Dog eating own poo?

[Cedars]

Sorry for all the posts,

Chlo has suddenly started eating her own poo. She did it two days before her op, and she's just eaten diahhoraea now!!!!!

Does anyones dogs do this, do you know what she might be deficient in?

xxxx

 

[GinaB]

The Midget lab used to do this, thankfully she grew out of it

 

[CorvusCorax]

One of my dogs eats fox poo, horse poo, sheep poo, cat poo and occassionally his own and his sister's.
He may be deficient in something, or he may just be a mingy dog who likes eating smelly things.
His sister does not.

I seem to notice labs are particularly prone to it? Someone correct me if I am wrong!

 

[Cedars]

She grew out of it? I really hope so! Bit worried that its all linked to whatever is making her ill =[

Anybody had an experience when there dog has done it and been ill/been deficient in something?

xxxx

 

[Cedars]

CC Chloe eats loads of horse poo, but she's never eaten her own poo before! Would be interesting if it was a particularly common lab thing!

xxxx

 

[GinaB]

She was never ill though, Midget was always in good health and on a good diet. TinaDog never did it, she is a lady

(Tina is a lab)

 

[CAYLA]

Must say im not into the deficiency thing, I think it smells good to them and best eaten when warm, but obs they are not fussy

and dogs are greedy animals, they eat far worse then their own crap

given the chance, ask hanandhen

Its jsut macerated food

Try to pick it up asap and make sure the garden is always clean of faeces if poss, or use a water pistol and squirt her and command her to LEAVE then pick it straight up

or u can try the age old chilli/lemon sprinkled straight on to deter her(greedy dogs will just lick this off as extra topping

or some say feed pineapple in diet and this helps.

 

[camilla4]

My Lab did this for a while when we first had her - she is a rescue and was fairly traumatised at the time. I think she continued it intially as just a habit though - I agree with Cayla that I'm not sure it is a deficiency. It does seem to be mostly dogs who eat other poo who do this and yes, that if frequently Labs! The pineapple trick is one I have heard of but I must admit I didnt' try it. I think the tactic is to break the habit by minimising her opportunity by picking up asap - not always easy, I know, but probably the only way! Don't worry about it - although it makes their breath smell like sewage, it won't harm them!

 

[Cedars]

Ok, thanks guys =] just worried cos its co-incided with her illness but the vet kind of ignored me!

THanks for your experiences

xxxx

 

[Clodagh]

My friend has a lab pup that eats poo - whips round to grab it as it comes out of her bum - gross!
Vet said that its often labs and often bitches. They can develop it as a fear thing, to hide evidence that they have been there. I thought that makes sense as we have never had a pup on its own, we have always had older dogs so it has a 'pack'. But lots of people have lone pups that don't eat poo so its not conclusive!

 

[severnmiles]

Possibly a vitamin deficiency. Coprophagia is the correct term if you wish to google it. There are many reason for doing it, Brier used to do it as a puppy when fed biscuit food, since changing to BARF she hasn't ever eating dogs faeces - horse, sheep and cattle poop is a different matter though!!

 

[Cedars]

I'm worried it might be a fear thing, but then when she did it outside earlier she still ate it and she always gets LOADS of praise when she goes outside.

Severnmiles - thats interesting about the wet/dry thing,normally she gets dry biscuits but since the op shes been having EN (wet) and shes still doing it but we'll see.

Google just says its a behaviour thing, any ideas what vitamins?

xxxxx

 

[competitiondiva]

A while ago now (when I worked in the vets) I was told that by feeding SA37 in the feed it discourages/stops it as it makes it non appetising (not that it isn't already!!), SA37 is a vit and min supplement so would also tally with the theory of something missing in their diet.. See link: http://www.petmeds.co.uk/p-508-sa37-powder.aspx

 

[severnmiles]

Vitamin B apparently. Good luck.

Just out of interest, what is EN (wet)?

 

[Miramis]

My Teckel has always eaten my other dogs poo (never his own) and now 2 of my Northern Inuits do the same thing, pretty gross..mine are fed a good brand of kibble and also get fed raw. I will say that when they were fed fully raw they all stopped the behaviour so i would presume it can be a number of reasons - a learned behaviour and dietry being two of them.


I just make sure i remove the poo so they dont get chance to eat it. Also pineapple chunks in their dioet are supposed to make the poop taste unpalatable. (The tablets you can buy didnt work on my dogs).

On a more positive note my gardens always clean lol!!!

Ang x

 

[willhegofirst]

Our Spinone used to eat our other two dogs poo, our vet said she would still get protein from it and as Spinones are very very food obsessed this was why she did it, and to try distracting her with treats when she went for it, she dose seem to have grown out of it she is four now.

 

[Cedars]

Severnmiles, its a food you get thats designed for dogs with dodgy stomachs, we get it alot with chlo from the vet when she gets a dodgy stomach. it has shorter fatty acid chains so its more easily broken down xxxx

 

[alfie1995]

Now this may sound odd.....but i found it works, we have a labrador and a couple of daschunds who are culprits at eating poo, the other dogs dont do it but these three do. The vet told us to try pineapple juice! We put a splash of pineapple juice on all of the dogs dinners and so far...touch wood, its working! havent a clue why, but it does.