Violet- 4 year old unspayedblack lab. (please do not question why she isnt spayed, she has NEVER had a litter, nor will she ever) UTD on all shots and fecal is normal Violet gets 4 cups of blue Buffalo lamb dog food a day (2 am, 2 Pm) she is a healthy 50 lbs. she is considerably smaller than most labs i have seen. violet has been starting to get loose out of the back yard the last week or so ( not in heat) for no reason. she has 1/2 a acre back yard to run and play in and is let out side for 20+ minutes about 5-6 times a day with the other dogs. the other nite she got loose and we couldnt find her all nite, she finally showed up the next morning. we have fixed where she was getting out at. now 3 nights ago she started throwing up.. weird.. nothing unusual in her throw up so i shrugged it off. next morning i let her out to potty and she throws up again, and there are peices of sheet rock in her throw up. i look at the wall by her bed and sure enough there is a hole the size of a base ball in the wall that was obviously chewed. UGH she threw up again, and this time there was linoleum in big chunks in it. and there is linolium missing from under her bed. this morning she threw up parts of her blanket. i have had violet for 2 years she has NEVER done this! she has been on the same dog food for a year, and has been fine up until now. any suggestions?
Is she acting normally in every other way? I am thinking brain tumor or something severe that has changed her metabolism and behavior totally?
she is fine other than she wasnt wanting her afternoon food this morning, incredibly hyper as always, drooling for snacks
I know she has a big yard, but is she getting enough exercise? Labs are very high energy dogs and sometimes dogs that have a lot of unused energy will start doing strange things when they get bored.
Sounds like she might be bored. I would try some new toys, and an hour or so of structured play time per day. This could be teaching her a new simple trick, going for a run/walk, or throwing the ball for her.
when my min pins started chewing their blankets it was out of pure boredom so I put a kong in the crate and stuff it with goodies... no more unwanted chewing
...or maybe she got into something when she was out, and is trying to purge her system of it... I know of one Choc Lab that got into a block of mouse poison... she ate sawdust, rotten potatoes, and marigolds to try to get rid of it.... Hope she recovers ok
I agree with her being bored. She is looking for something new to do. My cattledog has been running around with pumpkins lately. He lines them up in the driveway and sits and watches the pigs come up to eat them. He has acres to run, goats to tend to and he still makes up games to keep himself busy.
weird! we were on blue buffalo for a year also and we started noticing that our dog was losing weight, was less vigorous, and seemed ill sometimes. we switched to royal canin and he went back to his silly ol self. could just be a coinscidence but i know at the time blue buffalo was having some recalls and we believe Elvis may have gotten a bad batch. I know blue buffalo has had a few recalls in the past year or so...something worth looking into .
Sounds like Violet is bored. Labs are wonderful dogs but they can get into some bad habits if they're not kept busy. Mine, at age 1, destroyed $100 worth of library books, a wicker basket, the rockers on my granny's chair, and a papery log we had left on the hearth. She outgrew that phase pretty fast. We got her a bottle toy that you put treats in. We'd put a bunch in it when we left for work and she'd mess with it till she got them all out. That was a good toy but I'm sorry, i can't remember what it was called. They are also famous for being gluttons and loving to chew. You might want to find her some of the toys for heavy chewers. Check Drs. Foster & Smith's website. Good luck!
