Hello All

It is funny because I have just posted in the health section about my labrador having bad breath so you think that this post would keep her breath smelling sweet but I wonder if anybody else's dog does what mine does.

Basically she simply loves to eat soap, soap of any kind that she can find.  I have to hide all the soap in our home and when she went to the pet sitter recently she ate all her guest soaps.  When I get into the bath and lather up - woosh she is by my side and trying to lick the soap off me it is getting ridiculous.

Why on earth would she like soap so much and surely it is very harmful to her to try and eat it.  She will even try and lap up the bathwater with soap suds in.

This is so weird and yet it sure doesn't make her breath smell any better!!!!!

Anybody else have this with their dog?

>Anybody else have this with their dog?

Nope, but did have this with one of my daughters when she was a baby.  Don't know how she got it (probably something to do with older daughter :rolleyes:) but the youngest was choking at one point because her saliva was just frothing up.  Phoned doctors in panic in case of any poisoning effect and the doctor just laughed :rolleyes:

My dog does like licking soap if she gets the chance and she also leans over the bath when I wash my hair licking the air. 

Kids and dogs eh? :D

My now dearly departed Boxer loved soap and bubbles....
She even ate bars of soap ended up in vets visits though
as it upset her digestive system and gave her belly ache.
She particularly liked baby soap and ornamental soaps eg shaped like shells etc.
She could reach soap in areas you thought were safe - typical of Boxers :rolleyes: :D

Boxers tend to like anything soapy or aftershave.
They also like eating bubbles from the bath too
It's quite hard giving them a bath as they try to wash themselves as you are soaping
them up...:D

That sounds just like our old lab! She used to eat entire bars of soap - her favourite was Wright's Coal Tar. She'd lick all the lather off you when you were in the bath, too. It never seemed to do her any harm - she was 13 when she died.

Gosh well I am so surprised about this - mine loves imperial leather! it is a funny taste to acquire I must say.
Dogs are funny aren't they.

My beagle boy eats soap aswell, I put it down to the fact it was because he is a beagle and it fits in his mouth! Very interesting that so many do this. Merlin eats the sponges if they are still soapy too, the bathroom is now a strictly beagle free zone unless it is bathtime, in which case everything is moved prior to them coming in.

It's probably something to do with the Tallow (animal fat) which soap is made from that is so attractive to doggies 

Jeangenie,

You must of had a big bath to get a labrador in at the same time! Bet you had to watch her claws!! Merry Christmas

If she got in too there wasn't room for the water ... :D

Yep, our Lab girl ate soap too, if she could.  She also loved to lick my face when I had sunscreen on.  She seems to have lost her taste for it now.  I don't buy natural ingredient products so I doubt there are any real animal fats in the stuff I use.  Maybe it is the scents the manufacturers put in?  Some of them can be kind of fruity.  Soap, shampoo, dish detergent and all sorts of products we think are not edible are attractive to biting insects and wildlife like racoons, skunks, mice and bears.  When camping and canoeing we try to keep such items away from our tent in hopes of not encouraging an unwanted animal visitor.

Perhaps those of us with soap eating animals could use that in the unhappy event they eat something poisonous and we have to make them vomit?  I don't know which things require that vomitting be induced though.  Would have to check with the poison control centre first.

My GSD's have both eaten half a bar of soap :)
The first time I phoned the vets for advice but they thought it more amusing than serious  "If you are worried, bring her in"
My current Shepherd, when a pup also ate half a bar too.
I'm pleased to say that they show'd no sign of ill effects and they never did it again.
I now keep the soap out of reach, but toilet rolls, socks, underwear is another story :)

Id say most soaps of the cheaper range and all those NOT labelled vegetarian, contain animal fats - i live near a large soap factory and have friends who work there....

For some reason, i can smell the animal fats in soap, to me it STINKS and i cant get the smell of it off me for hours, to me it smells every bit as 'animal fat' as the stuff i use to soften and polish leather and thats about 70% animal fat and smells bad enough in its big pot to make my friends go 'urgh'.

If i can smell it, i bet to a dog most soap smells deliciously like dripping! Totally see why they eat it!

Dogs are quite happy to eat most fats though and so even soaps with vegetable fat, cocoa butter etc in them are probably something of a delicacy!

Em

>It's probably something to do with the Tallow (animal fat) which soap is made from that is so attractive to doggies

Yup,i reckon Maria and Theemx's advise is spot on :) This problem was covered in one of the animal help shows and the vet mentioned the animal products used in soaps is what attracted them too it.Cant remember which ingredient exactly,probably was animal fat.

It's sodium tallowate Ktee!  And the smell before it's rendered and added to the soap is disgusting!

Most soaps apart from vegetarian soaps and the clear soaps have this as one of the main ingredients 

Does Dove have this in? Reason I ask is that's what I usually use and dogs show no interest, but someone gave me some scented soap which I left lying around as I thought it wouldn't interest the dogs and it got eaten!!

Dove does have it in. Maybe they just liked the smell of the scented stuff better - I tried some chocolate bubble bath once :D

   Minka my apple head chihuahua ate half a mars bar I caught her but only got the wrapper from her will she be okay?? She's ate a bunch of chocolate before and is mainly use to having it but shes never had a mars bars before and when she ate chocolate we have never took her to the vet and shes been fine before. I gave her water and took her out but she hasn't aten a mars bar before so im a bit worried. shes 5 lb and is 2 and a half years old.

Call your vet for advice, no way can you just leave it. Chocolate is toxic to dogs

Thats the thing im home alone and all the vets around me are closed? She had the bar thirty minutes ago and theres no change in her attitude or heart rate.

You must have an emergency vets to call, even if its for advice, if she needs to go in then do it.

I dont have an emergency vet. I have a friend who went to vet school and she said to watch my dog and try feeding her milk so she'll throw up.

There must be a vet on call or an out of hours service where you can call to get advice.  No one on here can predict if your dog will be ok, please get proper advice from a qualified vet.

What's the expression? Don't feed the trolls.

But if you do feed them, and its chocolate you fed them then consult a vet on the best course of action, going forwards...

Milk won't do anything - many dogs enjoy it, it doesn't make them throw up.  Ring a vet.

Your friend who went to vet school said that feeding your dog milk would get her to be sick....?

Your dog might be ok, or she might be extremely unwell or worse. That's the answer to your question.

We had a whippet who ate a small amount of milk chocolate, so not even dark chocolate, and she went into seizures from that. So half a mars bar for a chihuahua, who knows. You'll probably get away with it, but I can't believe there isn't a single vet you could have phoned, even if it isn't nearby.

How long ago was it and, if it's not too late, can you make her sick at all?

Judging by the posting time this event happened, if it happened at all (bit coincidental that this is tacked on to a decade-old thread and we just had at least two recent "don't seek veterinary advice online" threads?) at least 12 hours ago.