Hi, I have a two yr old lab and a three yr old cattle dog- both girls. The lab has been eating the other one's fresh poop for a couple of months and now the cattle dog who has not long ago had 2 pups has started eating dry poop - she doesn't care if it's hers or the labs. I have been reading some other respones on different websites and none seem to offer a reason, but they also seem to be only with puppies doing it. My dogs food has not changed, and neither has their surroundings (except for the puppies). Can anybody please help???

to dogs, eating poop is totally acceptable.. you need to make sure the dogs know it is wrong. tell them off firmly so they know that what they are doing isnt right. also the best thing to do is to clean up after your dogs as quickly as you can! ive heard dogs normally outgrow this sort of thing, but none of my dogs have ever done it so i don't know  really. but still basically if they are caught in the act a firm, deep-voiced reprimand should help!    good luck!

Be careful of reprimanding them for this sort of behaviour - many dogs on the receiving end of this sort of 'training' will contort themselves to eat it before it even hits the ground!  You need to know *why* your dog is doing this, and there can be many reasons - I'd suggest doing a search on Champdogs for poo eating to find the different reasons and different approaches they need to rectify.......

Hi Imcor79,

Noticed that Pets at Home sell something to help with this although I didn't look what it was properly, probably some tablet or something, don't know if it will work though but may be worth a try.  It was on the medicines and creams shelf.

Hi Thanks i will check the it out and see what's on offer

hi, im new to the group but this was a nightmare for me and my westie pup. She would eat her own poo for months after i got her and then started on cat poo from the garden, it was disgusting and made me really frustrated as the smell was awfull!!!!! I asked the vet and he told me she would grow out of it. She is now 1yr and still eats cat poo, not her own but other dogs if we are at the park.  I have heared  many explanations, one being that it is due to lacking iron or nutrients in their diet. Also they are destroying evidence of poo (when pups)These dont apply to you  so im baffled. Its hard to not repremand this as its so unpleasent but a firm "no" cant do much harm.why? is still a mystery. The vet did offer me tablets that make the poo taste bad yet this doesnt stop them eating others poo. Hope you get it sorted as it drove me mad!!

mine grew out of it by a year old but still raids the litter tray when she can!!

Unfortunately cat poop is just too irresistible to most dogs My dogs used to love duck poop and any bird poop in general and the occasional cat turd!

I managed to cure this by giving them digestive enzymes and Bcomplex tablets daily,both available from human health food shops,after 3 days of giving the above supplements they completely ignored the poop :)

Your dogs are eating eachothers,right? What brand of food are you feeding them? This could have a huge bearing on this problem! Often dogs dont digest a certain food properly,usually the ones with heaps of fillers etc. that their bodies cant digest,so it comes out the other end the same as it went in,with undigested food particles still present.Higher quality foods or raw,homecooked etc. are highly digestible,so not much comes out the other end as the body is able to use everything in the food.

Please let us know what you are feeding them.

Hi
They are eating Chum cans and Chum Dry food, occassionally they get bones and sometimes some scraps but not very often (especially with the scraps). Thanks for the tips about the enzymes and B complex i will give it a shot, anything is better then them eating poop.

According to my vet, that's because cat food is much higher in protein than dog food, so cat-poo also tends to be high protein - yummy!

Dogs which are given too much protein tend to excrete the extra, again making the poo more attractive. If a dog eats its own poo it's worth cutting down its protein levels and see if that makes a difference.
:)

JG how do you explain the dogs who eat raw fed cat poops? ;) :D

Perhaps the cat's getting more protein than its own particular needs dictate.

Our pup also eats his own poo :( He is on Burns so not that high on protein.
We already moved the cat litter (he thought is was his feeding tray :D )
After he is done we 'kick' it into the bushes...he will than leave it alone but if he passes this spot the
next 2 days he will find it and still eat it !! :(
He is just 8 weeks old so I think we might be able to correct this (we did start with -no-).
But I do wonder about the reason for this eating-habbit

From the web:

COPROPRAGIA (EATING FAECES)
Coprophagia and is a common phenomenon which is seen in puppies and in adult dogs. Many explanations have been offered as to why dogs do this. One suggestion is that coprophagia is caused by boredom. The condition is certainly common in kennelled dogs but they tend to be fed on very cheap, low-quality foods.

Another suggestion is that very high energy diets are responsible, the rationale being that the faeces must contain some undigested nutrients which are attractive to the dog. Some vets believe that coprophagia is normal and harmless but it is certainly unpleasant and disgusting for the owner.

My view is that coprophagia is an example of depraved appetite and as such is a sign of non-specific ill-health, most probably affecting the gastro-intestinal system. It is not as is commonly thought, a sign that the dog is intuitively seeking out something which is lacking in the diet. Treatment is by following the Health Management Programme.

Additional management techniques should be employed at the same time as the diet is corrected, for example denying the dog access or opportunity to eat faeces. This will help to break the habit.

Other common examples of depraved appetite are: eating soil, wood

hi i also have a lab bitch who enjoys the poop of my retriever male. both eat exactly the same food. I have found that if i sprinkle with cayenne pepper this stops the problem - except one is not always present at the right moment! the problem gets better for a week or so and then she starts again in earnest. by the way she is 1 year and he is 19months - she certainly shows no sign of growing out of it.

My dog is the only dog in our walking group who wasn't told off for eating horse manure, and she is the only one who doesn't immediately make a beeline for a nice fresh pile <g>
I used to distract her instead of telling her off. It is important to remember though, as pointed out on another thread about this, that poo fromanimals who have just been wormed could be dangerous for others to eat.

Sometimes eating poo can be due to health problems, so if a dog keeps doing it, it might not be a bad idea to check his/her health with the vet.

Lindsay
X

I don't think that it's a health issue. (So far all vet visits (for jabs) were great and he's thriving!)
He now doesn't go back after being praised to eat it so it's improving.
We even put the cat litter on the normal spot again as he now seems to realise that it's NOT his feeding tray :D
So there is definite improvement.