Why oh Why are you Eating that Poop?
Dogs eating their own poop is a bigger problem that you think. Most find it disgusting and embarrassing and most, have no idea how to stop their dogs. With this problem, very little scientific research has been implemented on coprophagy, so there’s no definitive answers on its causes or treatment.
There are many theories and because of these theories people have found out the causes with their dogs and were able to stop the dog eating feces. Since Vernon has done a lot of research in his ‘Eliminate Pottymouth Book’, Here are reasons your dog may be eating its own poop from that research.
1. Not enough Nutrients. Your dog may be hungry all the time because of lack of nutrients. And if the dogs food was full of nutrients but the food was barely digested, it will be attracted to its stool because it is packed with nutrients.
2. You are the problem. It may be the case that your pet watches you clean up the poop and imitates by eating it to clear it.
3. Unhealthy gut. This is Vernon’s biggest theory. The food you may be feeding the dog, may be the problem. Foods like soy,corn, dairy,wheat, barley, or rye should never be giving to a dog. He goes into a lot of detail on diet and nutrients in the book.
4. Instinctual. New born puppies can instinctively eat their feces. A mother with pups is wired to keep the den clean as not to attract predators due to scent, hence cleaning up after her young.
5. Submissive dogs. If you have more than one dogs, due to pecking order of dominant and submissive roles, Submissive dogs will sometimes eat the stool of their dominant counterparts.
6. Ancestry. Dogs commonly fed on the waste of other animals thousands of years ago. Feces eating may just be a remnant of dog history before dogs were domesticated.
7. Experimentation. With puppies, eating feces may just be an experimentation experience. Just like human babies, puppies want to put everything in their mouths. Most will find this distasteful but others mat develop a habit.
There are many more reasons why your dog may eat their own poop. We found it fascinating when we started researching why our dog was at this and luckily we were able to stop it thanks to Vernon’s downloadable book ‘Eliminate Potty Mouth’.
If you suffer from the same problem with your pet, check out the book, it’s highly recommended and brilliant. This problem can be the result of serious problems with your dogs health that may preventing it from absorbing nutrients properly or other gut problems.
Also, if your dog is inclined to eat waste from other dogs or other animals, it is critical that it has its vaccinations up to date. We all hate this problem but luckily there is something we can do about it.
Why is my dog eating poop all of a sudden?
As discussed through out this site, dogs eating their own and other dogs poop is a well searched problem on the internet among pet owners and a lot of dog lovers tend to freak out.
Rightly so you may say because let’s be honest, it is disgusting looking and can be embarrassing as when, like me, you take your dog for a walk and they go to do their duty, when all of a sudden they start eating the feces.
It is a horrible sight yet also can be dangerous as this behavior can also put your family at risk with Salmonella, Toxocariasis and other nasty infections, just think of face licking.
Why is this happening?
Coprophagia is a common problem and science still struggles to explain why and solve the problem. We followed the advice in the ‘Eliminate Pottymouth Guidebook‘ and that helped us stop our pet from doing this. You may be having similar problems, here are some reasons you may notice.
- Your dog has just become a mother. Through instinctual behavior, she licks around the anal area of the puppies to help them poop and may also eat their feces, this is to protect from predators. Yes, there are no predators in your home but it’s in the dogs DNA and ancestral behavior.
- Boredom. In Vernon Lees book he makes a valid point about boredom. A lot of pets can be tied up or left out the back and some out of boredom, eat their own feces.
- Bad Diet. This can be obvious but the fact is that most people do not know that the food they feed their pets (most use commercial) has a dramatic affect of their pets. Through bad diet, a dog lacks the nutrients it needs so turns instinctively to eating its own poop to find the nutrients its body craves.
- Parasites. Similar to above, if a dog has parasites like tapeworm, these may be eating all the nutrients the dog needs and this leads to feces eating. Have your dog checked by a vet to address this.
These are just a few of the reasons your dog eats it’s own poop. There are many reasons and trying to stop it can be a nightmare, as it was when our King Charles started doing it.
How To Stop It?
It’s not that easy. It’s finding the problem and breaking the habit. It took us a few months or research and trying many methods and luckily we found ‘Eliminate Pottymouth Guide Book‘ that gave us 3 steps, all we needed was step one thankfully. Check it out, highly recommended.
- Speak to your vet before anything. it could be an internal problem with your pet.
- If your dog is cleaning her puppies behind, help her, do it for her.
- Never yell at your dog. This will only stress the pet out and upset her. It’s instinct after all.
- Analyze your dogs diet. Think about changing from commercial to a Raw Food Diet. When researching how to fix this problem we came across a lot of people saying to give our dog pineapple. This upset her stomach but in Vernon’s book it was recommended to use grated Zucchini and this seemed to help a lot.
Coprophagia is a horrible problem and a lot of people stress over this because let’s be honest, it’s disgusting. If you have this problem and can’t seem to fix it then try the step-by-step guide by Vernon Lee, ‘Eliminate Pottymouth‘ It worked for us, is full of excellent information and is recommended all over the internet. This guide has helped thousands like us stop our dog eating feces, hopefully it will with you too. Good luck.
