If the dog eats feces

You’ve taken your dog out for a walk and just finished bragging to your neighbor about how well he’s behaving and you suddenly catch him eating feces! What a nightmare! What makes your pet behave in such a strange way?

Coprophagia (a term for the desire to eat feces) is quite unpleasant, but rare in dogs. The good news is that the habit of eating feces is not harmful to your dog’s health. Bad news: it’s disgusting and your dog has the worst mouth odor after doing this. There is also a risk of infection with parasites excreted in the feces of other animals.

Curiosity

No one knows for sure why dogs do this, but there are a couple of possible reasons. Maybe they just like it. A dog learns about the world with the help of taste buds and teeth, she likes to carry sticks in her mouth and chew toys or bones.

Dogs also like things with a strong smell, and feces clearly fall into this category. It may seem strange, but perhaps by eating feces, your dog is learning something that interests him.

Confused puppy

Sometimes puppies will eat their own feces while they are being taught to go to the toilet outside. This is because they still do not know exactly where you can and where you can not go to the toilet. Fearing that they may have done something wrong, they “destroy the traces of the crime.” A similar craving for cleanliness can be observed in adult dogs when they mess up at home.

Mother dogs often eat their puppies’ feces when they lick them. Perhaps this is a residual instinct. In the wild, eating puppies’ feces makes them less likely to be detected by predators.

Nutrient deficiency

One of the most common theories of this behavior is the desire to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the diet. Herbivore feces may contain vitamins that are not included in the dog’s daily diet.

A cat’s diet is high in protein, so your dog’s litter box may be appealing. It is necessary to immediately prevent the dog from doing this, as the litter for the tray can be poisonous to the dog.

Prevention

The easiest way to solve the problem is to immediately remove the excrement after the dog has done all his business. Some owners spray pepper, tabasco, or paraffin on their feces to make it “less palatable”.

There are also food additives that do not have an irritating taste, but after digestion in the gastrointestinal tract become bitter and make the excrement unattractive to the dog. Unfortunately, this method is not effective in all animals.

In general, the best solution to the problem of coprophagia is consistent and continuous measures to make the feces less attractive to the dog.

You can also talk to your veterinarian who can help identify your pet’s additional nutritional needs.