The dog eats excrement: what to do?

 Eating excrement by dogs causes a flurry of questions and a wave of disgust among the owners. Who is pleased when his beloved dog suddenly takes off and rushes headlong to the Christmas trees, where he feasts with rapture on human waste products. And the picture of a pet taking fresh cow patties externally and internally?! I think many of us have experienced how obsessively the dog tracks the movements of the “native” cat towards the home tray in order to have time to eat fresh poop after him. Or a puppy that just went to the toilet turned around and swallowed his own feces in the blink of an eye. What is the reason for such “perverted” taste preferences of our pets?In the photo: the dog eats excrement

Why does a dog eat feces?

Alas, there is no single correct answer to this question. There are many reasons for eating feces, from physiological to psychological. First, we will touch on the most understandable situation: a bitch eating the feces of her newborn puppies. In this case, there is nothing to worry about – the bitch eats up the results of the vital activity of her puppies for hygienic reasons – in order to keep the den (in our case, the aviary, paddock, room) clean and prevent the smell from spreading further. This is a relic of life in the wild, when the smell of puppies’ feces could attract predators to the den. We figured out the puppy bitches, but then everything gets much more complicated. If your dog tends to eat excrement, first of all, you should think about and analyze his diet. Most often it is a lack of energy. Quite regularly, I see dogs that don’t normally eat feces in the winter or during a false or real pregnancy, suddenly begin to literally prey on fresh piles after feeding puppies. Eating feces can be evidence of an imbalance in the diet. That is, even if the dog is overweight and we cannot speak of a lack of energy as such, there is a risk that the pet’s body has a deficiency of certain nutrients. This deficiency may be associated with a low digestibility of certain substances by a particular organism, with a disease that does not allow the animal to absorb nutrients in the required amount. An increased interest in excrement can also be caused by helminthic invasion.

A bit of specifics

If a puppy eats its own fecesmost likely he has some kind of dysbacteriosis, in which case the addition of enzymes or a course of probiotics can help solve the problem. Although in the case of puppies, coprophagia can also be associated with punishment for uncleanliness in the apartment. Most often, when it comes to eating the faeces of carnivores (the same dogs, cats) – the body needs trace elements. By the way, if we are talking about a situation where a cat and a dog live in the same house, and the dog hunts only for the feces of the “native” cat, in addition to checking the dog’s diet, I would recommend checking the cat’s health as well – it is likely that his excrement has a very attractive odor due to the fact that the food eaten is not completely digested due to low acidity, for example, or other physiological reasons.Eating manure (cow, horse, etc.) considered to be the norm. There is a whole trend, whose supporters say that if you have the opportunity to “feed” a dog with environmentally friendly manure, then why not let him have a similar feast? Most often, if a dog likes to eat herbivore manure, we are talking about a lack of fiber and enzymes. Often, an increased interest in manure is “cured” by regularly adding an unpeeled (black) tripe to the diet. human excrement. Research is still ongoing, and veterinarians cannot definitively answer why some dogs lose their willpower at the sight of human feces. There are several opinions. This may be an infection with worms or a lack of trace elements, enzymes, lack of energy. There is an opinion that, due to the rich daily diet, the products of human life “simply” can be tasty … Of course, this does not calm us down much … In addition to physiological reasons Eating excrement may have a psychological background: Eating feces can be a “bad habit”, a reaction to punishment, stress, lack of attention. 

What to do if the dog eats feces?

• The ideal solution for a dog that has eaten feces is to consult a veterinary nutritionist to analyze the current diet.
• It does not hurt to do biochemistry and take feces for analysis.
• Give an anthelmintic, then drink a course of probiotics, give a vitamin-mineral complex.
• Diversify your diet.