Observation: My dog eats mulberry leaves

Since we have moved into our current home, our dogs have nibbled off the leaves of some of the saplings on our fencelines. After quite a bit of observation, we have decided that they are only eating the mulberry leaves. (My wife jokingly calls them "Dogwood" trees.)

It’s kinda funny... they very gently bite the leaf with their front teeth (pulling their lips back to bear their teeth) and gingerly pluck the leaf off the limb. They then lay down and meticulously chew the leaf eventually swallowing it. This process typically takes 5+ minutes per leaf, the whole time with the air of an aristocrat with her pinky sticking up while drinking tea. They do this for 3 or 4 leaves in a row sometimes. It does not induce vomiting like grass typically would.

I’ve read that dogs will sometimes eat the berries (we do not have nearly as many berry producers as we have young plants), but has anyone else noticed a dog having an appetite for mulberry leaves? Any idea why they might be doing this?

He was a silkworm in a previous life.

I will definitely post video if they start making cocoons.

Tom Harner wrote:...has anyone else noticed a dog having an appetite for mulberry leaves? Any idea why they might be doing this?

If you had livestock, I'd say they were just copying them, my dogs have done that. Mulberry leaves make good fodder - 15-35% protein, but I'd guess that the dogs are self-medicating because it's potent medicinal. Or, since both dogs are doing it, maybe their diet is lacking some micro-nutrient.

I read that the unripened fruit and older leaves are mildly hallucinogenic to humans... I wouldn't know from first-hand experience. Maybe they're expanding their horizons.

My parents had a short mulberry bush. Their fox terrier got every berry within about 3-4 feet of the ground. I never noticed her eating leaves though. She ate the berries exactly how you describe yours eating the leaves. Very delicate.

Introducing my silk greyhounds
mulberry leaves have a lot of proteins and esential aminoacids and even some amount of fat, they are used to feed livestock.

I just did a bunch of research on chlorophyll for dogs because my dog's vet prescribed a homemade herbal mixture containing chlorophyll drops for my dog.  Apparently mulberry leaves are a rich in chlorophyll (along with alfalfa-which is somewhat controversial concerning safety for dogs), and one of the main reasons dogs love grazing in the grass is because grass is rich in chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll has numerous health benefits for dogs and is actually considered somewhat vital for their health as it helps prevent cancer, aids in digestion, cleanses blood, detoxes all organs, etc.  Unfortunately they can't sufficiently digest grass well enough to absorb a beneficial amount of chlorophyll from it-observe stools for evidence   So perhaps this is a big reason they are drawn to mulberry leaves too, and why your dogs nibble at them for 5+ minutes (to make it more absorbable for their bodies). Go figure  

Yes I do 😅 I have an eleven year old pitbull, I too noticed he too has a fondness for them as well. Every day when we are sitting in the back yard, we have started noticing in the past month,he likes to munch on them. He has never gotten sick from them. Glad to know he was just a happy wierd loveable dog.👍🥰

As far as I know, most leaves are edible.  Most wildlife eat leaves.  My concern would be are they eating the leaves because they are hungry, maybe not getting enough ration, or are they eating them because they are sick?

Mulberry is a traditional medicine and this may be an indication of a health problem. The mulberry leaves help with inflammation, heart disease, and diabetes.

As long as I have had dogs, I have lived rural. From Lab to Mastiff, MinPin to Chihuahua, they ALL graze like bloody cows! City folk freak out when they see my dogs picking blackberries, nibbling on dandelions "fat grass" and all manner of assorted greenstuffs. "Your dog is sick, he's eating grass!" go their horrified cries.

I think city dogs KNOW the unnatural lawn grass, likely contaminated with car exhaust, fertilizer, moss killer, and/or pesticides is bad for them, and therefore only eat grass when desperate. I think rural dogs eat as canids worldwide do, and vegetation is a very natural part of that.  

As to the choice of mulberry, perhaps it is as simple as a taste preference...assuming there is nothing toxic IN the leaves, and this grazing is not an issue, I would not give it another thought. View it as a human, passing a wall of blackberry brambles loaded with plump, juicy berries - bet you also will stop, and gingerly pick and eat until you have had your fill!