Dog eating dog doo!!! EW!!

[Miss.September]

Hi all,

I have two dogs, one is two, one is three. As pups, they never did this, but they've both started eating each other's poo. It's just gross. They have been wormed for both intestinal worms and heartworm. We have a small backyard, but I pick up after them all the time. How can I get them to stop? They have toys that they run around with and chew, they play with each other, but as soon as one does the number two, the other is ready to pounce! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!

HELP!!!

Corelly x

[Tinks]

One of my dogs used to do this. The vet told me it was a dominance thing. The dominant dog would eat all th other dogs poo. So maybe your dogs are fighting over who is boss lol

[Miss.September]

Hahaha, I think it's a case of "monkey see, monkey do" with the younger dog. She's always mimicked what the older one does. I wish they'd stop!!!!

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

I remember watching a case similar to this on harry's practice and he said in some dogs it is due to what they are being fed! - He said (eg Pal) dogs tend to wolf it down (so not much chewing happening) so when it comes out the other end it smells appetising to them so they eat it up

[Miss.September]

Maybe I should look at that ~Negrita~. They chew it up, neither of them wolf their food down. I'm laughing though, that it came from Dr Harry, because they're eating supercoat at the moment and he endorses it!!!! Thanks for the tip

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

Maybe I should look at that ~Negrita~. They chew it up, neither of them wolf their food down. I'm laughing though, that it came from Dr Harry, because they're eating supercoat at the moment and he endorses it!!!! Thanks for the tip

it must be just my boofa dog who's a wolf down kinda boy - nothing lasts long around him, and i notice if i give him "soft" food then yeah, he tends to eat his doo doo, but if i give him just hard food, because he actually has to chew it, it must be getting processed properley because he never eats his doo doo when he's had hard food

[flossy17]

i always used to feed my dogs fresh meat and dry food, but on the odd occasion that i'd give them Pal they would eat thier poo. I remember hearing someone say once "that top breeders recommend pal, because it goes right through them and keeps them lean for shows?? so maybe it doesn't digest as well as other foods and still tastes like pal when it comes out the other end? gl

[Miss.September]

Hmmm, not a lot to be said about Pal then, is there? I don't feed my dogs canned food, they only get dry. I'm trying to work out why it's only started recently, but might try a different food other than supercoat and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Corelly x

[YoYo]

From what I know (which isn't a great deal!) Dogs eat their poo when there is something lacking in their diet. That might explain why they eat it after they've had Pal....coz apparently it is mainly made up of water.

I'd go somewhere where they have a large range of dry foods (if that is what you feed your pooch) and see all the ingredients in them. If you change the biscuits they eat, just watch you don't do it too suddenly coz it might upset their bellies, but it might make a difference.

I used to feed my pooch advance for large breeds and those biscuits are huge, so he'd have to chew them up too, but he never has eaten his own poop.

You might want to throw in a bone occasionally for them too.

Hope they stop soon....it's pretty rank!

[Serendypyty]

Lack of protein... my dog used to eat my cat's poo... YUCK!

And as another poster said, it can be a dominance thing. Weeing and pooing leaves scents. The dominant of the dogs will eat the others poo and you may find they wee or poo in the same place to cover the scent of the last dog!!

Which ever way you see it, it's still gross!

[modmommy]

I have a 1 and a haf year old chihuahua cross and a 2 year old Pomeranian cross. Also a cat. The chi got very ill in Feb this year, from eating the poms and her own poo! She also ate the cat poo (stole it from it's litter tray) boy did I learn to keep that out of her sight! I clean up after them both immediately, but can't do it 100% of the time like when I'm at work.
She somehow got salmonella poisoning, very rare for dogs to get this. The vets can't explain how, my other dog was fine and they always ate the same food- supercoat and mydog tin food. I put it down to the poop eating, that was the only thing she could really get to. I kept a very close eye on her the entire time.
The salmonella gave her a bad case of IBD - inflammed bowel disease which made her constantly vomit and have pure bloody diahhrea as her intestines were swollen red and inflammed. It was extremey frightening. She spent 2-3 days a week in hospital, for 3 months and in May we began to get it under control. She is on a special strict diet now, and will be for the rest of her life as IBD is controllable but not cureable. So far the vet bills have come in at $4k for the 3 months she was in and out of hospital, all the tests they have run and iv fluids she was on everyday to keep her hydrated.
Nowadays she still sneaks in the odd poo into her diet (silly girl!) which gets her tummy upset, but I try keep ontop of it by feeding them when I'm around so I know I can clean up immediately!
Try avoid the poop eating, it may seem harmless but if your unlucky it can do some serious damage
Sorry if there are any errors in the post, done it on my phone!

[Twin Sister]

I used to work at a vet clinic and we sold this powder called Forbid. You put it in your dogs food and it makes their poop so bitter they don't want to eat it anymore. It worked a charm for a number of our poop eating clients.

[Miss.September]

Modmommy - SCARY! I'm trying so hard to keep the backyard clean, but often when I get home from being out, there are traces of eaten poo on their hammock . Weird that your dogs were eating supercoat too.

Twin Sister - thanks for the tip, I'll go and ask my vet about it.

Thanks everyone

Corelly x

[modmommy]

Both my pets were on Supercoat Dry food, but only the one has been having the tummy upsets, and she is the only one who continues to eat the poop if I don't clean it up in time (even her own!)
She is now on a very expensive diet- Hills 'ZD' Allergen free Wet food ($4 per small tin) and Dry food ($70 per 3 kg bag). It's all she can handle. She still gets a slight tummy upset every fortnight or so but it's manageable. I also add half a teaspoon of a natural pro biotic to her food every day which I buy at the vet clinic. It helps her tummy deal with bacteria when she does eat what she shouldn't etc.

Twin Sister- The sad thing is because she has IBD (not sure if the IBD bought on Salmonella, or the reverse) she has to be on the above diet for her entire life. The slightest change in food and she is off vomiting/ diarrhea again. At one stage she had a sore foot and the medication for that even set her off so we had to stop it immediately. She just has really sensitive guts...

[Miss.September]

Just thought I'd update....

Changed their food from supercoat to purina one........

THEY HAVE STOPPED EATING THEIR POO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thanks for posting everyone!