Potty Mouth??
Our worst fears have been realized: Cricket's severe halitosis seems to stem from her habit of eating feces, which my husband just discovered this morning. We live on a farm, so we always let Cricket run loose when we take her out, and we've never seen her doing this before, but it's been a nagging suspicion. Does anyone know how to break this habit, and what products may be available? I'm sure this is unhealthy, along with disgusting!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Charlie on
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Sometimes dogs will eat poo because of a nutritional deficiency (often protein or Vitamin B). If she's on a good quality food, that is probably not the problem. You could switch her to a higher protein diet or add some brewer's yeast for vitamin B. Sometimes they do it just looking for a little variety. If she is eating nothing but dog food, you might offer her a little low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, brown rice, green leafy vegetables and other healthy bits to make her diet more interesting. You might ask your vet about it. Very likely though, he will tell you it is a behavioral habit (not nutritional).
Most dogs just like the taste, since they are naturally scavengers. She may be getting some reward for "hunting for food". Unfortunately, this is a very hard habit to break. About the only way I've ever heard to stop it is to scoop and remove the poo before letting her out, or have her wear a muzzle while she's out. You might have some success training her away from it if she were out on leash and you could stop her before she eats it. Off-leash, there's not much you can do to keep her away from it. It's apparently a very rewarding "treat" for dogs. You can teach her the "Leave it!" command or use a spray bottle, but again you will have to catch her everytime before she puts in her mouth.
The "stop-poo-eating" products on the market are intended to stop the dog from eating its own poo, or that of other household dogs. You add it to their food and it makes the poo taste bad. This isn't going to help if she's eating the farm animals poo.
Dogs can actually digest the bacteria in poo quite well, so it's not necessarily unhealthy for her. The main health risk is intestinal roundworms. I would make sure to worm her regularly.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! Poo eating is one of the not so lovely habits of our otherwise wonderful canine companions.
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Permalink Reply by Stuart Little on
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Thought I was the only one with a pup obsessed with poop..
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Dogs will commonly eat their own as well as other animals' feces. Puppies are known to eat their own excrement during paper training and housebreaking, and it is believed to be due to a combination of physiological and behavioral factors.
On the physiological side, since the digestion of food is not always complete, puppies still see nutrient value in their feces and view it as a snack. Often dogs are attracted to undigested rice, corn or peanuts in their stool if they happen to consume these foods. Maximizing digestion can help solve this problem. To do so, add enzyme supplements to their food, such as meat tenderizer (from the supermarket), papaya extract (a natural enzyme available at health food stores) or products from pet supply stores especially designed to help dogs digest. Mix the enzyme powder in each meal, and let it sit for 15 minutes prior to feeding it to your pet. This should eliminate the presence of anything they view as "good" in their stool. It will not help with the peanuts or corn, but these foods should not be fed to your pet in any event.
Another way to discourage coprophagy (the medical term for eating poop) is to coat the stools with hot sauce or vinegar, thereby making the experience of eating it unpleasant (as if it seemed great thus far!). Sometimes owners have to go to the extreme measure of injecting the stool with hot sauce so the pet gets the full extent of the bad flavor. Yet another method is through products which taste good when mixed in the pet's food and eaten, but turn bitter when excreted in the pet's feces (isn't science great?). Doing this or the hot sauce method for one to two weeks is usually enough to convince a dog that their food bowl is a safer spot for snacks.
On the behavioral side, many pets eat their stool during the training stages because they become confused about whether to go to the bathroom on or off the paper or outdoors. Just as potty training for kids is tough, telling a dog when and where to eliminate is sometimes stressful. They will feel bad about going in the wrong place and destroy the evidence by eating it :)
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Permalink Reply by Kristen on
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Our dogs all find poo to be an interesting treat. I can't believe I'm admitting this. We live on a farm as well and it just seems to be part of the farm life. In the winter they enjoy the goose poop when it is frozen. Eww. A friend brought he rather well bred, perfectly groomed poodle to the farm for a visit and the first thing she did was ethusiastically eat a horse apple. My friend was mortified. Seems universal. If there is a trick to getting them to stop, I would love to know, but our dogs are on good quality feed and it just seems to be part of their world. They never eat their own poo--or other canine poo, but enjoy the horse and goose treats.I monitor closely for worms--it has not been an issue yet, but we keep watching.
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Mmmmn! Goose Poopsicles...yummy! LOL
Charlie doesn't eat his own poop either, but found something "chewy" in the park one day which I figured was some other animal's poo. I said, "Yucky!", but he disagreed with me. I'm not too worried him finding an occassional poo cookie. Charlie is on a once a month product which kills fleas, heartworm, and all four of the common intestinal worms. I've never heard of anyone successfully stopping the habit.
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Permalink Reply by Buckley's folks on
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I'm glad to hear of other dogs and their 'poop eating' habits. We need to be extremely vigilant with the cat's litter box because Buckley treats it as his personal snack bar. Gross...
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You could also see that as a benefit. It's no fun cleaning the litter box!
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Permalink Reply by Carol Braitman on
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I have 4 cats, and live on a pond. My dogs also love goose poo, and cat poo. My oldest cat often goes poos outside in the grass, and it's a delectable treat. I agree with Charlie about the worms. I have had to treat Augie for tapeworms twice, because the cat eats rabbits, and Augie eats the cat poo. Rabbits carry tapeworm... I bought some minty breath tabs for them, and that seems to help when the potty mouth is especially foul...
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Permalink Reply by Patti on
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Corgi confessional time, I see - but it is helpful for the science behind the secret life of our dogs. Both of mine like "kittycat snacks" as we call them, and Luna has a nasty habit, especially after the groomer's visit, of going out and coming back with a particularly disgusting "poop" beard, from rolling her head in whatever she has found....
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Permalink Reply by Betsy Medinger on
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You are NOT alone!!! Poop eating (of all varieties) is an age old Corgi Habit. I have lived with 6 Corgis over 25 years and they have all been known to snack! They especially like horse manure, even better in the Winter time! Around my farm we call it "Poopsicles".
Seems the male Corgis like to eat their own poop more than the girls, especially when they are puppies. Sometimes they outgrow it, but if you can try and break the habit early on, you will be happier. Couple of things to try. First off....keep the yard clean. Follow your dog out when he goes to do his business, AS SOON as he is done, distract him by making a fuss and telling him what a good dog he is, if he turns to eat it, direct him to "leave it" and continue to call him to you and reinforce the good behavior of coming.
A few things to feed that might help....If you can find meat tenderizer that has MSG sprinkle it on his, and other house hold dog's food. You can also try Brewers yeast and/or Cayanne pepper. There is actually a product at the pet stores called "Potty Mouth" that is basically just that.
The good news is, that as gross as it is to us, it won't hurt the dogs. Just keep a watch out for worms and/or worm regularly.
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Permalink Reply by Francine on
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Well I'm glad my corgi is not the only one to indulge in cat litter snacks! It is so disgusting. Sometimes she will even play with it for awhile, tossing it in the air and catching it. Ugghhhh! I don't know how to stop it, other than keeping an eye on her when she heads into the room with the litter box. The telltale sign is when she walks up to me with little grains of cat litter stuck to her nose.
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Permalink Reply by jasper on
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Hope this helps some. vet suggested we put some meat tenderizer which she pointed out is fancy salt in with his food for a while. Very quickly left the "tootsie rolls" alone. She also asked me a an organic gardner what I would use to to keep bugs off my veggies? well! its a chopped onion and some garlic cloves crushed in the food prosser to a liquid, and with one of those spray bottles It stopped not only the consumption but also the rolls!
hope that helps
jasper
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