Poo Eating Dog ! ! ! !

[cindy's mum]

Hi everyone,have'nt been on here for a long time long,long story but i have a quick question,i know i've heard the answer before but my old brain hasn't retained the answer .I have 2 labradors,5 year olds,male&female,desexed.The male dog is eating the female dog's poo is there something I can do?

[Rysup]

Pineapple into their food is supposed to help.

Be quick on the clean up

or

Dont look.

LOL

[oakway]

Hi,

Go and buy a tin of cheap crushed pineapple and put it in its food.

Dogs do these sort of things all time because they are dogs and can do it.

Don't get too upset about it. It has never been known to upset a dog yet only people.

[cindy's mum]

He's way to quick for me,if she looks like squatting,he's on her butt waiting but i'll try giving her pineapple and see what happen's

Tina

[Pawfect]

Use unsweetened pineapple juice in their food. If that doesn't work apparently chorophyll tablets from the health food shop works wonders.

[malsam]

there is a reason why dogs eat and why poo can be eaten be it the dog eat himself or he eat others. Dogs eat back the poo because :

1. the poo is not well digested...i.e there are still stuffs inside that the dogs want as food. In the wild, dogs do that because food are competitive. So when some dogs poo out and it still contains nutrients, they will eat it back or others will.

2. your male is having digestion issues. Poo contains bacteria, and will help to break down food in the stomach when they ingest them. And a lot of these bacteria can be gotten from wastes. So if you see a dog eating poo, you are almost sure he has difficulties in digestion.

having said that, the above 2 mostly applies to dogs that eat back their own poo...coz that is exactly what a dog with digestion problems will face together.

For dogs that eat other people poos ...

3. it can suggest that your dog is not having enough food or have such good digestion systems that he is hungry very fast again...I noe that is contrary to the 1st 2 points coz your case is dog A eat dog B poo. I have reasons to suggest that the poo from your female is also not digested properly that is why the male find it interesting.

What I will do is to give both of them some yoghurt, or better still probiotics powder which you can get from health stores. Try to give them when they have empty stomach. Then feed them about an hour later. The yoghurt or the probiotics will help them both to digest better.

If the male dog is still looking out for food, then it will not be point 2 but 3 instead...which means you might want to increase his food volume or simply break up into 2 so that his stomach have food to digest and he feel full all the while and not looking for more poo to eat.

But I'm more inclined towards point 1 and 2, so try the probiotic powder 1st.

[oakway]

Sorry Malsam, people have tried the Pro Biotic with out success. Including me.

The only thing that's ever stopped mine is crushed Pineapple.

I don't worry over it, but if people were coming I would usually add to the dogs food just in case.

None of nine do it at the moment.

I usually tell people don't look.

[wherezaball]

You know I am not convinced of the theory of dogs being deficient in something to make them eat poo. Or that they are not fed enough. My 10 year old lab does it all the time. Every Lab I have had has done it. In the case of Labs (in particular) I think they do it because they like it. It is really that simple. You can NEVER feed a Lab enough for it to know it has had enough. Once she ate nearly a whole medium bag of Eukanuba which I think was 7.5kg, she didn't think she had had enough once I found her and wanted more.

Needless to say she was not fed for at least a few days after that until the whale belly went down....

Feeding them more would just end up with an overweight dog and we see too many overweight Labs as it is.

My Aussie Shep does it from time to time and usually after he sees the Lab doing it, therefore it seems he may have learnt to do it by copying the Lab and enjoys it almost just as much.

I have a tried a few of the suggestions put forward already but I really think she just loves it. When I let her out of her run she makes a bee line for poo in the yard and she tucks in.

My other half is writing a Uni paper on her for his course. She is the perfect example.

These days I just put it down to her being her and her and she loves it

Not one of her more endearing qualities...

[Staranais]

I have a theory about that - I think that dogs are designed to suppliment their diet by eating the poo of prey animals, especially large ruminants. Most dogs I know love eating cow and sheep poo, and apparently wolves have been observed snacking on the poo of large ruminants too.

