My Dog Eats Poop!
My Dog Eats Poop!
by Lorna Paxton
The very first night we got her my husband told me he saw some poop on the floor. I went to the kitchen to get a paper towel to pick it up and by the time I got back it had disappeared. I thought my husband was paranoid and didn’t think anything of it.
But the missing poop episodes continued and I finally came to terms with the fact that I have a poo eater. There’s even a medical term for eating poop –coprophagy. Medical or not, it’s very disgusting, I mean, who wants a dog who has just eaten their own feces (or someone elses) to come give them a big wet kiss on the face? GROSS!
What’s worse than the gross factor is that it can be dangerous. The main concern is that parasites, including giardia, coccidia, roundworms and whipworms, can be transmitted through dog and cat feces.
Anyway, I will share with you what I learned about Poop Eaters—Why they do it, and how to get them to stop
Why dogs eat poop
There are various theories and speculation on this topic which I’ll now reveal, but the most important thing is how to get them to stop (that’ll come in a minute)
- Some say that some dogs eat poop in order to ‘hide the evidence’ . That might happen with dogs who have been punished for going to the bathroom where they shouldn’t.
- Others say that it’s a habit passed down to dogs from their ancestors . Coyotes and wolves have been known to eat poop during food shortages.
- Monkey see monkey do. Eating poop can be a learned behavior . If one dog sees another one doing it, they’ll copy. It’s the old “If Fido jumps off a 50 foot building are you going to?”
- It’s also normal for females to eat the poop of their pups. Some think say this is to keep the den clean while others think it’s a instinctual response to hide their litter from predators.
- And then again, maybe they do it because it tastes good . Remember, a dog’s taste buds are simpler than ours. They’re into smell and texture so poop is quite a delicacy.
- Many puppies eat their stool because they become confused about where to go so they figure it’s easier to just eat it!
- Other puppies find nutrient value in their feces if their digestion isn’t complete. They’re attracted to undigested rice, corn or peanuts and other lovely nuggets found in poop!
Managing the Problem & Solutions
- Maximizing digestion can help solve this problem. You can add enzyme supplements like papain (a natural enzyme from papaya) to their food, or foods high in enzymes, like pineapple or pumpkin. Stir the enzyme rich food into your dog’s food and let it sit for 15 minutes before feeding. This should make the poop less appealing unless of course you feed your dog those yummy nuggets that come out the other end like peanuts or corn.
- If your dog does happen to eat poop, you will want to try to remove all evidence of the poopy mouth. Spray some Dog Smog Remedy into their mouth. This is a breath freshener and Digestive solution for dogs. Peppermint, spearmint and fennel will remove the bad breath while Digestive enzymes of papain and bromelain will help with digestion.
- Be sure that you’re feeding your pooch a high quality diet which digests easier. Check out the nutritious diet from the Honest Kitchen . Also be sure you’re not over feeding your dog which could result in weight gain and more poop!
- Coat the stools with hot sauce or vinegar , thereby making the experience of eating it unpleasant. Some report injecting the poop with hot sauce so the dog gets a hot mouth of poop. This, for a couple of week is usually enough to deter the dog back to his dog bowl. But the idea of injecting poop with anything sounds mighty unappealing for the human.
- There are a few products you can buy to discourage poop eating including .
o meat tenderizer . Just put a small amount on the dog’s food
o Solid Gold’s S.E.P (stop eating poop)
This all-natural product contains glutamic acid. When mixed with stomach acids it makes the stool taste very bitter and nasty.
- The most logical solution is to obviously limit access to the poop.
· Pick up your yard daily
· If you have a cat, make sure the litterbox is in a place the dog can’t get to.
· Walk your dog on a leash.
Hopefully this tricks and tips will help you break your dog of this nastiest of habits. Good luck!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 am
[…] your back for a minute and your dog is likely to help himself to the an old sock or even worse, poop ! Still, if canine bad breath is persistent, changing your dog’s diet may help to address the […]
April 10th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I have several dogs and some are poop eaters. After watching them for years, I think they simply like the flavor. Their absolute favorite is cat poop which to me is the worst smelling poop in the world. Don’t get me wrong… I pick up the yard twice a day, but sometimes I think they are running along ahead of me because they know I am going to get it. The rule here is: I buy the dog food, so the poop is mine!
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Had this problem with my young Boxer. Part of his diet was a well known brand, premium dry food. We decided to switch him to another brand and problem solved. He has never eaten poo again in the last year since we changed. May not work for everyone, but it certainly has fixed the problem for us. Don’t mind his kisses again!
