Canine cognitive dysfunction ('doggie dementia') can also contribute to this behavior. Diseases that can lead to pica (eating inappropriate things), such as liver disease and anemia, can result in coprophagia. If a dog suddenly begins to eat feces, it may be a sign of health conditions that cause increased appetite, such as diabetes, Cushing's disease, hypothyroidism, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, or any gastrointestinal disease that causes malabsorption. Nutritional deficiencies are not common for dogs fed commercial diets, and are instead more common in dogs fed raw or homemade diets. If your veterinarian suspects deficiencies, they will run specific tests not included in a usual wellness blood panel. One study found that dogs whose diets were deficient in thiamine (vitamin B1) developed coprophagia. Reasons Dogs Eat Poop Nutritional DeficienciesĪ dog may eat poop because they are missing important nutrients in their own diet or they are not properly absorbing certain nutrients in their food during digestion (called malabsorption). In my quest to solve this poop-eating problem for my own dog, I've learned quite a lot from talking with my veterinarian about why dogs do this and what actually works to stop it. And it is something you'll want to stop, as eating poop can indicate health issues and has health risks considering that our dogs put their mouths on lots of things in our homes (including licking us). Poop eating is most often seen in puppies, but can become a lifelong issue if not addressed. They may eat their own poop or another animal's poop, such as the cat's 'kitty rocha' from the litterbox or rabbit droppings in the yard. When a dog eats feces, it's called coprophagia. And when it comes to wildlife poo, he would rather roll in rabbit poop than eat it. Luckily, he won't eat his own or other dogs' poop we see on walks.

My younger dog has a penchant for snacking on only my older dog's poop. But the one thing that still does and always will is poop-eating! And there's nothing worse than cleaning up dog poo-vomit. After years of working with animals, not much can gross me out.

Jafco muzzle