Can someone please tell me why my dog eats his own poo

[maviscrewit]

I'm sure he's going senile but this is one habit I really find hard to cope with. He is 9.5 and we've had him 8 years. He used to do this very occasionally when stressed, ie if he'd been in kennels but then stopped. Now he does it all the time - I have to be really quick to get to it first. He's always been a scavenger and wears a muzzle when out to stop him eating all sorts. Its hard with two toddlers and trying to stop him licking them and round the kitchen table.

Any ideas anyone?

He's had blood tests to check liver and kidney function which are OK.

It's called coprophagia.

Could be due to:-

dietary deficiency;
a learnt behaviour developed during a period of boredom e.g. during prolonged kennelling in puppyhood;
a significantly high incidence has been found in puppies that have had to fend for themselves, strays for example (Serpell and Jagoe 1995).

Sometimes the faeces seem to have food value because of the richness of the depositors diet and/or the fact that not all nutrients have been drawn out during digestion. Perhaps combinations of these are possibilities in different cases.

Nabbed from a web site - search Google for "Dog eating poo"

Vets usually advise you change them on to dry food. You could try adding several pieces of tinned pineapple chunks to his food.

Thanks Doodle - that makes sense, he was a rescue dog found as a stray and was also in kennels for a long time before we fell for him. I just don't understand why suddenly he's doing it all the time - he literally turns round straighaway and starts munching and I don't have time to stand over him with a bag!

I'll google - thanks again.

Hi Ecmo, sorry crossed posts - he's on dried Chappie although I have to admit he gets left overs too. Maybe I'll stop that. Pineapple is interesting what is the idea behind that?

apparently it tastes terrible in poo! (wonder who tried it to find out erghhhh)

it is mentioned alot in reference to this problem!

It is very unusual for dogs to eat their own faeces as a result of illness. They most often do it because there is undigested protein in the faeces. In effect, although it is a pile of poo to us, it is a pile of protein to them. Sometimes changing to a lower protein food, which may be a good idea for a dog of his age anyway, helps. The easiest way to do this is to use a 'senior' dog food. I suspect though, that he is likely to continue doing it out of habit and personality. It is disgusting but as long as you make sure he is regularly wormed (every three months) with a product from a veterinary practice, there is little risk to your children.

Not sure why he started doing it now but our old dog did this when we first got him and the vet advised us to sprinkle it liberally with pepper as it came out - only ate it a couple of times b4 he realised !!!

pineapple has natural digestive enzymes in it - so i guess it will help digest the poo, so it will be poo, not protein.

yum!

because he's a dirty dog

My golden retriever went through a phase of this, we bought tablets from the pet store which made it taste bitter, if you have another dog you will have to give it the tablets as well. I tried the pineapple, it is supposed to work due to an enzyme in it, but it didn't do any good for our dog. The tablets definitely broke the habit over a couple of months and he only does it occasionally now, not every time he is let out. Cleaning up as soon as he "goes" helps too but is not always practical. I can't remember the name of the tablets, but hope this helps.

By the way the correct name for this is copraphagia, but add dog if you google

Evenstar that is my nomination for quote of the year...

And anyway, if the dog does that it cuts down on the need to be constantly pursuing dog up road with plastic bags... it's probably environmentally friendly in the long run.

Thanks madamez - I was just trying to spare the OP seeing some of the sights (sites?) that came up when I sought a solution to this problem