March 16th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Oh my gosh, glad to know we are not alone. We have a small toy dog, that thinks that the cat box is lovely. No matter how clean we keep it. She doesn’t seem to bother with her poop only the cats.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
We have two dogs, a Wheaten and a Westie. When we got our Westie, she was a poop eater. As fast as I would try to pick it up, she would run ahead and grap it first. She was so fast that you hardly noticed her doing it. My daughter would bring her in and clean her teeth every time she caught. We even called the vet and picked up a powder to sprinkle on the poop to stop her from liking the taste of it. None of this worked.
One day I started watching her to see what she was doing and found that while she was pooping, she was always watching around her. Anytime she saw someone walking anywhere near her, she would finish what she was doing then swing around and grap it. Apparently it looked like she was getting it before anyone else could take it from her. After working with her for a few weeks, I broke her of this habit. She is now three years old and has not done it since. Knowing the reason why she was doing this helped me in stopping the problem.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
I have a poop eater. She also will roll in it. Mainly around her neck. Would anyone know why ?
March 16th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
My doxie/lab mix ate her poop. Both my dogs are on a holistic diet, but she would still eat her poop. I tried everything. I bought enzyme powder and I fed her pineapples but she still ate it. Finally I tried the meat tenderizer, and that seemed to do the trick. I haven’t caught her with any in her mouth recently. The snow just melted here and there’s lots of winter poop laying around so I know she wasn’t eating all of it at least, lol
March 16th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
My female Scotty eats only cat poop, I will try the vinegar remedy. Impossible to keep the box away from her or the cats cannot find it either. Only cat - not interested in dog poop - she does love cat food though so that probably explains it.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:44 am
MY dog tisha eat poop all time. How I do stop tisha eating poop.
March 17th, 2010 at 2:50 am
i live in the rural country , i mean the sticks , i have hundreds of wild rabbits to visit my yard daily ( no way can i clean my yard of rabbit poop ) question is how to stop my 2 dogs from eating this stuff , every time i let them out to pee their nose is on the ground searching for it to eat , help and thanks
March 17th, 2010 at 3:06 am
My little chihuahua was rescued from a puppy mill where she was kept in a too small cage and never cleaned. I am guessing she eats poop as in those early days she had little food given to her in the first place and it was the only way she didn’t drown in it. I have had her seven years now and she is way better than when I got her - she is paper trained - I live in an apartment - she has a boot tray lined with paper in the bathroom where it is ok for her to go, that she uses exclusively and it is easy for me to clean up after her. But she still tries to clean up after herself in the house if I am not alert - something she never does when we go out for a walk outside and she is absolutely uninterested in other dog’s poop. I’m going to try some of your solutions - it would really be nice to get rid of this last hold-over from her puppy mill days. Thanks for the suggestions.
Karen C
March 17th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
My dog also loves rabbit poop. Every time I take her out she’s always goes to where there’s some. What to do?? Thanks…
March 17th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
My two dogs love to go outside just to see what kind of poop they can find in our backyard. Their noses are on the ground as soon as they get out the door. We have tons of deer and rabbits. We’ve tried picking up their poop daily but figure that they are just going to eat the other animals poo anyway. Does anyone know if the mouth spray really works in helping eliminate odors from them passing gas? It is a huge problem in our house, and they both can clear a room in seconds.
March 17th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
We had this problem with our little shorkie puppy we mentioned it to our dog trainer and she told us the reason they do this is because most dog foods are full of fillers like corn and wheat. Which she tells us smells like warmed up corn and wheat once it comes back out therefore making the food smell just like it did before only better, making it more enticing.
We switched our dog to food that had none of these fillers in it and she no longer eats her poo and doesn’t have the giardia anymore either.
The food is a little more expensive but worth it as she eats less and less trips to the vet for the giardia.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
My dog eats cat poop only. He doesn’t like his own. I believe he does it because: A) it tastes good and he likes the smell/taste of anything with a pungent odour. B) he knows it belongs to the cats, and he is interested in ANYTHING that belongs to the cats: their food, toys, and the scent that they leave on their furniture or whatever they have been sitting on. He goes out of his way to sneak into the laundry room and grab a piece, luckily we now have a self-cleaning litterbox, much to his disappointment.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
My dog Maxx used to eat poop as a puppy. We told the vet about it, She gave us a powder to sprinkle on his food. This powder makes his poop taste bad to him, so he wont eat it any more. after 3 packs of this powder he stoped eating poop, and never has since. I think the name of the powder was forbid, Ask your vet.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
You can try Dog Smog Remedy breath spray. It’s great to have on hand to spray into the dog’s mouth after a poop eating episode. It freshens their breath and sanitizes their mouth. It also helps to reduce gas after repeated use.
April 13th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
There is lots of related info at http://www.pet-comfort-products.com/why-dogs-eat-poop.html