Pica In Dogs

[Hubcitypam]

Ideas? Never had this happen before. What is weird is it is all 3 -- dirt, mulch and sand that he is trying to eat. He's been wormed and is on a new food (but not much different from what he's eaten before).

[Batmom]

Upset tummy? Might try giving him half a pepcid twice a day and seeing if that helps.

[macoduck]

I don't have much experience with pica, although Gracie can be a poop-eater but only at night.

 

 

This one had a better explanation than some other sites I looked at.

Or this one.

 

 

 

[MaryJane]

My current foster was into everything (rocks, grass, mulch, twigs) at the beginning and I think it was to figure out if it was "food" or not - I had to keep my eyes on her constantly. I kept on reprimanding and I got it to the point that it was just the grass that she was after and at that point I figured that she had a bit of an upset tummy. I started giving her a "third" meal around 10 pm in the evening of a bit of applesauce and yogurt and she has been fine since then - very little grass eating now.

 

 

 

 

[ZoomDoggy]

My Tipper would eat the entire Earth, left to his own devices. He's always been that way. I can't turn away for two seconds before he's chowing down on something in the yard. Rocks, twigs, bark, dirt, poop, mulch, grass, dead critters, walnut shells, etc... So he spends his yard roaming time with a stool-guard on, because I don't want to yell at him constantly..

 

He's been that way for seven years, and it has never been affected by diet changes, he's never really had digestive issues. He's eleven and pretty healthy for his age. He just likes to eat stuff.

[Guest Energy11]

OH EATING DIRT???????????? It is a delicacy in my house!

 

Our front turnout pen has straw in it to keep mud under control. ALL of mine think, that they have a gourmet dinner under the straw! They paw at it, and chow down! Curfew will actually lie down and eat it! I do my best to keep stop them. Our theory ... we live in a rural area, and the man who used to live here, deer hunted ... maybe he buried the deer bones out there?

 

Staggerlee LOVES bark!!!!!!!!! Gotta watch him, too. They get THE best quality food possible, and a multi-vit everyday. Maybe they were goats in former lives :-)

 

I wouldn't worry ...

[Guest Energy11]

My Tipper would eat the entire Earth, left to his own devices. He's always been that way. I can't turn away for two seconds before he's chowing down on something in the yard. Rocks, twigs, bark, dirt, poop, mulch, grass, dead critters, walnut shells, etc... So he spends his yard roaming time with a stool-guard on, because I don't want to yell at him constantly..

 

He's been that way for seven years, and it has never been affected by diet changes, he's never really had digestive issues. He's eleven and pretty healthy for his age. He just likes to eat stuff.

Man, that sound like mine!! They have ALL had recent bloodwork, but that darned dirt in the front pen???? Filet Mignon wouldn't attract them as much! :-(

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

Only one of mine did that, Kona. Later she was diagnosed with partial kidney failure. In hindsight, she probably had an upset stomach.

[IndyandHollyluv]

Well, Indy, 11-3/4, and Holly, almost 10-1/2, both love to dig and eat dirt. There is heavy clay soil in my back yard and they excavate like Andy in "The Shawshank Redemption!"

 

Holly will stick her head in the hole and eat dirt with her butt up in the air. (a dirt bow??!) She is also a serial turd eater. And both of my hounds LUV bunny-poo and graze on grass at the fenceline like goats, for cryin' out loud.

 

I used to wonder if something was lacking in their diet - which is quite healthy. I really don't know but I no longer worry about it. Their annual blood work, fecal, etc., has been normal to date.

 

Both hounds are pretty darn healthy and in great shape for their age (except for back issues), so at this point, I am not concerned. Goofy dogs. And they are dogs, afterall.

 

 

[Hubcitypam]

It is just weird that this has come on all of a sudden after 8+ years. When we were at my sisters a couple of months ago he kept getting in her big potted plant but we blamed that on her using some kind of fish emulsion. Now every time we go out he heads straight for some kind of soil. The sand is what is wierd -- who wants to lick sand? Maybe he is hoping he'll hit the jackpot and find fish emulsion somewhere else

[IndyandHollyluv]

Well, perhaps is it worth having your pupper checked out - just to be sure? When I first adopted my hounds I lived in a condo so they really didn't have the opportunity to landscape and inhale dirt. I moved to my house 5-1/2 years ago and it took Indy and Holly awhile to appreciate and learn the fine art of hole digging, dirt and grass-eating, etc.

 

Do their taste buds and nutritional needs change as they age (just like humans)?

[Guest kydie]

Dirt? Oh Yah! dirt mud, sand, no I don't worry, now rocks, I had a rock eater, boy what a time I had with that one, finally got it stopped, If the pup isn't vomiting, or not pooping, I don't worry, I've seen them eat much worse!

[krissn333]

My Tipper would eat the entire Earth, left to his own devices. He's always been that way. I can't turn away for two seconds before he's chowing down on something in the yard. Rocks, twigs, bark, dirt, poop, mulch, grass, dead critters, walnut shells, etc... So he spends his yard roaming time with a stool-guard on, because I don't want to yell at him constantly..

 

He's been that way for seven years, and it has never been affected by diet changes, he's never really had digestive issues. He's eleven and pretty healthy for his age. He just likes to eat stuff.

 

Sutra is a BIG TIME dirt eater...he's only interested in the dirt in a particular part of the yard that's more of a clay consistency...his poop looks fine but I do wonder if he should be wormed? He seems even more ravenous about it as of late He will come in with mud mouth