How can I stop my puppy from eating her own faeces?

Answer 1

Coprophagia (the technical term for eating faeces!)

There are three types:

Autocoprophagia = animal eats its' own faeces
Intraspecific = eating other dogs faeces
Interspecific= eating other species faeces
and yes there are some really unlucky owners of a dog that does all three!!!!!
Again there is no cut and dried answer to why some dogs do this!
Some think it can be related to a medical condition or the fact that as a young puppy it has be overly reprimanded for soiling in the house and learns to eat it to get rid of the evidence. In the case of intraspecific some think it could be because a different dog is fed a different diet which your dog finds appealing etc, and the list goes on!

I have only had this problem with my youngest dog and she was a rescue at 5 months and already had the problem! I tried adding pumpkin seeds, peppermint, papaya and aniseed to the diet as an alternative to pineapple (none of which made a difference!) and put something really smelly like onion juice on the faeces, that didn't stop her either but it may be worth a try with yours as they are not all the same.

I just make sure I clean up the yard as soon as she has been out and so don't leave the temptation there for her! It has worked well but occasionally she will have a relapse if she gets there before I do!

Answer 2

She is not doing anything that she believes is wrong.She was taught this by her mother, when the mom kept the nest clean. When mom became too overwhelmed to keep clean after all the litter, the pups were good little helpers and did it themselves....They didn't have gloves and bags, so just did it the way they could.She is just being fastidious. Please DON'T rub her nose in it. That will only confuse her. She will not get the point, and you will have a messy and traumatized dog.

Dog's ancesters have done this for eons, to keep their area clean and to not let predators know where they live. It is as natural for them as hand washing is for people.

The only solution is to consistantly beat her to it. Hopefully she will learn that you can be trused to clean it up so she doesn't have to.... Meanwhille, there is an additive available at all pet supplies that will make the stuff very bitter. This may help some.
Note: the ones that do this are usually the easiest to house train, as they are good house keepers!

Answer 3

Take her to the vet first to ensure there are no underlying problems such as intestinal parasites and that she is a good weight for age/ breed and eating the correct type of food. If all of this is okay, they should supply something called Forbid or something along those lines. It is a powder that you mix into canned food at every feeding for at least 5 consecutive days. It will make the feces taste bad when she eats them and hopefully break her of the habit. One thing to remember- by rubbing her nose in her own feces after she has had an "accident" in the house you are actually training her to eat it. Some pets, if you continually rub their nose in the feces will still deficate in the house but will then eat it. This translates to deficating in general and now you have a dog that eats feces.

Answer 4

I agree with CHECKO i also have breed 5 types of dogs since 1977 and had this problem with some of the puppys and older dogs that start doing it out of thin air that never did it before,(Wait untill they discover the liter box if you have cat's.)Just follow checkos advice and take your puppy in for all of its shots then go to the vet at least twice a year for regular check-ups.This will keep you from heart break when you find out that you could of prevented something that might actually have saved your dogs life.(I had three American cocker spaniels all die from cancer at age 8 and they were all related and i could of stoped it from learning from the mother dog she had the gene in her for it.)The test for this is usually not done by dog owners that do not breed but if you intend to get a genetic testing done on your dog so this wont happen.AND always spay and nuter your animals of all kinds if there just pets as there are to many put to sleep each day.Leave the breeding up to a responsable licenced breeder but check them out anyone can AKC register there dog with a piece of paper and a fee.I also hate dogs or cats in pet stores or people that have alot of differnt breeds available they are usually from a puppy mill and you have no idea what has happened to them let alone in-breeding.Sorry i gave you so much info but others should see it also and i hope i have helped more then just you.
CONGRATS on your new puppy though!!!

Answer 5

Ok, puppys just do this, if they can get a hold of cat poo they will eat this too, trust me it's not pleasant when they throw this up again over you afterwards. Just a bad habbit, poo has undigested food in it, and to a puppy smells like food, so they eat it. I found it an awful phase mine went through, just keep and eye, and use tough love, shock him, shout No! he'll get the jist, offering more food as a solution won't work, he'll get over it, try not too worry too much, just keep regular on the worming tablets he'll pick up worms from the other animals poo, and puppys tend to pick worms up more easily anyway.

Ab

Answer 6

this is a condition called coprophagia and there's very little you can do about it, except clean up after your pup as soon as it's defaecated and try not to let it eat any. when my german shepherd was a little pup, she had this condition and it was related to her inability to digest protein properly. her mother's owner had weaned the puppies onto adult dog food instead of puppy food and they had all developed protein intolerances and coprophagia as a result. it took a lot of time, cooking her bland food like steamed chicken and scrambled egg and then trying to find a dog food that she could eat successfully, but eventually we got her eating properly, and she grew out of the coprophagia. perhaps you should get a vet to check her over for any possible digestion problems, but don't despair - your dog will grow out of it, just like mine did.

Answer 7

I would take it to the vet. Puppies that eat their own feces usually have something going on like worms etc. Get it checked out with the vet.

Answer 8

I know a dog who does this and it made her really ill so she muzzeled her and fed her tripe which provided some of the nutrients she was lacking and calmed her down as she was very hypo so try this for a while and see how it goes otherwise talk to the vet

Answer 9

EWWW! one of those endearing things they do!.... There is no quick fix here! 1. clean it up asap 2. the food additives work on SOME dogs 3. teach a LEAVE IT cue (IE don't touch)
HOW ABOUT A PUPPY KISS?

Answer 10

usually, that mean that the puppy is not getting the right nutrition.


you can give her food just for puppies, try feeding him/her more, or take the pup to the vet in the hope that you can find the problem.