Poo eater - Paw Talk

ninja_smurtles · #1 03-20-2005, 04:53 AM

Why does my dog eat poo?
Does not matter who's it is, cats, dogs his own...
When we are out walking he will find it and eat it no matter how much I tell him NO.
He has even started Olle on it now.
Let them out the back and when they came back in both their mouths syunk off poo so I had to bathe them.
Which leads me to my next question.
Is it bad to bath your dog too much?
As I said they eat poo and other times they are just black from all the sludgy snow.
Is it dangerous for them to eat the poo?

DirtySouthChins · #2 03-20-2005, 06:51 AM

Some dog's have the very NASTY habit of eating poo.... believe me I know, now there are several different types of med's that are out there that can help in preventing the nasty habit, however I really don't know what they would be called in your country or even where you might find them, so I would talk to your vet. Yes eating poo can be harmful in several ways, it can be mild which may include vomitting, to severe that can include a digestive block. What I would do to start breaking this nasty habit, or at least try to control it a little bit, is to make sure your dog knows it is wrong, that means telling them no, and asking them to spit it out. We catch the one that we have that does it, and when we tell her to drop it, she does, but I know we don't always catch it. She knows it wrong, yet as grose as it is, she has developed a taste for it.
As for bathing your dog too much, there are some that will say yes, and some that will say no. When I worked at a vet clinic, one of our pet shampoo rep's, had a training session for us, and during that time, she mentioned that bathing a dog everyday was fine, as if we were taking a bath ourself. However I've also heard that by bathing your dog too much you are taking away from their natural oils. Now over here there is a vet that doesn't believe in bathing her animals period....now I could never do that.
If your going to bath your dog more, specially in the winter, be sure the house is warm, and that they are completely dried (usually needing blow drying) before going back outside.

Chinchilla_Girl · #3 03-20-2005, 09:22 AM

Eating poo is indeed harmful. You need to make sure to pick the poo up in the yard every time your dog goes out or at least twice a day. MANY parasites are spread through feces such as toxidia, tapeworm, hookworms, and whipworms as well as others. These parasites will make your dog ill and you will need medication from the vet in order to treat them. You should have fecal tests done at least once a year on your dogs, especially if they eat poop.
As far as bathing is concerned, we only bathe our dogs twice a year unless they get into something really dirty or nasty. We find we have to use oatmeal dog shampoos when we do bathe them or their skin gets really dry and itchy. I think depending on what breed of dog you have and what their specific grooming needs are, the less baths the better but should be done at least twice a year. Certain breeds need baths more often though especially long haired breeds

ninja_smurtles · #4 03-20-2005, 09:45 AM

It does not matter how much I say NO he eats it.
I say No and he looks at me and sometimes it drops out of his mouth but then he picks it up any way

Chinchilla_Girl · #5 03-20-2005, 09:53 AM

Saying no isn't going to stop him...cleaning up the poo more often so he can't eat it will keep it from happening

DirtySouthChins · #6 03-20-2005, 09:55 AM

I agree with mandie, ONLY to the fact of picking up the poo, now saying "NO" to ours does work in the fact that she knows it is wrong and does drop it. Now we don't have the kind of yard that most are use to, so it isn't that simple for us to constantly pick up poo after 8 dogs here, however the "bathroom" area does get cleaned up twice a day.

Chinchilla_Girl · #7 03-20-2005, 10:46 AM

I didn't mean to just not say anything

I just ment that ONLY saying no and not doing anything else about it probably won't be very effective.

Kali used to eat cat poop out of the litter box when we had a cat. We always knew when she'd been eating cat poop because she'd come walking up with clumping kitty litter caked to her teeth

She knew it was wrong and was diciplined for it and told no when she was caught in the act, but she continued to do it anyway.

In addition to telling her "no" we scooped the litter 3 times a day and then bought a new litter box with a cover on it. The cat had to crawl up inside from underneath the hood to get in, and it kept Kali out! I'm sure if we were to get another cat and didn't get the hooded litter box, she'd probably eat the poop again.
The thing is, you have to be smarter than the dog is stubborn! If they can't get to the poop because it's cleaned up regularly, you don't have a problem. Especially since dogs don't generally try to eat fresh poop

DirtySouthChins · #8 03-20-2005, 02:25 PM

Mandie, sorry if I came across wrong hun

Oh and I won't even begin to get into details on how fresh "Jessie" tends to like her poo

but I think it was because that is probably all she had to eat until she was left at out gate

But yes making sure the dog understands is a big PLUS, on top of picking up after them

See ours won't eat strange dog poo, just the one's she's familiar with and lives with, again

ninja_smurtles · #9 03-20-2005, 03:26 PM

He does not eat it in the garden coz we pick it up.
He eats it on his walks.
He is not on a lead coz it is forest area and he gets better exercise that way and so by the time we run up to him it is allready down his throat.
We do not have a kitty litter box.