My dog is poop eater....Please Help!!!!!! - Long

[Emmasparents]

Emma is 7 months old now and over the last couple of months or so she has found a new hobby..... eating her poop!!!! I have tried the following without any luck:

Garlic
Meat Tenderizer
Prozyme (prescribed by the vet)

I don't know if this is a behavioural issue or a diet issue. Both my wife and I have long working days so Emma is by herself in our large spacious basement. Essentially we have created a play room for her with her food, toys, (a secluded area where we spread "doggy pee pads" for her to go during the day) and I leave her 4 kongs filled with a mixture of hotdog, kibble, peanut butter, chicken liver, doggy buiscit etc, and of course "prozyme". For the last week or so I haven't fed her in the morning and leave a little kibble in her bowl. I figure that she gets enough food from the kongs. In the evening she gets excercised (most days) and then fed her meal. (a cup of lamb and chicken liver that I first cook in a pressure cooker and then mince in a blender mixed with a cup and a half of eukenuba).

I don't know if it is behavioural because she does it when we are home also, or whenever she thinks no one is looking and she can get away with it. We walk her in the morning so she does her business and also when we get home. I don't know if I can leave her in her cage for 12 hours so the basement. I don't know why she poops so much.

Any suggestions... Sorry this is a long post. Wanted all the info out there...

 

[delilahbelle]

When Sophie was a puppy, she did the same thing. I put something called 'Forbid' on her food and it seemed to help. It was a powder. I put it on her food - it's odorless and tasteless. I've also seen it in Drs. Foster and Smith.

Good luck!

 

[Glenys]

I don't have any answers--both my girls didn't eat their own poop but loved horse manure or cow dung, both found out the back of our place on a farm. I can't stop them either and they aren't young any more. I've heard of a lot of people having the same problem with their dogs and they aren't Boxers. Perhaps it's a 'doggy thing'?

 

[AZ Boxer Boys]

We had a terrible time with our dogs too - we tried everything. We ended up changing their food (for a variety of reasons) and since we've changed them, they don't eat their poop anymore. We also only give them snacks made by the same company as their food. Don't know why it made them stop - I'm just glad it did!!

Cindy

Oh, almost forgot, the food we switched them to is Natural Balance.

 

[gmacleod]

Poop eating is a very common problem, I'm afraid. In some cases, the problem is solved by a change in food to a super-premium kibble. The theory here is that because of they contain higher quality, more easily useable ingredients, there is less "interesting" stuff like protein is expelled in the waste. And that, in turn, makes the poop much less attractive to eat. It doesn't work in ALL cases, but is certainly worth a try (unless you're already using a super-premium kibble, that is).
I think it's a theory with some validity - dogs love to eat cat poop (which is very high in protein), and I've never heard of a BARF-fed dog eating their own poop (very little protein expelled from a raw diet).

If that doesn't work, there are products you can buy from your local pet store that are supposed to make the poop less palatable. Again, it doesn't work in all cases, but it does for some.

Finally - you could consider switching to a raw natural diet. As mentioned above, I have yet to hear of a barf-fed dog that eats its own poop

 

[cherran]

I'd start out with giving something other than Eukanuba. It is not a good quality dog food. Move up to something better, there are many good ones mentioned on here if you look on Search. Eukanuba is not a cheaply priced food, and you can get a really good one for about the same or a tiny bit more. Also with a higher quality food they eat less, so it balances out.

 

[Alidog]

poop eater problem..

There is also the possibility that she is showing cleanliness or fear of being scolded for 'messing up'. When my family bred German Shepherd dogs, this was common in some of our females but it was a sign of their maternal instinct, something like this was seen to be a 'clean female'.
My boxer girl at home turns her nose up at her own poop but of course shows interest in any poop of another kind.
There is that possibility that ur girl is just being clean or has a fear of being told off for pooping in the wrong place (of course if she is being naughty and pooping anywhere shes not supposed to).
But I am not an expert, only through my experience with Shepherds and breeding them can I say that...maybe something you want to look at??

 

[BearBoxer]

Coprophagia

Hello,

The term is as noted. My Boxer used to eat cat feces for a while. The higher protein cat food yielded a higher protein fece. It is not uncommon. Please don't get overly excited. I know it's nasty and ingesting roundworm larvae can exsist. That is not acceptable.

The harder part is catching the animal in the act and STOPPING IT in the act. Believe me....been there..done that. Mr Bear ate cat feces quite a bit while I was not at home. The cat's litterbox was ALWAYS clean except for urine. It was a matter of catching him in the act.

Dog's are very intelligent and remember many things. Catching a dog in a wrongful act and correcting it at that time is very important. Work on it and do the proper corrections at the proper time. He/She will get the message!

John Kowalski

 

[1CRAZYBXRLVR]

Just wanted to pop in and say that feeding a BARF diet doesn't necessarily keep them from eating their poop because both my dogs are fed BARF and my male eats his poop and the females if it isn't scooped up right away. I've tried all the remedies and cannot get him to stop. I've pretty much given up trying.
Good luck.

 

[Shanz]

my gsd brandy used to eat her poop when she was a pup. The vet suggested feeding her Euakanuba because she probably wasn't getting all the nutrients she needed from her other food and since then she stopped...eating her puke is another thing, But sinc your already feedin eukanuba, i dont know what to suggest