I have a major problem here, at least it is major to me. My two st's eat my other dogs waste but not their own or each others. My other dogs are a toy p, a cocker, and two Belgian Sheepdogs. I have tried food changes, vitamin supplements and correction. They seem to know that it is something that I would rather they not do, for they wait until they think I am not looking to endulge. They really like the frozen kind because it lasts longer. I am sick every time I catch them in the act, then of course is when they want to kiss me. YUCK! I grew up with a golden who used to eat his own, then proceed to throw up, always at our dinner time. I don't know what else to do- I really don't want to change their diet because these two have very sensitive stomachs, at least when it comes to axtual food, and they are doing so well with the food they are on- called PMI 26. Any suggestions would be most appreciated HELP! Tracey

-- Anonymous, January 10, 1999

Answers

Coprophagy, feces eating, is often related to boredom. However, you may want to rule out any health problems if they just started this. Fat in the stool from a pancreatic or intestinal disease could cause this. Is PMI26 highly digestible? If so, you probably don't need to change their diet. Make sure they have two or three toys to play with when out playing. Rotate toys every 4 or 5 days to keep them interested. Most importantly, try to pick up all feces daily, or more often if you can.

You cal also try some aversion conditioning by treating a couple of stools with hot cayenne pepper or Bitter Apple and then leaving them for your dogs to eat. Then, pick up the treated stools after a day and keep all stools picked up for a week, then leave a couple of treated stools out again. After getting a couple of tastes of hot pepper, most dogs will break the stool-eating habit.

Good luck.

-- Anonymous, February 08, 1999

This must be one of the most frequent owner complaints I get about dogs. "Why does my dog eat feces?" The dog in question might be eating horse feces, cat feces, it's own or even other dog's feces.

There can be a few contributing factors to COPROPHAGIA (the technical term) in dogs. The first, is of course, a medical reason. Malabsorption of nutrients in affected dogs can be a major cause. This can be from a digestive enzyme deficiency, internal parasites, or from feeding a poorly digestible, low vitamin/nutrient diet. (Tip: If your dog food has corn, wheat, or bone meal as one of the first four ingredients, it is probably one of low digestibility.) For this reason, a trip to the vet for an examination is probably a good idea.. just to rule out any medical problems regarding the intestinal tracts of your dogs. Since you say the dogs eat the OTHER dog's feces, you would want to check THEM for enzymatic deficiencies, etc, because this would cause (by a high fat/protien content) their feces to be very palatable to your two dogs who are stool eating.

A lot of the time, however, coprophagia is purely behavioral. For example, the first dog begins to eat stool out of boredom, or by investigation. (Having no hands, dogs investigate things with their mouths.) Dog #2 then observes the stool eating behavior in Dog #1, and mimics this behavior. Coprophagia is a common problem in puppies for this reason. And because the stool eating behavior attracts a lot of owner attention, the behavior may be unknowingly reinforced by owners. (Some dogs view attention as neither negative or positive. All attention is attention, and thus coprophagia may become an attention-getting behavior.)

In the behavioral cases, coprophagia is best treated with prevention of access to stools. If there are no stools to eat, the dogs cannot eat them. This would mean you would have to pick the stools up as soon as they are expelled, and before the dogs have a chance to become interested in, or ingest them.

Sometimes, however, the behavior is so ingrained (if not caught early, coprophagia can be like finger-nail biting in people - a habit, and a very hard one to break) that it is neccessary to incorporate some behavior modification training. This might also be neccessary if you do not have the time to stand around until all of your dogs defecate, and then clean up after them promptly. So many of us lead busy lives that this remedy, while the most effective, is simply not feasable.

Behavior modification attempts can be assisted by a professional trainer or behavioralist. (Your vet or local SPCA might have good references for professional trainers.) Basically, what they will tell you to do is this: You want to take the stool eating behavior, and slowly incorporate a new, positive, behavior to replace it. This could be coming to you and sitting for a special food reward (or a game of frisbee) immediately after defecating. Whatever is most appealing to the dogs (aside from the feces *laugh*) is what you'll want to use as a positive reinforcement.

Unpleasant tastes (such as Bitter Apple) are unlikely to be effective because Bitter Apple also has an odor. The dogs will know which stools have been treated by their scent, and they will also know on which stools the treatment has worn off (by, say, a heavy dew or a rainfall), and can be eaten. Also, the taste of Bitter Apple does not last long on the tongue (a few seconds at most), and there have been reports of some dogs becoming used to the taste so that the Bitter Apple is rendered ineffective. If you want to try a taste deterrent, I would suggest using Pet Excellence's Bitter Stop, or another taste deterrent that has Bitrix (TM) in it. Bitrix is a horrible unpleasant taste that lingers. (I have tasted both Bitter Apple, and products with Bitrix in it, and trust me, the Bitrix is MUCH worse.) Also, the Bitrix is odorless.

Most stool eating dogs prefer stool that is well formed (like you said, they like the frozen or hard kind). Some people suggest adding stool softeners or laxatives to the food in order to make the stools unpleasant to the stool eating dogs. I don't think this would be the best course of action for you to take without discussing it first with your vet. Long term use of laxatives on your dogs could harm them more than help them.

Hope I've been of help.

Blessings, Sean

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2002