My First Poop Eater

[GreytHurleyDawg]

First of all, I see there is a thread about poop eaters alive and well but I wanted to start my own anyway since no one has mentioned the result we are getting.

 

Petra has begun eating poop all the time, anytime. She looks for it in our large fenced-in yard and she will poop fresh poop and spin around to eat her own poop, if given the opportunity. Ooh, it makes me mad!! So, of course, we have been muzzling her with the muzzle that GPA WI gave us: it is the only muzzle in the house with a stool guard. Every once in awhile, she'll be rushing at the back door (highly unusual...she was always loathe to go to the backyard....now she WOULD love it if she had free poop access) and I'll grab a regular muzzle and the last time I did that, there was poop schmear all over it. So, that is a no no.

 

My point is that she gets pretty sick when she eats poop. She pukes up a poop-smelling, mucoid mass of crap....many times....so it is absolutely forbidden for her to eat the stuff.

 

Tonight, she pooped in her crate while we were at work. Some of it was missing or I assumed she had nosed it forward to get it away from her BUT I'm not sure now because she vomitted up a significant amount of poopy mess. Then when I sent her out, she vomitted a little into her muzzle and ate it up. She will, I believe, eat the vomit if allowed in the house too....it always seems like she has tried to clean it up. Poor Woodie tries to hide while this is going on!

 

So, I just wanted a little feedback about this wonderful habit of hers. She didn't do it when she first came to live with us in October but it has escalated now to disastrous proportions! I wish there was an easy fix but I think after the freezing temps go away, I will work with her on "leave it", as suggested in the other thread, leashing her in the backyard, each and every time.

[Trudy]

Ryan gets muzzled and I tell him as he goes out the door to not stuff his muzzle into any poop he may find. If I turn my back or walk away from the door, he makes a mad dash to poop to shove his muzzle into and then I have to clean it off.

 

When he can eat poop, he poops poop, lots of puddles of poop and poop farts ALL THE TIME. He's never puked as a result, but has puked once when he had eaten poop - NASTY.

As long as he can't eat the poop, he can't poop the extra poop or fart the poop. I hate washing off the muzzle when he shoves it into a pile of poop, but I'd rather do that than have him poop farting all the time.

 

But it means I'm letting him out all the friggen time since the dog door is inaccessible when we are using the muzzle (I don't want poop all over that and stuff in the house too)

[GreytHurleyDawg]

I believe I smelt my first poop fart tonight...and I was hoping that's what it was because otherwise I stepped in some or there is some poop somewhere I have not found yet...blah! Petra is now completely asleep...I think it has been physically and mentally stressful for her.

 

I so wish they could make a magic pill to not eat the poop. Maybe I can ask Drs. Foster & Smith to research this!

 

It's nice to know I am not alone.

[duncan41]

I had a dedicated poop eater many, many years ago, but she only dined on her own dessert. The Vet recommeded a product called "Forbid", easily added to the food, and she quit after a couple of weeks. I'm assuming that you would have to treat everyone in a multi-dog house. Forbid is available through one of those online catalog stores. Hope that helps.

[Guest SillyIzzysMom]

I've just started trying Solid Gold SEP (stop eating poop). Just last night started, so we'll see.

 

Stella never did this until we switched to EVO (I think her sisters hard poop-nuggets were just too tempting). We've switched to a different food, but she has maintained the habit so I'm trying this. She doesn't do it all the time. . .just occasionally but it is NASTY. and we have a dog door, so even though I clean the yard every day. . .sigh.

 

I hope this helps (it sure smells weird when I add it to their food. . .like mint gum, maybe? Very strong smell, I can't believe they eat the food with it in there. . .

[Guest Gert]

I saw on "It's Me or the Dog" that you can supposedly feed them pineapple and it makes their poop taste bad. Can't imagine that it tastes good...but, obviously SOMEONE thinks so?!?!

 

I don't know if anyone here has tried it....but, it might be worth a shot.

[NevadasMom]

I saw on "It's Me or the Dog" that you can supposedly feed them pineapple and it makes their poop taste bad. Can't imagine that it tastes good...but, obviously SOMEONE thinks so?!?!

 

I don't know if anyone here has tried it....but, it might be worth a shot.

 

 

Fresh or canned pineapple?

Edited January 6, 2010 by NevadasMom

[Guest Gert]

Fresh or canned pineapple?

 

I couldn't remember, so, I found the episode: http://animal.discovery.com/videos/its-me-or-the-dog-teo.html

 

They used fresh pineapple and appeared to give him a couple of chunks. She also mentions a lower protein/high fiber diet (almost 2 mins in). In another of her episodes, though, she worked with a house full of Pugs that were ALL poop eaters. In that episode, she worked with them on the "leave it" command.

Edited January 6, 2010 by Gert

[TheFullHouse]

I'd definitely work with the "leave it" command. Our Emmy started pooh eating and ended up with a really bad case of HGE from it. We've started muzzling Jilly Bean because she thinks the yard is a huge dinner plate and she too will come in and get sick and I don't know about anyone else but it smells so much worse coming out the front end than it ever does coming out the rear!

