EATING MUD - Page 1

my pup loves to lay on the grass , problem is he rip's out the grass and eats the mud underneath it i have tried putting paprika on top of the grass to see if that would deter him but that did not work.. any ideas would be aprreciated

I'm having the same problem - plus eating stones and little wood sticks and pieces. I would like to hear some suggestions too.

me too i forgot to mention the rocks and little sticks so i'am not the only poor sole

Demographically your dog could be suffering from Mineral deprivatey, Talk to your Vet and see what's up with your area, what minerals are in the soils that may be attracking the dog to eat the soil !! the attraction of minerals, I have found this to be the MOST common cause for soil eating. Good Luck.

If it is just sppecifically eating dirt then I agree with Echomeadows. If it is anything it can get in its mouth, rocks, little sticks, paper. plastic,pieces of fuzz, any piece of junk they can find then it is pretty much being a typical puppy. They are like the old cartoons we would see with goats, eating anything that fits in their mouths. Typical puppy behavior. Wait till they start teething and start chewing on your deck, table legs ect. Thats when it becomes more fun. Mike

Oh great! Cant't wait for it to happen. ; ) Greeting from Germany Biene

I think Echomeadows is right too. I once had a whole litter of 5 puppies that came to me for tatooing and stayed until they were sold (they were from my male and registered in my kennel name). Every time I let them out of the kennel they headed straight for a certain path of soil in the garden and would eat it greedily, I covered this with wood then they started somewhere else, they were all just deperate to eat soil! I started giving them cubes of cooked liver (in case it was an iron deficiency) and I was also giving them Royal Canin, a better quality food than they had received before, and after a short while they stopped eating soil. I am sure they had a mineral deficiency in their previous diet. I actually kept one of these puppies and neither she nor any of her puppies, or any other litter have ever shown the same behaviour since.

Agree w/ Echo Meadows...they say the same thing with pregnant women who crave clay/ice and weird stuff like that...I want to say it's an iron deficiency but not positive...

One reason dogs and other animals eat dirt or mud is that they are instinctively doing what they have done for millinia trying to restore health to the gut. Sometimes they are dealing with an upset stomach, sometimes perhaps the bacteria count and type is not right. By ingesting mud and dirt they can essentially do a home remedy. Often this gut discomfort they have is caused by worms. Sometimes it is food not agreeing with them. Sometimes it is simply because they are puppies and like humans, learn about the world by exploring it with their mouth. Iron is present in sufficient quantities in all kibbles, even poor ones. It is unlikely that they are eating to restore a mineral balance. If the imbalance was that severe, you would see obvious signs of the dog not being right in other respects.