poo diving? My dog is nasty

[TxDogger]

I wasn't sure where to post this.. My dog likes to eat his own poo.. It really grosses me out considering he is my house dog and he steals a kiss every now and then.......Is there some reason why dogs do this? He gets plenty to eat but I am wondering if his diet is missing something?

[miakoda]

The honest answer?

Because they enjoy it. :p

I've got some poop eaters too and I've tried every trick in the book from homemade remedies to veterinary remedies. Nothing has worked. So instead I just scoop the yard as often as possible and don't allow anymore doggy kisses.

[smokey024]

One of mine has the same problem only she eats the other dogs stuff, but not her own. I have tried everything and the only thing that works is not having any around for her to get at.

[nc_pitbullmommy]

Try feeding a couple chunks of pineapple for a few days.
I've tried it and it works. It chnages the acidity levels in the stool.

As to why they eat it to begin with? I've also been told and believed it is because 1. They aren't digesting all their food and therefore the stool has food in it. 2. They aren't getting the nutrients they need in their daily diet and/or 3. Their area isn't cleaned often enough and they take the lead and clean (eat) it themselves. lol

Kia~

[TxDogger]

Thanks everyone.. nothing grosses me out more than a poop eater.. I am going to try the pinapple.. I know his food doesn't digest properly because I can see hole food in it.. He eats like he is starving every time food is put in front of him. I can't hardly feed him anything by hand because he just snatches and swallows without chewing.. He is over weight already so he doesn't do this because he has ever denied food.............................................. .....

[twiztidpitz]

They do it out of boredom. If you give them an old 2liter bottle to play with, or some thinig to take their mind off it, it works, belive me. I've had a couple lately to do it, and I was reading Ed Farons book and it said it was done b/c of boredom. So I gave mine an old 2liter coke bottle and, well, no more poop eating.

I was told the other reasons before, about them not digesting all the food, or to much protien in the food, and was told to change the food. Needless to say, it didn't work. Also a friend of mines dog was also doing it really bad, and she didn't belive me, untill she actually tried it. Hope it helps! ;)

[SMOKIN HEMI]

Yeah your right your dog is nasty. i hope you dont have him licking you in the face. You have to draw a line somewhere

[bahamutt99]

When I was doing the pineapple thing, it did work, until we ran out of pineapple. I also tried putting pepper or jalapeno sauce on the poops in the yard, and that worked, too. But my poo-eater learned to check for fresh poos that hadn't been tainted, and ate those instead. Best bet is just to scoop as much as you can. I also potty my dogs in an area away from their tie-outs, so they've already gone by the time I go to tie them up and poo-eater can't sneak one past me.

[Bullyson]

Ive heard of a sh!teater before but DAMN! LMAO

[TxDogger]

he doesn't eat other dogs poo just his.. So umm I guess that is a good thing.. I have noticed though that when I clean spaces some dogs just don't have any poo to pick up so aparently I have alot of nasty dogs on the yard.. Like I said though he is our house dog and sometimes he has accidents inside and they are "cleaned up " before I can even get to them.. Yeah it saves me from cleaning up poo in the house but eeeewwwwwwwwwww

[Marty]

LOL @ sh!teater that what I call mine :D

[mydawgs]

Mine live with two cats, and I am convinced that a nice little kitty turd wrapped in litter must taste like a crunch bar because they love it!!!!!!!!!

The best was when my husband caught my male with his head deep into the litter box ..... he yells "Buddy what are you doing!" Buddy looks at him and spits it out and the she devil runs over and scoops it up with a look like "you snooze you lose, and this one IS ALL MINE"....YUK LOL LOL LOL

[miakoda]

Try feeding a couple chunks of pineapple for a few days.
I've tried it and it works. It chnages the acidity levels in the stool.

As to why they eat it to begin with? I've also been told and believed it is because 1. They aren't digesting all their food and therefore the stool has food in it. 2. They aren't getting the nutrients they need in their daily diet and/or 3. Their area isn't cleaned often enough and they take the lead and clean (eat) it themselves. lol

Kia~
It's true that some starving dogs will eat their poop out of necessity. And a rare handful will do it out of a nutrient definiciency. But there aren't any medical facts to back this statement up.

Most dogs eat poop a) because they enjoy it and b) because they can. They will eat dog poop, love cat poop, and horse/cow poop is like doggy crack.

And good luck with the pineapple. Someone told me about that one recently and it didn't do a lick of good.

[bahamutt99]

I've also heard canned pumpkin. Worth a shot, I s'pose.

[TxDogger]

Mine live with two cats, and I am convinced that a nice little kitty turd wrapped in litter must taste like a crunch bar because they love it!!!!!!!!!

The best was when my husband caught my male with his head deep into the litter box ..... he yells "Buddy what are you doing!" Buddy looks at him and spits it out and the she devil runs over and scoops it up with a look like "you snooze you lose, and this one IS ALL MINE"....YUK LOL LOL LOL

I used to have a litter box in the house and Mr.Lebowski my(min bull terrier) and Flip my (pure nigerino) would litereally have a face off for it.. I had to put the cat outside because the dogs were fighting over the sh@t.. They would sit around waiting for the damn cat to go.. Cat poo must be some sort of rare treat.....lol

[HugoBoss]

I dont have a problem with my dogs eating their own shit, but when i walk them in the trails, if im not quick enough, they will sneak a horse poo by me.

[215pitts]

pick up the droppings when they are done?

[chinsnpits]

Gavin won't touch his own....The other dogs though? Little treasures waiting for him. We've resorted to taking him out on a lead if the yard hasn't been picked up yet that day.

[chinacross]

i had this prob to a old friend of mine from slingshot kennels told me to put a table spoon of garlic in his feed every now and agein and it would stop it and sure enough this dog wouldnt even go near his poo ne more he wouldnt even act like he was interested in it ne more hope this helps

[Patch O' Pits]

Coprophagia is the technical term for it incase you want to google to check out more info


Pretty much what everyone else said is what I think too...

It can be a combo of things from any of these
- health issue
- improper digestion
- habit
- boredom
- poor nutrition
- too much fat in the diet

some things that can help
-vigilant clean ups
-catching them in the act and correcting them
- changing the type of food you feed to a higher quality
- the pineapple trick seems to work really well for many
- adding a good probiotics to aid in proper digestion
- adding yogurt with live active cultures to aid in digestion
- they sell stuff specifically for this issue too, but I've never used one of those so I don't knwo if they work

Mine eat the cat poop if I don't remember to shut the door to that room.
I'm going to start a company for Kitty Pitty Dog Treats LOL