Why does a dog eat feces?

One of the most unpleasant of these habits is the dog’s craving for eating excrement. Of course, it is difficult to come to terms with such taste preferences, because you don’t want to pat your pet on a cute cheek or kiss on the nose after such a “dinner”. And we are not yet talking about the smell that accompanies an unusual meal. But to punish a dog for such a “misconduct” is at least ridiculous, because it is based on psychological or physiological reasons, and not a random whim. 

By recognizing the cause and taking action to eliminate it, you can wean your pet from an outrageous and unpleasant habit!

The main reasons for eating feces

• Stress and protection of the pack

In the wild, she-wolves eat the excrement of their cubs so that other predators cannot find the cubs by smell and harm them. This instinct can awaken in your pet, even if he is a representative of the most decorative breed.

Eating feces can be caused by stress: the dog instinctively erases its tracks in order to protect itself from the threat. Roughly the same thing happens in an attempt to protect their flock. Protecting the environment, the dog eats the feces of other dogs, as well as human feces.

Carefully observe the condition of the pet. Maybe something is bothering him, perhaps the usual daily routine has changed a lot and new irritants have appeared?

• Imitation

Craving for excrement dogs can learn from their older comrades. Often this happens, for example, with small puppies. Watching their mother eat their feces, the puppies begin to imitate her behavior and clean up after their brothers and sisters themselves. Younger dogs can also pick up this behavior from a playground companion dog.

• Loneliness

Often the cause of unpleasant behavior is banal loneliness. The dog knows for sure that its step will not go unnoticed, and thus tries to attract attention (even if it is negative). 

• Lack of vitamins and minerals in the body

In most cases, the cause of dog eating feces is an unbalanced diet, a lack of vital elements and a feeling of hunger. With improper feeding, the pet does not receive the daily norm of the substances necessary for normal life and tries to make up for their lack of “improvised means”.

• Various diseases and parasites

Infection with parasites and various diseases can also provoke an unpleasant habit in a pet.

How to wean a dog from eating feces

It is possible and necessary to wean a dog from eating feces. And not only because this feature of behavior is extremely unpleasant for us. Eating feces can cause severe poisoning, because with them a huge amount of bacteria, protozoa and parasites enter the body. There are many cases when, after another “misconduct”, the dog had to be put under a drip.

To wean a dog from eating feces, first of all, it is necessary to understand the reason for this behavior. If it is psychological, then the pet needs to be helped to get out of a stressful state, give him more attention, communicate with him more and take interesting games on walks. Playing with a dog is generally a very useful thing. They saved more than one pair of shoes and more than one sofa from damage, but there is nothing to say about the joy they bring to the pet.

If the reason is physiological, then the first thing you should pay attention to is the diet. Most likely, you have chosen the wrong food and the dog lacks vitamins and nutrients. In this case, vitamin and mineral supplements against eating feces (Excel Deter) and adjusting the daily diet will help to quickly cope with the problem. Choose only quality, balanced, prepared food and follow the feeding recommendations.

Don’t punish your dog for bad habits. It is based on instincts, a serious lack of useful substances in the body, and possibly a serious illness. Scolding your pet will only make things worse. He will not understand what he is doing wrong, because he is driven by need. The only thing that you will achieve with punishment is a deterioration in relations between you and the dog’s desire to quickly cope with the “meal” before you manage to drive it away.

If you want to learn to understand your pet – it’s not so difficult. You just need to be patient and do not forget that animals rarely aim to annoy us, but very often ask for help and support! Take care of your pets.