It does have some nutritional content in it (energy semi digested vege, protein from bacteria, vitamin K), though not as much as eating the actual prey animal, obviously.

So in suburbia, where dogs typcially have no access to lamb or sheep or cow poo, my theory is that dogs still feel the urge to eat poo, and all they have to eat is each others' poo.

I'll be the first to admit that that's totally a theory, I have absolutely no evidence to back it up, it is just a hunch. But I'd love to do a study to see if dogs that were raised with daily access to sheep or cow poo were less likely to eat dog poo than dogs raised without access to farm animal poo.

Wonder if I could get funding for the study?

[cindy's mum]

Well thank's for all those answer's,I think what your telling me is I just have to put up with it,he is a typical lab where food is concerned, THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH ! ! ! !

thank's

Tina

[4Kelpies]

I have a theory about that - I think that dogs are designed to suppliment their diet by eating the poo of prey animals, especially large ruminants. Most dogs I know love eating cow and sheep poo, and apparently wolves have been observed snacking on the poo of large ruminants too.

It does have some nutritional content in it (energy semi digested vege, protein from bacteria, vitamin K), though not as much as eating the actual prey animal, obviously.

So in suburbia, where dogs typcially have no access to lamb or sheep or cow poo, my theory is that dogs still feel the urge to eat poo, and all they have to eat is each others' poo.

I'll be the first to admit that that's totally a theory, I have absolutely no evidence to back it up, it is just a hunch. But I'd love to do a study to see if dogs that were raised with daily access to sheep or cow poo were less likely to eat dog poo than dogs raised without access to farm animal poo.

Wonder if I could get funding for the study?

The black and tan girl in my avatar is the biggest poo breath around. She eats any kind of poo - dog, sheep , horse etc. In the mornings she is fed Eagle Pack with either (on alternate days) an egg, a tin of sardines. liver or chicken mince as well as yoghurt or cottage cheese, Joint Guard and a Fish Oil tablet each day. In the evenings she gets meaty bones. I doubt that there is anything missing from her diet. She is walked twice a day through my sheep paddocks and has the chance to eat plenty of sheep poo (unless I am close enough to stop her.) She has a lovely shiny coat, plenty of endurance and energy and is healthy. Maybe she needs a study of her own. :rolleyes: I would love to know what is causing her revolting habit but I suspect she just likes the taste. I agree that looking away is about all I can do.

[Staranais]

I have a theory about that - I think that dogs are designed to suppliment their diet by eating the poo of prey animals, especially large ruminants. Most dogs I know love eating cow and sheep poo, and apparently wolves have been observed snacking on the poo of large ruminants too.

It does have some nutritional content in it (energy semi digested vege, protein from bacteria, vitamin K), though not as much as eating the actual prey animal, obviously.

So in suburbia, where dogs typcially have no access to lamb or sheep or cow poo, my theory is that dogs still feel the urge to eat poo, and all they have to eat is each others' poo.

I'll be the first to admit that that's totally a theory, I have absolutely no evidence to back it up, it is just a hunch. But I'd love to do a study to see if dogs that were raised with daily access to sheep or cow poo were less likely to eat dog poo than dogs raised without access to farm animal poo.

Wonder if I could get funding for the study?

The black and tan girl in my avatar is the biggest poo breath around. She eats any kind of poo - dog, sheep , horse etc. In the mornings she is fed Eagle Pack with either (on alternate days) an egg, a tin of sardines. liver or chicken mince as well as yoghurt or cottage cheese, Joint Guard and a Fish Oil tablet each day. In the evenings she gets meaty bones. I doubt that there is anything missing from her diet. She is walked twice a day through my sheep paddocks and has the chance to eat plenty of sheep poo (unless I am close enough to stop her.) She has a lovely shiny coat, plenty of endurance and energy and is healthy. Maybe she needs a study of her own. :p I would love to know what is causing her revolting habit but I suspect she just likes the taste. I agree that looking away is about all I can do.

Ah well, there goes my theory!

I guess I'm lucky my girl just likes sheep, cow, horse, cat, and bird poo, not dog poo.