patterns: many of us, under the influence of strong excitement, fear or stress, begin, for example, to bite our nails. So “licking” and “licking” can also be called a kind of defensive response, a means of self-soothing. Cats, by the way, at such moments begin to purr “to themselves.” Dogs also remember how carefully, when they were still small puppies, their mother licked them, protecting them from all misfortunes and worries. And not only for this reason: it was in this intricate way that the mother prepared the puppies for life and encouraged their physical activity.
Final thoughts
It is important to rule out illness and anxiety when trying to deal with your dog's floor licking. You should visit your veterinarian to make sure nothing else is going on. Ignore your dog when he starts licking the floor. This includes swearing. Instead, you'll want to look at the big picture and come up with some effective solutions to stop the behavior.
When pets start licking the floor, owners at first just laugh. They think it looks funny and even worthy of being photographed or filmed. But in fact, such behavior should alarm the dog owner, because most likely it indicates a disease.
If your pet is licking the ground, this may indicate a serious illness.
- Why does a dog lick the floor: reasons
- Why do dogs sometimes lick the carpet, sofa and choke, what to do in this case
- Why can a dog lick concrete?
- When to sound the alarm
- Foreign bodies in the throat or digestive tract
- Cleansing the stomach as a natural process
Dehydration
Owners not only need to monitor the correct diet of the pet, but also provide it with constant access to clean water, especially when feeding it with ready-made food. If your dog doesn't drink enough water, it will lead to dehydration. The animal tries in every possible way to obtain the missing moisture.
Situations where a dog licks condensation on a window, a just washed floor, or objects that do not contain moisture at all should alert the owners. In such cases, it is necessary to check whether the dog is provided with sufficient water. Dehydration can seriously harm your pet's health, so make sure your water bowl is always full.
