Dog eating poop....

[ptkennel]

Wondering if there is something that my puppy is lacking.  She is four months old and is eating her poop.  Gross. 

[schelmischekitty]

i've always heard it's a vitamin deficiency, and that if you start giving them multivitamins it SHOULD stop, although there is the occasional "poopy dog" who just likes it.  this site has some info.  according to them, it may just be that they're going too long between meals and do it to feel full. ok i modified it b/c it won't let me put the link for some reason.  i'll have to try this, just put a www. in front of it.

veterinarypart ner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1613

[schelmischekitty]

i wonder if the distaste (if they make a cat formula) would work if you added it to cat food, to keep the dogs out the litter box??

[Gracie Belle]

Poop eating has a name....  Coprophagia  Gross...
http://www.xomba.com/why_do_dogs_eat_cat_poop

[ptkennel]

None of our dogs get any corn or wheat. She is getting plenty to eat. (Lamb and Rice) She seems to be in great health. Hoping it is just a phaze......

[Lyn]

Bubba was a notorious poop eater. He wouldn't eat his own poop, but he lives with a Toy Poodle and her poop was something tasty in his opinion. He prefered it either frozen or dried out. BLEH!

I basically taught him 'Leave it'. I'd wait until he was about to pick it up and I'd scream EWWWW Leave it! LOL He still attempts it every once in awhile, but at least now he will spit it out. I don't have to go fishing in his mouth to get it.

But now of course Lola has picked up the behaviour from Bubba. And she too only eat's the Toy Poodles poop. Which just confirms the fact that the Poodle although she eat a good quality food (Natural Balance) she also gets a ton of low quality junk treats. So her poop more than likely contain undigested proteins. Yummy to them and completely and utterly disgusting to me. LOL

The only way I've been able to stop it.. is to clean the yard as often as possible and hope I don't miss any. Lola is my yard inspector. She helps me find what poop I missed. LOL

[patrick]

A vet told us to add some crushed pineapple to their food - they don't care for the taste coming out the other end!  Worked for the one dog we tried it on

[Kermit]

Hehe... best of luck with your poop-eater. I have two over here. I have tried everything from hot sauce to Solid Gold's S.E.P.(stop eating poop). Nothing helps. My dogs are on great diets (Innova) and they are medically sound. They just really like poop. Unfortunately if I don't watch their every move in the back yard they will eat it any chance they get. I try to keep the yard cleaned up as best I can, but there is no way to keep Mokey the stealthmeister from grabbing it and munching it down real fast! Yep! It's absolutely disgusting!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!

[migrandl]

Good advice all around... keeping the yard picked up is essential.  I had a GSD that loved 'pupsicles'... the meat tenderizer did help (it's got to be Adolph's and nothing else) and you've got to be consistent with it.  I recently heard about the crushed pineapple, but alas, poor Moose has gone to the bridge so never got a chance to try it - he so loved his fruits and veggies, too!  As far as the cat box goes, keeping it out of sight, out of mind is good - cats DO excrete proteins that their bodies don't need, and that is why many dogs can't resist the litter box.  A friend of mine has a cocker mix who snacks and his skin and coat have been atrocious!  Recently she arranged it so that he can't get to the cat box and there have been remarkable improvements in both his skin and his coat - the only change she can think of is inaccessibilit y to the kitty krunchies (she uses clumping/multi cat formula) and we figure there's something in it that was giving the poor dog's skin a run for its money.

[TannerW]

This thread officially makes me want to vomit while laughing.

[longshadowfarms]

It's only funny if you don't have to live with a poop eater.  Jaeger was one for all of her 14 yrs.  We tried EVERYTHING including the packaged stuff from pet catalogs.  Nothing worked.  We just kept the yard picked up.  Eider used to do it a LOT until we changed food.  Now he only does it to cat poop    Still gross but at least I can control his access to cat poop.  Unless there is a specific allergy issue, Lamb and Rice is probably not the best choice.  Try another formula if you can or try a different protein source if there are allergies. 

[ptkennel]

I'd love to give her some chicken based kibble but our breeder says only lamb and rice. The reason being, protein levels of 24% is max and our chicken based kibble starts at 26% and goes up. She has been good the last few days, hope it is over!

[sc.trojans]

A vet told us to add some crushed pineapple to their food - they don't care for the taste coming out the other end!  Worked for the one dog we tried it on

Pineapple often works due to the pectin and it acting like a digestive enzyme.

At 4 months of age if could be behavioral and will outgrow. On the other hand it could be a deficiency and the sooner you determine, the better of the pup will be.

If a deficiency, it is mineral deficiency, not a vitamin deficiency.  It can also be a digestive enzyme defieciency, which feces is often high in and this could help the process.

I have helped several coprophagia cases and in most of them, the situation was addressed by addressing the entire digestive tract.  A digestive enzyme should be added - either purchase one at your health food store, or add pineapple, apple cidar vinegar etc..  A good probiotic should also be added to help the process.  You can purchase in your refrigerated section of your health food store and ensure there are at least 1 billion live cells in it.

You may want to also add apple cidar vinegar (1 tbl) to the food a couple of times per week and see if that helps.

[pink2378]

I am SO going to be trying the pinapple ASAP.  My 6 month old newfie, Lucy, LOOOOVES to munch the poo (her poo, the cat's poo, any poo will do!)  To top it off, she is burpy.  She'll come over to say hi and then inches from my face and burp the MOST HORRIBLE poo burp ever.  It is literally the worst smell I've ever smelled in my life.  So my husband and I will be shopping for some crushed pineapple tonight!

BTW we've learned that we can't leave her outside unattended b/c of her habit but every once in a while when we are in a hurry we let her out there and hope that she's not in a poo eating mood but 90% of the time she apparently is and sooner or later...poo burps and farts! GAG!

[rickie]

Oh my gosh, I am LMAO!!! Both of my dogs are poop eaters!! Molly, my black tri will only eat her own, but not Tilly, it doesn't matter to her. I adpoted Tilly last November (2005) and didn't realize she did it, until one day she came back in the house and I could tell she had something in her mouth. Yep, I pried her mouth open and out came a frozen poop!! I try to catch them, but sometimes when I yell "leave it", they just munch it faster I laughed so hard with the comment about the burps!! Molly does it to me all the time and it is so gross!!!