Abnormal eating habit - advice please!

[MrsSnaplegs]

We have 7 yr old female Rhodesian Ridgeback, she came to us at 18 months from her breeder and has always been fit and well. She is well behaved, lovely family dog and great with DD. She is very lazy and has never been one to "play" in particular - won't chase a ball but will have mad 5 minute run around when we are out and she is off the lead then will just walk and sniff about.

We also have 2 cats at home - they all get on well although the cats are a little antisocial - to be honest we came by both of them by accident and when they go they won't be replaced!!

Problem: Dog will always try to eat the cat food - not too much of an issue apart from expense of the amount of cat food we get through and the extra food dog gets doesn't help with controlling weight of a lazy dog so she is a little "heavy" for a RR but not overweight! Main concern is her obsession with eating cat poo from the litter tray. Both cats still use it despite having a cat flap and free range of our garden. Without the litter tray they will mess in house and one of them will wee in sporadic places despite having litter tray and free access to outside It is a covered litter tray -hut type thing so for a RR to get her head in she has to make a real effort, we keep it in upstairs bathroom away from her and it is turned into a corner so it is not easy access for her but she still goes to steal the poo!!

Help! She has a good balanced diet and is well fed - certainly doesn't go hungry! i know RR are renowned food theives and will eat whatever they can get their paws on but this driving me crazy!

Any suggestions?

Could you sprinkle pepper straight on it - after a few times might stop him trying ?

Ok might try that but don't want to put cats off as well - can't cope with them messing on carpet!

Ban the dog from going upstairs? It is one of the easiest things to teach and solves the problem without having to retrain the cats. My lab would do the same. Our litter tray is in the garage the other side of a door with catflap in. I wouln't want a litter tray in the bathroom

No I don't like it in the bathroom but we've just moved house and it's much smaller - only place with any room at the moment. Dog sleeps on floor next to bed so tends to have free roam of house - maybe a stairgate and reduced access. Only problem is if I go upstairs she follows me everywhere when I am home.

I agree with reduced access to certain areas. We have a stair gate on the doorway that leads to the hall/upstairs. The dogs dont get to go up there, unless invited.

It is the one place in my house the cat is safe.

Iirc bananas and pineapple are good things to give dogs to stop the dog poo eating, not sure if it works on cat poo too though. Do check it out first though.

As for the cat food eating, I would have the same problem if the cat food is left anywhere in range of my shepherds!

It is too high in protein for the dogs and isnt good for their kidneys/liver, so I suggest you feed the cat somewhere that the dog doesnt get access to. My cat is also fed upstairs now, she is happy with that, I am happy with that and the dogs dont scoff what they arent supposed to.

My two labs are exactly the same regarding both the cat food eating and the cat poo eating. Horrible habit, eating cat poo.

We manage now by policing the cat bowls and feeding the cats on top of the utility room cupboards where possible. Before we moved here it wasn't possible to feed the cats on the work surface, so we had to feed them on the floor. To stop the dogs eating the cat food then we used to latch the door so it was fixed 5 inches ajar - enough for the cats to get through but not the dogs. Could you use this idea to create a dog free space in one of your rooms?

My puppy is eating mud, digging and eating concrete/sand, once she has scraped it loose. I stop her each time, but she immediately goes back to eat. She vomited two HUGE piles of black mixture yesterday afternoon, but is back rooting again today. She is also finding old bones from next doors dog in our back garden and trying to eat those. What do I do?

assumpta sorry don't know the answer to this - maybe a friday night bump may bring some decent advice!

Sometimes eating poo - often their own (yurk) - is a sign of diet deficiency. Vets sometimes give vitamin B tablets which stops it. But you'd need to check the dosage with a vet and not guess it!

walkies thanks she does have a good well balanced dog food so I think it is just because she wants to eat everything being a RR