Thoughts of dog journal12/30/2023 ![]() Once any medical reasons are ruled out, try management: Scoop promptly after your dog(s), put cat litterboxes where he can’t access them, keep him away from the manure pile, and use “Walk Away” or “Leave It” cues to move him away from temptation when walking on trails where horses or other animals may have eliminated. If you need help, consult a qualified force-free dog-training professional. If stress, anxiety, and/or boredom are the cause, reduce stress and add enrichment to your dog’s world. Talk with your veterinarian and follow her recommendations to diagnose and treat or rule out medical issues. You must first explore possible medical causes. Stress/anxiety, boredom, and attention-seeking can cause/contribute to coprophagia.Some medications can make a dog very hungry.Den cleanliness instinct: Mother dogs naturally eat puppies’ poop to clean the den.Eating feces can recolonize the gut with a different/healthier microflora dogs may possess some natural instinct to eat feces to improve their own digestion.Intestinal parasites, endocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), underfeeding, or poor diet have deprived the dog of needed nutrients, leading to an instinctive urge to eat novel sources of nutrients.It tastes good (natural/normal behavior).No one knows for sure, but some theories commonly offered to explain why dogs eat poop: Cat feces seems to be especially delectable. Dogs may eat all kinds of poop – deer, horse, bunny, even human poop. Unfortunately for us, coprophagia is common in dogs – a natural, normal behavior. Your dog may be ingesting intestinal parasites and/or disease pathogens such as parvovirus, toxoplasmosis, or giardia along with the feces. ![]() Poop eating – or “coprophagia,” to use the scientific term – isn’t just disgusting to us. Why do dogs eat poop – especially their own? It’s so gross! There’s nothing worse than when your dog eats a fresh piece of poop and then, in response to your shrieks of horror and dismay, tries to lick you in an appeasement gesture. At home scoop poop promptly, and out in the world using a leash (and perhaps a positively introduced muscle) to prevent his access to feces may be the best you can do to control the behavior. Managing his access to feces is your best bet. ![]() If your dog habitually hunts for and eats feces, the behavior gets reinforced each time he finds and is able to consume some.
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