How can i stop my dog from eating poop?

Question

ever since we got cloey,my 9 month old silk terrier/doxie mix she has eaten poop..not only hers but her brothers too.She shreds it up into pieces and eats it? the vet gave us poweder to put on her food but that didnt work..why does she do this and how can i make her stop? its gross!!

Answer 1

Deter, it's a product that makes dog poop (go figure) taste bad to dogs.

The condition is called coprophagous. *ugh*

Answer 2

I know there is a lot of stuff out there you can purchase from your Vet or pet store. None of it ever worked for me.

Some dogs do it and some don't. We had a dog that would only eat poop out of the kitty litter box. We had one dog that didn't care, dog or cat poop, he ate it.

I now have a Maltese. He hates poop of any kind. He is trained to piddle pads. When he has a bowel movement, he walks way around the pad. He doesn't want anything to do with it. He wants me to get rid of it as soon as possible. SOOOOOOOO, figure that one out.................

The thing that I learned with the others was, clean it up immediately. When mine would go outside, I went behind them with a pooper scooper and got rid of it. Which you should do anyway.

My dogs have always been fed the best food, up to date on all shots, take vitamins, they are treated like people treat their kids. (the good parents) And as I said, nothing has helped.

I guess the moral to this story is, once a poop eater, always a poop eater...........I know that is not funny, but I couldn't help it.

Answer 3

Give the dogs a product called "Deter." This will keep the poop from smelling appealing to the dog that eats the poop, and it is totally healthy. You may also want to give the dogs a multi-vitamine because sometimes the vets say that when a dog eats its own or another dogs poop, that means that the dog is missing a vitamin in it's diet that it needs.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Feces eating in dogs is called "corophagia".

Female dogs often clean up the poop of their pups and other dogs when they're nursing litters of pups to keep their nesting area clean and tidy but this behavior usually ends when the pups are about 4 weeks old.

Some dogs eat feces because they're lacking trace minerals in their diet. A trip to the vet for a blood work up will let you know if there are any elements your dog may need.

Some dogs eat feces because they like the taste.

Besides the powder and pills that can be put on the dog's food, or given to the dog directly, which make the feces unpalatable, the only other way to stop the behavior is with strict monitoring and correction.

Take the dog out on a leash to do its business, and whenever it looks like it's heading for a feces-snack, give it a firm but calm command (we use "no dirt" on our dogs) and manuever the dog away from the feces. You will also need to immediately clean up any feces in your yard, so it's not around to tempt the dog (and stink up your yard).

You may have to continue this "behavior modification" training for a week or two to rid your dog of its desire to eat "ick".

Answer 5

Information is from this site


http://familyfun.go.com/parenting/learn/activities/expert/petveteatpoop

Dogs will commonly eat their own as well as other animals' feces. Puppies are known to eat their own excrement during paper training and housebreaking, and it is believed to be due to a combination of physiological and behavioral factors.

On the physiological side, since the digestion of food is not always complete, puppies still see nutrient value in their feces and view it as a snack. Often dogs are attracted to undigested rice, corn or peanuts in their stool if they happen to consume these foods. Maximizing digestion can help solve this problem. To do so, add enzyme supplements to their food, such as meat tenderizer (from the supermarket), papaya extract (a natural enzyme available at health food stores) or products from pet supply stores especially designed to help dogs digest. Mix the enzyme powder in each meal, and let it sit for 15 minutes prior to feeding it to your pet. This should eliminate the presence of anything they view as "good" in their stool. It will not help with the peanuts or corn, but these foods should not be fed to your pet in any event.

Another way to discourage coprophagy (the medical term for eating poop) is to coat the stools with hot sauce or vinegar, thereby making the experience of eating it unpleasant (as if it seemed great thus far!). Sometimes owners have to go to the extreme measure of injecting the stool with hot sauce so the pet gets the full extent of the bad flavor. Yet another method is through products which taste good when mixed in the pet's food and eaten, but turn bitter when excreted in the pet's feces (isn't science great?). Doing this or the hot sauce method for one to two weeks is usually enough to convince a dog that their food bowl is a safer spot for snacks.

On the behavioral side, many pets eat their stool during the training stages because they become confused about whether to go to the bathroom on or off the paper or outdoors. Just as potty training for kids is tough, telling a dog when and where to eliminate is emotionally stressful. They will feel bad about going in the wrong place and destroy the evidence by eating it. Owners often call me because they are concerned that their puppy has not had a bowel movement in a few days, but it usually turns out to be a case of recycling.

Answer 6

Clean up the dog poop from the yard right after they poop. That removes the "temptation". They call it 'forbid' when dogs do this.
My young lab does this once in a while and if I scold him, he usually drops it. I keep their yard clean and then it doesn't happen. I think about it when he licks me, which is all the time. ugh

Answer 7

your local vet or pet supply store should have something called forbid that you sprinkle on there food and it will keep them from eating thier stool, as for other dogs and cats stool then that is a different story. but forbid will keep them from eating there on poop.

Answer 8

Our vet gave us vitamins to give our dog (he too eats his poo). It helps some, but we still find him nibbling on it occasionally. We just yell "no" and he walks away.

Answer 9

I wish i knew my dog does the same thing. I even got the powder to put on the food from the vet and she still eats it

Answer 10

they basically eat their poop, vomit, etc when the owner overeacts to a poop or vomit accident. The dog thinks that what they are doing is bad or will get them in trouble and that their way of "covering it up"
thank you