My 5 year old castrated Dane has started a nasty habit of eating toilet I'm not sure if it his own or the others toilet. He is also very over weight although I have been feeding him slightly less, he doesn't seem to be losing weight in fact I'm sure he has put some more on. Could he have thyroid problems and this is causing him to put weight on and to eat the toilet.

Take him for a proper vet check-up. Tell the vet your worries, and I'm sure all necessary tests will be done to find the cause. This isn't something that can be diagnosed over the Net.
:)

What are you feeding him on? JG is right - take him to the vet... but he may be missing something vital in his food. I have 2 danes... let me know what you are feeding him on.

JG is right - the medical things need to be discounted before you can start to tackle the behavioural/nutritional reasons - it may even be that his current diet is too rich - but the vet really needs to see him to rule out things like bacterial overgrowth.....

However, you should also be aware that vets are not the best people for giving nutritional advice for danes... once everything else is ruled out they will probably try to get him on a "prescription diet". You can [email chloe@iscario.com]email me[/email] if you wish.

yes i think you need to take him to the vets, if your feeding less and hes putting on weight he might have a underactive thyroid problem, heres a website that might like to read .they have a section on canine thyroids

.canismajor com
hope you get him sorted soon xxxxxxxxxxxx lady

Thanks for all your replies. I will take him to the vets. Do you think it could be connected that he is eating toilets or is that a coincidence. I have always fed raw ox tripe and wholemeal terrier biscuit. I used to use completes with the tripe but several Danes came up with allergies. I don't put up with vets who tell me what I should be feeding my Danes or treat me like an idiot and talk down to me.

I would say that tripe plus a mixer is not enough - he needs a complete food for one meal really....which could be why he is "recycling". I would look at using a good quality complete food for breakfast - something like Burns, Oscars or Autarky...and then raw green tripe with a mixer for dinner.

Have you increased his exercise as well as cut down his food?

He is not a very active dog on his walks now he is older, he runs around a bit with his younger half sisters, they have loads of energy, but he prefers to stroll along sniffing. He is a very happy Dane and doesn't seem to be bothered abouth anything.