Labrador Eating Anything...

[mattc]

I have a 9 month old lab who is fantastic but for the last few months he's taken to eating his own poo if we aren't quick enough to get it. He'll do the poo, then straight away turn around to grab it. If we do get it he will lick the grass... clearly he loves it but it makes his breath STINK!

The articles I've read about it suggest it could be boredom, diet or stress related. I don't think any of these apply:

- I work from home and spend at least an hour a day walking him, often 2, including play at the local dog park, and usually he'll sit by my feet when I'm on the computer or on the couch next to me. He gets plenty of attention from my three daughters when they're home from school too.

- we feed him pretty expensive kibble (75% Artemis Fresh Mix Medium/Large Puppy, 25% Nature's Domain Salmon from Costco). We feed it to him 3 times a day in a toy (wobbler / kong / buster food cube) to slow him down. I think he'd eat himself to obesity if we let him so we are pretty strict in making sure that he's eating a strict ration. We don't use treats, just a bit of kibble is enough of a treat for him. He does prefer the Artemis I think but is perfectly happy to wolf down the Nature's Domain as well.

- he seems pretty chill apart from this.

He's fully toilet trained, hasn't had an accident inside since he was a very little pup months ago. Basically I think he's just food obsessed and sees his poo as another food source. I don't think it can be great for him though, when we manage to get it all his poo is firm, but if he eats much it gets a bit sloppy.

Any ideas? The most effective thing we did was to restrict his access to outdoors, but as soon as we relaxed it he was back to chomping down the poo. He knows leave it and is quite good with other stuff when we're walking etc, he doesn't eat other dogs poo, only his own. The only thing we can't get him to leave regularly seems to be his poo! Help!

[RuralPug]

Firstly a vet check to make sure that his digestion is okay.

If it is, then it might be simply hunger and you might be able to stop it by adding calorie free additives to his meals to bulk them out, such as green beans or pumpkin.

If he still persists you can try adding bromelain to his meals. This is available in fresh pineapple, more conveniently in meat tenderiser powder, or better still from your vitamin store (check with your vet for correct dosage).

Edited November 4, 2016 by RuralPug

[mattc]

Firstly a vet check to make sure that his digestion is okay.

If it is, then it might be simply hunger and you might be able to stop it by adding calorie free additives to his meals to bulk them out, such as green beans or pumpkin.

If he still persists you can try adding bromelain to his meals. This is available in fresh pineapple, more conveniently in meat tenderiser powder, or better still from your vitamin store (check with your vet for correct dosage).

Thanks, will try these. Out of interest, how does the vet check digestion?

[RiverStar-Aura]

Digestion would probably be checked via stool sample. It can be analysed to make sure the food is being properly broken down and absorbed.