eating poo!

[lopey99]

i know there has been many threads on here before about this but i need some help. When we leave cassie for a couple of hours during the day she usually does a poo on the papers in her pen in the kitchen, we always take her out before she goes into her pen and she goes outside but still being a little puppy she has to go quite regularly but recently we've noticed she's taken more of an interest in her poo. we normally leave our back door open when we're home and she'll go in the garden when she needs to and we found her playing with a piece of poo, quickly told her a firm no and picked it up, now we've noticed when we come back from work there are the remnants of an eaten poo!

We're not sure what to do as we're not there to tell her no when she does it, i read on here about feeding her pineapple as it doesnt taste good on the other side but she wont eat it. We feed her on science plan and havent added anything new to her diet recently. We were thinking she may have gotten used to going outside in the garden and the park that she doesnt want to do it in her pen anymore and eats it to hide it but we've never shouted or told her off for going in the house (not even when it was on my brand new mat!) so i'm not sure why she would be afraid of it, what can we do?

thanks

[Sharon]

The only time my pups (and adults  ) have ate their own poo is when they are on Burns food, they don't do it any other time, I did ask Burns why they do it, they said probably because they were being fed too much and so it was coming out in their waste....my girls (adults) have 90grms a day, bulked out with raw veg etc. so definitely not too much.

Other than that Burns is an excellent food.........well it must be if they eat it twice!!! 

[lopey99]

i've just been doing a search online and we recently noticed that there are some bits of undigested treats in her food, we use little beef chunks from pets at home for training and i think she might be eating it to get at those so i think we'll stop using them and maybe just use little bits of cheese instead see if that makes a difference and i'll try the pineapple too. We know she's not hungry as she does leave a little food in her bowl and she has plenty to occupy her when we're out for a few hours... if only they could talk 

[loumeg]

 Our pup cookie started eating her poo when we first got her, we tried alsorts pineapple and a toy to destract her after she had, had a poo. We were getting nowhere. In the end we e-mailed a dog food company who make nature diet. There food is made only from natural foods. They sent us a few samples and cookie loved them. We now feed her on that and  she only eats her poo once every blue moon. She is getting better. 

[Mudmagnets]

When I first got Smudge he was but a smidgeon (8 wks), and used to eat his poo(he had diarohea at the time too (no wonder he had problems!!)The vet who i was seeing at the time gave me a sheet of paper on the theories of this lovely habit, and one of the things was that the pup copies it's mum and clears up after they have done a poo.

Then as he get a bit older Smudge left his alone, but ate Suzie's instead if i was not quick enough - but funnily enough if we were out he never touched any other dogs poo - so there may have been something in what that paper said I am not sure. (btw got him out of eating suzie's by putting a bit of the meat she has on his dish)

[Joules]

Coco used to be a demon poo eater as a pup but eventually grew out of it.  I used to watch her like a hawk and distract her from it with a firm no and a tasty treat.  Now she doesn't bother. 

I sometimes look after a boxer though and he is fed on Hills - I have noticed that not only does he do absolutely loads of poos, but Coco seems to like eating his.    I know that some foods with a lot of additives are not fully digested so still taste good when they come out so this may be the reason.    A change of food may help but the best solution is to train her out of the habit by distracting her and clearing up the poo very quickly 

[lopey99]

we have been doing that when she poos when we're around but she is left alone for a few hours during the day and will sometimes poo then and we find half eaten poos when we get home. Just this evening i was in kitchen and she was playing in yard, next minute shes playing with something on the kitchen floor, at first i thought it was a treat from her kong but low and behold it was a piece of poo from one she just did in the garden! - my fault really for not keeping an eye but its difficult to watch her all the time.


Joules you mention the boxer you look after did lots of poos when fed on hills, i've never had a dog from a puppy before and therefore dont know what contitutes 'loads' of poos but i do find she does go quite often say around 5 or 6 a day? She has been fed on hills from when we got her home so i dont understand why she would all of a sudden start eating her poo, one thing i am worried about is that it may have something do to with her being left alone and having to poo in her pen when she's used to going outside, or eating it out of boredom or frustration. When we do leave her she always has lots to chew on and play with but the fact that she attempted to eat the one she did in the garden tonight has maybe put my mind slightly at rest on that matter.

thanks for all our comments!

[tiamaria]

I have a horse poo eater - churns my stomach when he runs along with a big fresh piece in his mouth! Oh and he eats the guinea pig's poo thats fallen from the hutch - found this out when he was sick at the vets and there were full poos in it! 

No help with the dog poo eating tho - sorry! 

[Joules]

Joules you mention the boxer you look after did lots of poos when fed on hills, i've never had a dog from a puppy before and therefore dont know what contitutes 'loads' of poos but i do find she does go quite often say around 5 or 6 a day? She has been fed on hills from when we got her home so i dont understand why she would all of a sudden start eating her poo, one thing i am worried about is that it may have something do to with her being left alone and having to poo in her pen when she's used to going outside, or eating it out of boredom or frustration. When we do leave her she always has lots to chew on and play with but the fact that she attempted to eat the one she did in the garden tonight has maybe put my mind slightly at rest on that matter.

Re the boxer - he is an adult and does at least 4 hooooge poos a day    Coco is nearly three and usually does 2 small ones a day (she is fed on BARF so not much waste in her diet) when she was on Naturediet/Arden Grange she did 2 larger ones.  Obviously a small pup does more poos but I swear with the boxer more comes out than goes in!    I have various other doggies to stay on various different diets and his is the only one Coco likes to eat - he is the only one I have had that is fed on Hills    It may not be the food but seems to make sense to me. I have heard this about Burns food which is an excellent food with no nasties in it so can't explain that one 

Don't worry about poo eating in a pup - it seems to just be something that a lot of them do, not down to boredom or anything you are doing wrong.  Just persevere with distracting, cleaning it up as fast as you can etc and hopefully she will grow out of it 

[EmmaA]

Eric seems to have grown out of eating his own poo now but still can't resist the treats that are horse poo and rabbit poo.
When I take him to the stables he sticks his nose straight in a big pile and wallows in it 

[Joules]

Eric seems to have grown out of eating his own poo now but still can't resist the treats that are horse poo and rabbit poo.
When I take him to the stables he sticks his nose straight in a big pile and wallows in it 

Yep Coco loves horse, rabbit, deer and alpaca poo and cannot resist the occasional snack.  I have given up worrying about it now   

[EmmaA]

Eric seems to have grown out of eating his own poo now but still can't resist the treats that are horse poo and rabbit poo.
When I take him to the stables he sticks his nose straight in a big pile and wallows in it 

Yep Coco loves horse, rabbit, deer and alpaca poo and cannot resist the occasional snack.  I have given up worrying about it now   

Yep, I just ban kisses for a while and make sure he drinks plenty of water.