My dog eats out of the litter box, could this lead to heatlh problems?

Question

I'm not using clumping litter.
I have 3 dogs and 2 kittens. Only one dog is doing this, why and could this be harmful to her?

meant to type
health*

Answer 1

They have stuff you can buy at the pet store to add to your cats food the make the poop not so tastey to the dogs!! It dose work! The main reason they do this is lacking something in thier diet. What kind of food do you feed? If it is from the grocery store it is no good! Try these

Nutro
Avodrem
natures Receipt
Royal Caine

Answer 2

First off, make sure you do regular parasite checks on all of them, especially since they are sharing so closely :) heh... Since you're not using clumping litter, you run less risk of intestinal issues, but regardless, eating alot of litter can cause intestinal problems for dogs. Outside of that, there is nothing "harmful" in eating cat poop. It is not a sign of a nutritionally deficiency, or a health problem in your dog. It is common, they will eat fecal matter wherever they find it. Often they eat fecal matter that has either undigested food (often in the case of horses) or unused "fillers". You could try to make sure your cats are on a high quality food that does not have alot of fillers, but that may not help. The best bet would be to find a way to make the litter inaccessible to the dog. Go to the pet store and see if you can find a litter box that will be difficult for your dog to get into. They have ones with curving ramps that put the entrance to the litter around a corner. They also have one that requires the cat to drop in from the top, which supposedly is harder for the dog to get to? I think my dog would be able to climb in, but I've heard they work. Best of luck :)

Answer 3

I wouldn't think that it would. You could call the vet and ask them on the phone. Cause they are going to know the best. They say that dogs that eat poop are missing something from their diet. I'm not sure if it's iron. My dog did it too, so we just put the litter box where he couldnt get it.

Answer 4

Ugghh....the "cat box crunchies" problem.

As long as it's not the clumping litter it wont hurt the dog unless it consumes a massive amount.

It's not healthy by any means, but not deadly either.

It's just gross! I hate it when they do that and then try to give you a kissy!!

Answer 5

My vet called it "puppy fudge" gross. it doesnt hurt them though.