This topic can be very frustrating for some pet owners. It’s the poop eating dogs. It’s a disgusting habit that is quite challenging to stop. We ourselves have one dog that will eat poop when she thinks you are not watching her, one that will do it part time and two others that just have no interest at all, they just prefer licking their own butts during different times of the day.
These two girls have been mothers a few times and it was even tough watching them liking the backsides of their puppies to stimulate a bowel movement. This also gave us concerns that as our moms went outside they would start eating poop too, but thankfully it never happened. They were just great moms giving all they could for their babies. The one thing we did do as the puppies were a bit older was to de-worm both mom and her pups. The funny thing is we still have a puppy from one of the litters (sadly the poop eater) and her mother still tries to clean her every day.
There are many products on the market that are supposed to help them break the habit, however, it doesn’t work for all dogs so you might have to try several products to find the one that works for your pet. Just read the labels well as you don’t want to start putting unknown chemicals into your pet and cause other health problems in the future. You could also try natural household products like adding some garlic or a small amount of canned pumpkin to their food. This addition to their food may just make their recycling habit disappear.
Another thing to consider is that the poop eater is actually lacking something like a specific vitamin. Or that they are bored and are doing it just for something to do. If it is boredom try putting out some toys and make sure the back yard is as poop free as it can be. Please also be careful of discipline they may just eat their stools to prevent you from finding that they messed on the floor. On the other hand if it’s because of a health problem you should take a stool sample to the Vet. The problem could be as simple as an intestinal parasite or some other condition that can create blood or other fecal changes. Last it could be as simple as a food change, like humans dogs can’t all eat the same foods. Just make sure if you are going to make a food change you do it gradually so not to cause other problems like the runs.
Last of all take care if you have a cat. The cat box can also attract your dog into digging for the buried treasures. We found litter across the floor and on my dog’s nose. This bad habit also caused some problems. The clay that she also had eaten started to constipate her plus gave her some painful movements when she did go. Second the chemicals added to the litter to reduce the smell can also harm your dog. Our fix for this problem once we caught her in the act was to use a covered cat box, which worked for about 1 day. So our final and still working fix was to secure the door to the room allowing enough space for the cat to enter the room but, our dogs couldn’t get farther than their noses.