Can someone tell me my pup is 7 mnths old and he licks walls wood sofas floor well everything in reach could something be lacking from his diet? or is a thing dogs do please if anyone has an answer i would be gratefull

Hi,

Some dogs are natural lickers, one of our beardies (Rosa) licks everything, the air, your trousers, legs, hands, jumpers and the carpet. She only does this when she gets excitied though, or when she is saying hello.

Possibly your pup is craving something, what do you feed? It could also be a behaviour problem, some dogs will chew and lick their legs, some will suck their feet or a patch on their tail and some will lick/chew the walls.

When does your pup do this? When did it start? What breed do you have again?

manda
X
:)

he started at around 5mnths i feed the frozen mince from the pet store and he is a cav king charles also he does chew the walls even the concerete under the paper weird he isnt allowed any treats as he suffers bad with colitis

Hi
My eldest cavalier..she's now 13...was the only one who did what yours is doing.
She didn't chew furniture, but we had an extension built when she was a pup, and she ate the wallpaper first....then the plaster underneath...then the breeze blocks underneath that!!!

She wasn't on any sort of exclusion diet...had other puppies and dogs to play with, so wasn't bored....but she has always been a bit weird!

She grew out of it...and husband gave up patching the walls, and tiled the extension from the floor to waist height, 'cos she couldn't chomp thro' tiles! :D

Sami

Oh forgot to say he does it for no reason not excitement or anything like that just decides to go and do it and could lick the wall for hours

Hi,
When you say you feed frozen mince from the pet store, do you mean you JUST feed mince, or do you add anything?

I feed my pets raw food, and they get lamb, beef, chicken, raw bones, fish, and a large range of vegetables, fruits, eggs, oils, nuts, some seeds, and garlic, brewers yeast and kelp to keep them healthy.

Emma

Yes just mince he is not aloowed anything else as he has colitis and the vet said plain mince although i add vits to it just in case and he isnt evn allowed treats mean isnt it but if it for the better then so be it even though its hard to look at him when im in the kitchen with cheese for the kids

I think even with the vitamins mince alone would not make a healthy diet, is your vet planning to introduce new elements as you go along? My terrier has suffered very badly from colitis in the past, so much so that I feared she would not make her first birthday, but we found she did well on Chappie which I know many dogs with delicate digestions seem to cope with. Eventually I could not stand the smell of half eaten tins in my fridge anymore :) and discovered that Beta agreed with her too and she has carried on very well on this into her 15th year.

Hi, I have an old girl who has bouts of colitis. I now give her live (bio) yoghurt for her breakfast every day and it has worked wonders. Most of the time she can eat Wafcol, but when she has a problem my vet is very keen on chicken and rice.
I used to have a dog who had a routine of licking trouser legs, furniture, walls etc. after she had had a meal. She always did it and lived to a ripe old age but I'm still not sure of the reason behind it.
Carrie

Mmmmmmmmm,
Having not seen your dog, i am wary about this, but, from what you say, i highly suspect that he is lacking something in his diet.

IF he was mine, then i would be adding foods carefully to his diet.

Do you feed the mince raw? If not, i would start doing so, as he can gain far more nutrients from it raw, than he can cooked. If you are feeding cooked, just cook it a little less each day until you are feeding it totally raw.

I would then add vegetables, probably best if you need to limit the variety till you can pinpoint the cause of the colitis, just give him carrot, spinach, mmmm, and celery. Blend it up in a food mixer till it resembles, urr, vomit!!!!!
If he is fine with that, then you can gradually add more vegetables. You only need to feed about a tablespoon a day, too much and your dog WILL get the runs!!!!!! If just those three veg bring back the colitis, pick just one, and feed that, if its fine, add another, and so on, until he has a variety of veg.

The best meat really is chicken, (something to do with the right levels of fats and amino acids or soemthing, but it is nearly 3 am, an i cant recall just now).

Definately go back to your vet, and ask him again about your dogs diet, as no dog should be fed just meat for any length of time. Dogs, like man are omnivores, they need a variety of meat and vegetables to be healthy.

Good luck with him.

Em

I think as well the diet maybe lacking in certain things. I have an old girl who has colitis and touch wood, early days yet, has shown a great improvement on Nature diet. See the thread on Feeding. Might be worth looking into.

Lucy

Hi,

Sounds like he could be lacking in something, I would think about either feeding something like Naturediet or there is now a new BARF complete meal, which contains raw meat, ground bone, veg and all the vits/mins they need. It's very good and is made by a company called AMP (Anglia Meat Products).

manda
X

I'm going to go against the grain here and say I think he's developed an obsessive-compulsive disorder in relation to licking. My Aunt-in-law's cav did the same. I don't know if they ever got it sorted. I know Collies can develop a compulsion to run in circles. It sounds more like self-stimulating behaviour than a dietary problem. I'd have a word with the vet about it and/or (shock horror) perhaps a behaviourist.

Wendy

Bearing in mind this dogs diet, which doesn't appear to be balanced in any way shape of form, I'd plump for the cheapest solution first - it's diet related - fix the diet and I'd be prepared to bet the problem will disappear so long as it hasn't become a habit.........

Thanks for the help but he has to stay on mince only for a month strict rules so the vet says anyway i will try your suggestions and see how things progress

is there pleanty of water down? sometimes my pup licks himself and other places...carpet, bedding, me etc...and the first thing i thought of was he might need a drink...(he is only 10wk and has just figured out where the water bowl is lol!) so if i see him i direct him to water and that stops him :)

just another thing to check off the list whilst you try and find out whats wrong :)

Roxanne

If it was an obsessive thing, then he would not stop when you asked him to.

Try it out, if he stops when you distract him with a toy, or some fuss, then it is not likely to be that, if he cannot be distracted from it, or he gets very very distressed by being forced to stop, then taht could be it.

Em