Why does Pup eat own FECES ? - Page 1

Does anyone have a clue why a 12 week old puppy would eat its feces? The pup has been in my home for 3 weeks....and we have witnessed it trying to eat its feces on at least 3 or 4 occassions. Is this a vitamin/nutrient issue? The pup is not kenneled...as a matter of fact...the pup hates the kennel. This makes me suspect the poor thing was kenneled too much prior to its arrival. The pup arrived malnourished, anemic and with tape worms. We have treated this and the puppy's condition and energy level has greatly improved. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It could also be becuase of worms in his stomach Vikram

gsdwins, check the treats that you are giving the pup additionally. Sometimes they are so rich that they do not digest in the young dog and therefore it will still be "attractive" to him/her. Sorry that your pup arrived in such poor condition. You may be supplementing too much because of the original problem?

My first GSD was stool eater and I've had other dog that did it too. I tried all the tricks in the book to make him stop - Forbid, meat tenderizer, and lots of other things suggested, but nothing worked. Switched foods, decreased the amount of meat, all sort of stuff. The best I could do was to follow him around with the scooper and get to the treat before he did. My current GSD is Mister Clean, he won't even go near his stool, runs in the opposite direction after the deed is done. I think he would rather starve to death. Some puppies outgrown it, hopefully yours will. If not, maybe the meat tenderizer or Forbid might work for him. You might also try dousing the stool with something really nasty like Bitter Apple or hot sauce and letting him have a taste of that.

Hello, very interesting question that I have heard a number of times. Some reasons that I have heard for this are: They are lacking in a vitamin or mineral and they feel eating their own stools satisfies this (we, well most women I know, feel the need to eat chocolate when lacking in Iron). Their faecies are still high in undigested goodies. Giving it some thought, my bitches feel the need to clean up after them selves around whelping time and when they have pups if they have an accident and I am not quick enough to pick it up. Pure clenliness in the maternal state. They do not bother about it when not in a maternal state. I class this behaviour as normal. You could also try keeping a fresh source of bones up to the pup, keep the pups mind on chewing bones instead of its faecies. Hope this helps some. Would be interested in knowing others thoughts.

Go to http//:www.solidgoldhealth.com . Purchase some S.E.P. ("Stop Eating Poop") . Product Description: The active ingredient in S.E.P. is Glutamic Acid. When Glutamic Acid is mixed with the stomach acids, the stool becomes bitter to the taste, which deters the dog from eating the stool. Ingredients: Dicalcium Phosphate | Rice Flour | Glutamic Acid | Peppermint | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Beef Liver | Oil of Parsley | Natural Flavoring |

When I lived in Germany, a friend had me give my puppy Limburger cheese(about a 1/4 lb), once a week for 5 weeks. It has always worked for me. They learn to leave that stinky stuff alone!

LOL, hard to believe anthing could smell worse than the stool itself, isn't it?

It's called coprophagia. The literature suggests that somewhere between 15 & 20% of all dogs are coprophagic, i.e. they eat their stools. Many theories have been advanced but no one is certain what causes it. Almost everyone seems to have a remedy for it, but if you have talked to owners of coprophagic dogs--a few of the people above so responded--they will tell you that none of these remedies works. I had a friend who sold Owen Mandeville dog food and he used to make fun of my dog because he did this and told me if he ate a wonderful food such as his which was 100% bio-available this would stop at once. Wrong. The only thing that works is to pick up right after your dog and to see that he never gets the chance to eat them. Many animals in the wild will eat feces from other animals such as goose droppings and some animal researchers believed these feces provided bio-available nutrition not previously digested by the first animal. There is no conclusive proof for this theory as well. The only theory I have seen to which studies have shown some, but not conclusive, relation is the cleanliness of the mother. The mother is supposed to eat the feces of her young. It is postulated that when she does not, her pups become coprophagic. As I said some studies done on this support the theory, others do not.

Not that dogs are remotely the same but it could be interesting to note that rabbits have to eat a varly large percentage of their own faecies or they die. This is because they do not get enough vitamins/minerals in the first digestion.