Help! My boy is having an issue with eating feces..

[SSpiro]

Not for the weak stomach...I searched but eat, feces, poop, etc don't really bring up anything that helped. Background: He will be a year old on 1/20/05. He's boxer mixed with lab. Looks all Boxer but a lab nose..

Every now and then in the past I've caught him eating feces in the house. Typically I've always assumed that he did it to hide the fact that he eliminated in the house and he knows he is not supposed to. Just a theory..?

Either way he has had diarrhea for a day or two. I came home from work at lunch yesterday and he had thrown up all over his crate. It was feces that was thrown up.. I cleaned up, took care of him etc.. Happened two more times yesterday.

Today he was fine all day. No throwing up, no diarrhea because he really hasn't eaten much. All has been well (although no #2 from him all day today) except a few minutes ago I took him out for the last run of the night and caught him trying to eat another dogs feces outside (live in an apartment..although its a strictly enforced rule, not all owners pick up after their dog :mad: ).. I had to actually pull a piece out of his mouth.

So what's wrong? Why is he doing this?? I've always heard that dogs do this when they lack certain nutrients in their diet, but never really believed that..

What's the deal? Someone HELP!! Vet is packed for another week or so and I can't get him in.. BW is next best..

 

[xenaprincess]

This has happened with both my boxers, and no..it's not a very pleasant thing! There is a product that is sold in most Pet Supply stores called "Deter". It is in pill form and you give 1 a day, usually in the morning. What it does is makes the feces they are eating litterally taste like crap...for lack of a better word! With my dogs, it took 1-2 weeks and the desire to eat at the "Dog-Doo Diner" was over! Funny, with my oldest, Xena, she preferred goose poop from the parks, besides her own of course. Deter worked! I have heard others here mention that their dogs eat from the cat's litter box, aka..."Kitty-Kat-Cafe", so I don't believe it's an uncommom thing. I don't ever remember my dogs having diarreah when they had the habit of eating poo, and I don't know if it would cause them to have diarreah. Maybe that's something the vet should check out. Deter is safe and after using it twice now (2 dogs), I highly recommend it! :D Good luck!

 

[harleyboxer]

Dogs like too eat any kind of poo they can get a hold of. When I had my old boston terrier I lived at and managed a horse farm. If I couldn't find him he was on the manure pile. It was an all you can eat buffet! I got Harley a few months before I left that job and he couldn't be loose, but he would grab up horse poop any chance he got.

 

[magsp]

Poo eater too!

My dog eats poo like it's caviar! It's so disgusting. He is 2 1/2 years old. We live near woods with a walking trail. We like to take the dogs off leash when we walk them there and let them run around, sniff, etc. However, we've had to keep Potsie on his leash because all he's interested in doing is seeking out poo...his own, our other dogs, other animals, etc. ... and eating it. Occasionally, if he has eaten too much or found a turd that didn't exactly agree with him , he'll vomit and it looks and smell exactly like diarrhea (I know -- very unpleasant -- sorry!).

Does the Deter just make their own poop taste bad to them or all poop? If it works on all poop, then I'm buying that stuff today. My dog has eaten feces since he was a puppy. We have tried everything, in the way of training, to make him stop, but have never tried a product.

 

[pluto1415]

Eating Poo

I had a Bassett that did this. It was sooo gross. We tried something like the deter product, but the one we tried was 1 tab for every 10 lbs something like 2 or 3 times a day. This fat old bassett weighed about 65 lbs, so forcing 6 or 7 tabs down his throat 2 or 3x per day wasn't happening. He wouldn't even eat the chewable heartworm without a huge fight. The worst part was we kind of got used to it, he only ate his and never got sick from it. He used to sneak off into the dining room under the table and "make himself a snack"!

 

[yodla1]

Forbid also works

Buster use to eat his feces too. Forbid is a powder we put over his food - we used it for about a week and that did the trick. I think it makes his poop taste bad.

 

[SSpiro]

Where did you find "Forbid" at?

I will try and find "Deter" and "Forbid" today. He doesn't mind taking supplements, so getting him to eat them won't be a problem.

Thanks for the help guys/gals. Hope this works!

 

[BaileyWailey]

I'm glad my dogs not the only poop-eater. She will dig up barkdust in the front yard to find cat poo. I've never seen her eat her own though and she seems to like it from the other dogs "fresh". Its so disgusting I won't even let her give me kisses anymore. This is my lab/aussie mix, not my baby boxer and I'm scared she will learn to do this from her. I did a search on the internet awhile ago and read that it could be a dominance issue. I really don't think this is the case in my dog, but thats what I read. I am going right after work to get this deter or forbid stuff and stop this nonsense! Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[yodla1]

I got the For-bid on the Doctors Foster & Smith's website. If you do a search on yahoo, you'll be able to find various websites that sell For-bid.

 

[gregory'sdad]

Not good

My partner's sister has two BullMastiffs. When they were about 11 weeks they ate cat poo from the litter box. They became terribly ill. The vets diagnosed Parvoe (sp), but it turned out to be a severe bacterial infection that can occur from poo eating. Just a heads up. If Sir Gregory tries to do he is going to be in soooooooo much trouble. I might take Clifford away!! (just kidding)