Poo snacking

So I got a rescue puppy on Saturday and she's a great little girl but I'm wondering if I should worry about her trying to eat her feces each time she goes? I mean, if she does the same thing in a dog park or something where a careless owner left a load, couldn't she pick up parasites?

If im not mistaken you can pick up parasites by just being at the dog park. ;P

It's unfortunately a very common behaviour. I have a dog who does this as well, and as repulsive as it is, I've not found a way to stop her yet. I've heard it can be indicative of something lacking in a dog's diet, but that actually doesn't seem to be the case for most dogs, and I know that's not the case for mine.

hmm pineapple...crushed...
rabbit pellets...whole
meat tenderizer...sprinkled
Solid Gold S.E.P. (this DOES work but is quuuite expensive and hard to find)

Well I'm sure her current holistic dog food (Supplied by the rescue we got her from) is doing her justice in that area so I will just have to pick up her leavings before she can get to them!

Another question, my parents' dogs are HeartWorm+ and I'm spending my winter holidays with them. If Izzy consumes their feces is she at risk for heartworm? I am planning to keep her away from the dogs since I'll be in a separate house on the property. I'm not entirely sure how the parasite is passed.

Feeding these to her? I don't imagine she'd eat her food sprinkled with tenderizer but I've heard the pineapple thing before.

Scooter used to eat other dogs poop only if we went to the dog park. Dunno, maybe they just get in a mood....mmm....pedigree poo...

Heartworm is passed through mosquitoes.... the mosquito bites a heartworm + dog and picks up the heartworm larvae, the bites another dog and passes the larvae to that dog. If you don't have mosquitoes this time of year, you will be fine. They are not passed through feces (they live in the heart and bloodstream, not the intestines). Hopefully your dog is also on heartworm preventative if you do have mosquitoes this time of year.... Preventative is inexpensive and harmless compared to actually getting heartworm and is well worth it! I also hope your parents' dogs are being treated for heartworm, as it certainly can be deadly.

I've been trying to convince my parents to shell out money to pay for real treatment instead of trying to just use preventative and hope it goes away. Good to know my Izzy will be safe to play with the big kids though! I'm hoping they'll teach her a thing or two about bite inhibition. Do you have to have a scrip for heartgaurd? I've been planning on getting information about it from my vet when I take Izzy for her last shots.

Poop eating can be a sign of a nutritional deficiency. However, at the daycare I work at where we also sell holistic food brands, most of the dogs are very nutritionally balanced, and are fed very good foods, and still eat poop. Just in case, what are you feeding?

We literally have to pick up poop the second it hits the ground (and the longest poop piles sit outside are like, 2 minutes, tops. LOL) because dogs *will* eat it as it comes out as gross as it is. There are tablets available in most pet retail stores, the ones we sell would be Potty Mouth and Excel something I think, so I'm unsure about other brands. Keep in mind it will only keep her from eating her own poop, but she'll still help herself to other dogs' truffles.

Oh the joys of doggie disgustingness. Currently she's on a premium holistic mix from http://www.feedyourpets.com/ which is what the rescue gave me for her. I'm slowly working on switching her to Nutro's Ultra puppy unless you have another recommendation?

The best way to kick the habit is picking up her poops IMMEDIATELY, and teaching her a solid "leave it", for poops left behind in parks. Supervision and prevention is definitely key. Just like with anything, the more poops she is allowed to eat and enjoy, the more rewarding and natural poop-eating will be.

How old is she? I know lots of puppies who went through poop-eating phases.

They give preventative to their dogs who are Heartworm positive? D:

I don't know what kind of preventative they're giving them... but some preventatives can cause serious health problems in dogs with adult heartworms. I would stop that right away. Have they looked into natural cures? Black walnut extract, for example.

Under veterinary supervision, it is possible to cure heartworm using ivermectin, which is the active indgredient in heartgard. The ivermectin kills the filaria in the blood so the dogs worm load does not increase, and eventually the adult worms die of old age. This method works well for asymptomatic dogs--but the treatment goes on for, I think, two years. Maybe this is what they are doing.

yes in light loads to medium it's actually less harmful to the dog to use the preventive as a treament...rather than overload the system with toxin which is the traditional manner of treatment.

But in HEAVY worm loads I believe the dog can pass on before the first option even makes a dent.

Yeah, they weren't on preventative when they got tested positive and my parents are trying to do the heartworm preventative method since the vet said they had no eggs/larva in their tests which apparently is common for the area since there is so much water around the local dogs have built up some resistance. I'm sure that they're not cured yet but hopefully they'll be ok. They have no symptoms whatsoever so hopefully their local immunity helped them out in this case.

Izzy is 8 weeks old (As of yesterday) and I'm hoping she'll grow out of her poo-eating stage. She left hers alone this morning so perhaps we're making progress!

Regardless, I'll be getting my Izzy on heartgaurd asap

Oh just a thought..

I acutally taught Scooter to bring the poops to me once i noticed he had them... It became a positive game instead of having to correct him.

Maybe that would work on your pup?

Its gross how i taught it tho...

Uhhh, I don't think I want to teach her that. She might spend a day at the park just retrieving poos. I'll stick with convincing her of a little doggie hygiene.

Well no it didn't work that way, i know it sounds like it would be he never made that connection...
... when he'd be eating one i'd tell him to bring it too me and then i'd toss it.

I've seen dogs run away from their owners still knawing on the turd. :rofl1: haha