Eating Poop

[Nannuck]

Ok, so what makes a dog eat poop? Cat poop and it's own poop! I have a 1 year old Shih Tzu that just keeps doing it. I pull her away from it. She's 100% trained too. I almost washed her mouth out with soap last night! I have even given her those pills to make it taste bad.

Any suggestions? Is she missing something in her diet?

 

[SummerRiot]

Check out yoru local vet and ask for a product called "For-Bid"

 

[Nannuck]

I have left a message for my vet so I'll ask about that product. The one I have from Petsmart isn't working obviously.

 

[mamasobuco]

I know of a few reasons that dogs eat poop. One is lack of nutrition in their food. Another is a poorly raised/fed puppy that had no choice but to eat his/her own poop. And one more is that some dogs just do it. "For-Bid" may work (it didn't on my dog). You could also try putting hot sauce on the poop. You could try a shock collar or a muzzle (both of which I wouldn't/couldn't do). Your absolute best and most humane defence is to pick up your dogs poop before she has a chance to turn around and have a snack and put the cat's litter up where your dog can't get it. Unfortunately Coprophagia is very hard to 'cure'.

 

[PixieSticksandTricks]

Ok, so what makes a dog eat poop? Cat poop and it's own poop! I have a 1 year old Shih Tzu that just keeps doing it. I pull her away from it. She's 100% trained too. I almost washed her mouth out with soap last night! I have even given her those pills to make it taste bad.

Any suggestions? Is she missing something in her diet?

It can be a couple of reasons. Something missing from the diet. Or its a habit picked up from puppyhood. Puppies tend to play with or eat their poop if the welping pen is not cleaned up. Though this happens alot in puppymills it can happen anywhere.

I went through the same thing with Maggiemay recently. And she had a treatment of Forbid recently. She actually got WORMS from eating her feces so I would definatly try and put a stop to it before your dog gets it too. Worms are such a nasty thing to deal with.

 

[Charliesmommy]

If you come up with some brilliant answer, let me know because I've been trying to get Charlie to stop ever since I got him (9 mths ago). I've tried everything - For-bid, De-ter, meat tenderizer. I keep the yard cleaned up as much as possible but he still gets to it sometimes before I do. And yes, WORMS! Ugh! Charlie has been fighting whipworms and hookworms! I was almost tempted to try a shock collar but I can't do it.

 

[Nannuck]

My vet is giving me the Forbid to try. He also said get her poop up out of the back yard so she will not have the chance to do it. He said he sees this mostly in young dogs and most of the time they grow out of it... Let's hope!

 

[Herschel]

Pineapple:
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_PoopEating.php

If that doesn't work, use Adolph's Meat Tenderizer:
http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/lofiversion/index.php/t1782.html

 

[LhasaLover]

I have a Lhasa that briefly went thru the poop eating stage when she was a few months old, eating the cat poop (I have a couple of cats that will go outside the box when *they* think it's too stinky to go in).

I finally started leaving the cat poop where it was and very religiously sprinkled cayenne pepper on it - ALL over it. It only took her about a week to learn to leave it alone permanently.