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

[beanieh]

Oh yes, the wonderful task of cleaning up the vomit-poop combo. Bongo doesn't do this (thankfully) but our lab Quincy (3 years at the rainbow bridge) did all the time. It was a horrendous habit, and we were never able to break him of it. We did not try any of the food additives, however, as they were not readily available at the time. I've heard very good things about For-bid, and I think you can get it from Foster & Smith or from the wholesale sites like PetEdge and JBPet.

I believe the the term for poop eating is corophagia (not sure of the spelling) and it seems to be a combination of habit and nutritional issues. One friend told me her theory of why dog's eat their own poop. And that is, because food moves rapidly through a dog's digestive tract the dog doesn't always absorb everything. Also, some foods contain undigestible ingredients (sort of like corn, for us!) So the poop is kind of like more food, in a disgusting way!

I don't know if my rambling has helped, but you must feel better knowing you are not alone!

 

[Albie]

Just an FYI, Forbid or Deter will only help with eating his own poop. Obviously, anything he comes across on a walk, etc. will be looked upon as a tasty treat! Lacy did this for a time as a puppy, and the only thing that really worked was cleaning up immediately after she eliminated. We tried Deter (didn't help) and even hot pepper sauce sprinkled over the poops left in the yard (she seemed to enjoy the spice). The only thing that worked for us was immediate clean-up and after a couple of weeks she stopped this nasty behavior.