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This is a habit of Rita. Disgusting, I know! We have been cleaning up the poop every day, and giving her deeter (a pill that makes the poop taste gross, I guess?) But wouldn't poop taste/look/smell nasty, anyway?? I guesss not, according to miss Rita! Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
try this. You may be able to get it at petsmart and petco as well and just mix it with her food and hopefully it will stop. :)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2001+113753
There are several threads on this behavior - it's called copraphagia.
You can do a search but here's an old, informative thread on the subject.
I've had a slight problem with this before, and the main problem is usually over-feeding or something wrong with the food. Have you changed rita's diet recently? Anyway, she responds to smell, and the partially digested food in the stool still smells like food, not waste. hence the re-digestion. This over feeding also expands her stomach, causing a larger appetite, which in turn feeds (to use a horrible pun) the problem.
The best answer for this is to reduce the amount you feed her by about 10%, leave if for a day or two, then by another 10% until the problem sorts itself out. If it doesn't after a few reductions, consider (I'm not sure how often she gets fed) twice a day if she gets three feeds, or just once a day if she gets two (which is quite normal for adult dogs). Just introduce that slowly, over about a week, and see what happens. if nothing happens after halving her food (gradually), then consult a vet. something may be wrong.
Anyway, hope it fixes up, and good luck!
Sharn.
Morgan does this too. We tried everything mentioned in this thread and a couple more things, but nothing works. My vet said some dogs just do it, for no real reason, and will usually stop on their own eventually though some will do it for their entire life. This was after we tried everything and ruled out any health issues. We just pick it all up almost instantly so she doesn't get the chance. She actually is getting better about it though, so I'm hoping she'll completely stop soon. It's disgusting.
So I have read up, this is one of the most common problems people have with their dogs but they generally don't like to mention it which is why people don't realise how common it is.
It also states that it is more of a problem where the owners are concerned than it is to the dog. To dogs, eating stools is just another way of getting nutrients and half digested ones at that meaning will be even easier for them to digest.
It can be caused by a wide range of things such as food intolerances or allergies, bordem, apparently, dogs kenneled for long periods often get this, nutrients missing from their food or just out of pure habit. I'm sure many dogs just do it because they can....remember, a dog doesn't have to be hungry or missing in something to want to take advantage of any nutrient source that comes their way.
Pups often do it more because they copy mum when she cleans up after them. Monkey see monkey do sort of thing. They often grow out of this as they get older but as has been mentioned, a lot of dogs do carry on eating stools all their life.
A dry diet tends to produce less palatable stools so thats worth thinking about when trying to stop your dog eating his/her own stools. Meaty diets produce much more attractive stools...well, attractive to a dog, lol. :D
I read about one dobie who was so good at eating his own stools, he'd spin round whilst he was passing them and catch them in mid air before they even hit the ground, haha!!!! Now that is the king of stool eaters.
Our Jess has always been a stool eater but generally left her own alone being on a complete diet and all, I don't think her own were all that attractive to her. She does sometimes go into "Hunt the stool", mode when out on walks but these stools could belong to dogs fed on meaty diets and such.
It is funny that our Jess also loves rabbit droppings. She'll walk around picking them up for ages.
I've not seen her take any interest in horse stools or anything though. What attracts her to certain stools and not others is anyone's guess.
Thank you so much, everyone! Oops, sorry Karen!
Doesn't every dog love rabbit treats? LOL :p I mean after all rabbits have to eat them twice. (In seriousness though if you think about it, herbivore poop would be nutritional for omnivoric carnivores. i.e. wolves, fox, coyote Blah. Thanks, but they can have that. King never ate bunny poo, but Koli has on occassion.)
Our Rat Terrier would eat peanuts out of her poo as a puppy. We nipped that in the butt by telling her no when she would get near the poo. With in two weeks she stopped eating her poo. After all these years of reading internet threads I count ourselves lucky. Especially since she was on low quality food. (My parents only bought her Kibbles and Bits. ...though she did get occasional table scraps.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Canis-Lupess