odd question... - Paw Talk

Gecko · #1 05-06-2005, 12:49 PM

My dog tends to eat any other animal's poo. Why would she do this?

snowyangel · #2 05-06-2005, 01:03 PM

Actually my family dog used to eat our cats poo too. I'm not sure why but i know it's not uncommon. Rats will consume their own poo too but very secretively.

whinnie-boo · #3 05-06-2005, 01:20 PM

Your dog can make himself fatally ill by eating the feces of other animals, even his own.
My dog used to do this as a puppy, I asked my Vet what could be done about it. He prescribed me a little bag of powder to add to her food called "forbid"(in Canada), I added it to the food of every pet in the house. Started again recently, when I got my first cat, they could not stay out of the box of tasty cat treats. When put in the food, the animal rarely tastes the powder, but when it has gone through their system, it makes the smell and taste of poo not so appealing, should they ingest it again, they could be sick as well. Not that I can understand what is so appealing in the first place. After about 2 days of feeding her the forbid with her food, she stopped sniffing poo entirely.

Where your dog is eating other animals feces, it is hard to ensure the other animals have this additive in their food. All I can recommend, is to keep a closer eye on him when he is around places where he can find tasty little snacks to eat.

Good Luck!!

Candycane · #4 05-06-2005, 01:30 PM

Solid Gold makes a similar product:
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...id=44&code=670
I've never tried it myself but glutamic acid is a common ingredient in products such as this.

elfomatic · #5 05-06-2005, 02:47 PM

Dogs sometimes do this because, to them, other animal's feces tastes good. I don't recommend you allow it to happen. Try not to expose your dog to the feces -- if it is a cat's litter box move it so it is inaccessable to the dog.

meggs521 · #6 05-06-2005, 03:23 PM

Gecko- Crunch (my puppy) does the same thing. He started by eating rabbit dropping at my parent's place and then he moved on to bird dropping on the sidewalks and stuff. My vet said to try and keep him from doing it, but to make sure he didn't eat the bird droppings because of all the illnesses birds have lately (I guess they have more then rabbits). But that no poo was really good.

Dogs are funny. And I can't imagine that it taste's good.

~Meg

ninja_smurtles · #7 05-06-2005, 05:13 PM

Both my dogs eat poo.
They have started dropping it when I catch them but sometimes I let them out and they eat it.
it is bad for them to eat it so try to prevent it as best as you can

Nikki6496 · #8 05-06-2005, 05:45 PM

My dogs got Giardia from eating poop.

the meds were fairly expensive for my GSD and both dogs took two rounds to clear up! I read some where that people would run out and put tabasco sauce on the poop so that their dog wouldn't eat it. The trainer asked... if your running out their to cover poo in tabasco why don't you just clean it up? I guess the best way to make sure they're not eating poop is to just clean it up.

Although we have wild turkeys that run freely through our yard and our dogs can get very sick if they eat their poop so I watch them closely.

Nikki6496 · #9 05-06-2005, 05:46 PM

OH! Giardia is an intestinal parasite that can also be trasnfered to humans. Gross

Gecko · #10 05-07-2005, 03:33 AM

Well my bf brought his dog up for the weekend and she started eating his poo so he picked it up. once we start putting them together more often we may have to try that stuff. She will also be spending a lot of times at my mom's who has a dog and I havent noticed her doing it there but I will keep a watch for it and if she does I will try giving that stuff to my mom's dog too.

Along the same lines she also tries to eat her own vomit? We try of course to keep her from getting sick in the car by giving her benedryl but last time we didnt give her enough and we had to try to keep her from eating it while trying to clean it up.

meggs521 · #11 05-07-2005, 11:04 PM

My dogs do that too with their vomit. They don't get car sick but on the rare occasion that they are sick they feel the need to eat it, especially the female dog. She'll even try to eat the male dog's vomit. I just put them in another area and clean it up. But I have no idea why they try to eat it.

Chinchilla_Girl · #12 05-07-2005, 11:25 PM

Please be aware that many parasitic worms are spread through feces...if your dogs eat poo, get fecals done OFTEN to check for Hookworms, roundworm, toxidia, tapeworms, whipworms and the like. Best course of action is to clean it up as soon as they potty