[NevadasMom]

Trolley is a poop eater only when she has the Big D. Ewwww....just ewwww..!!!!

[Guest TBSFlame]

I tell Star she is the perfect hound with one flaw.....poop eating. I just follow the dogs and pick up the poop when it comes out. Star likes it frozen or dried so I have time to pick it up. lol. If for some reason I can't go out with the dogs to do pick up I will muzzle Star.

[Guest FrostyBottoms]

Fresh or canned pineapple?

 

I couldn't remember, so, I found the episode: http://animal.discov...he-dog-teo.html

 

They used fresh pineapple and appeared to give him a couple of chunks. She also mentions a lower protein/high fiber diet (almost 2 mins in). In another of her episodes, though, she worked with a house full of Pugs that were ALL poop eaters. In that episode, she worked with them on the "leave it" command.

 

 

It has to be fresh...it doesn't have anything to do with the smell, it has to do with the digestive enzymes....Ahicks51 can explain it...

This is my theory on poop eaters. Vinny has always been a social poop eater, until he got diarrhea for 3 months, then it became necessity. I was feeding rice that he wasn't digesting and there was chuncks of rice in his poop, because he wasn't digesting his rice, he was hungry, so he would eat his rice filled poop. Long story long...he is now on Natural Balance fish & sweet potatoes, for the first time he isn't eating kibble made with rice and he will leave the poop alone if I yell out the door at him. So I think in my case, Vinny may have never digested kibble made with rice so his poop always smelled like rice and now it doesn't, so he doesn't care as much for it.

[NevadasMom]

I think it has something to do with the poop having bits of food in it too...

[Guest kydie]

I also think it has something to do with females cleaning up after their litters, don't quote me here, but the only poo eater I ever had was a female, and she stopped it after she got older

[Guest Sweetreba]

I don't have this problem except in winter. Last year my girl dug up the frozen pile and was playing with it throwing it in the air and then pouncing on it like it was a toy but she did not eat it. Two days ago she scratched the snow till she found some and ate it. Now if I dare leave her out after she does her thing she starts scratching again looking. She seems to only go for the frozen. I have been letting them out on my patio cause I cannot walk them in the woods where they usually go when it is nice out. I really think with her it is boredom from not getting the long walks. Last winter we were snowed in when it happened then. I live in a condo and we have a lot of trails but it is too treacherous to walk now.

[Wonder]

Mine are all going nuts for it now that it's frozen

I hate cleaning off the muzzle

So I scoop the yard twice a day

They still find it hidden in the snow

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Sheesh, I forgot about my thread last time I was online and there are all these greyt suggestions here.

 

I will be researching all the products and suggestions. One other thing I just saw online was that meat tenderizer sprinkled on the food may work as well as Forbid or Deter because of the MSG in it. But isn't MSG bad?

 

I would love to get her past this problem. This is her first winter with us, of course, since her Gotcha Day was just in October. So, she hasn't even spent a summer with us yet with the freedom to romp in the backyard as she pleases. She has enjoyed the trench I shovelled through our foot of snowfall, however!

 

I understand now that the poop with bits of food in it is tasty for my Petra pup.

 

And it is twice as gross coming out the front end as the back end....the smell isn't too bad, maybe a little poop-like but it is just SOOOOOOO DISGUSTING (and I have to work with human poop and sputum and urine and aspirated fluids at work all the time!)......and the fact that she is doing the vomitting means her body cannot handle it, of course.

 

The only way I could clean up all the fresh poop outside would be if we confined them to a smaller area because with 3 dogs, it's impossible to monitor every dog all the time: there would be poop SOMEwhere I didn't see it!

 

Lastly, we had a horrible night this week: Petra had explosive diarrhea in her crate while we were at work that splattered all over the wall and she must have managed to eat some of it too because then there was also vomit, which she may have ingested as well.....cleaning up, you know. I'm beginning to feel sorry for her now, because from what I've read online, eating poop is very common among dogs and other animals so it must be instinctive for her.

[Guest SusanP]

I see you are in WI--Frozen poop seems to be more attractive to some than the "regular" variety. (or is she eating it before it freezes?) If it's the frozen stuff, picking up frequently helps. We went through this in early years with some of ours, and at this point, they have all lost interest.

 

I believe there are also supplements you can feed to make the poop taste bad--might nip the practice in the bud.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Woodie has been a frozen poopsicle fan. I just remember him throwing it up in the air and playing with it before chowing down on it! He has since stopped.

 

Petra is completely addicted to any poop: her own fresh-made or old poop.

 

I am going to check the stores in town for the supplements or order online. Some are too expensive.

[ShantisMom]

I have 2 poop eaters. Asti and Nala. Nala started shortly after Kona died. This dog also thinks she is starving 24/7. She is not! Asti I think learned from Nala. Asti is the worst. We have a dog door and she will search and follow Shanti. I clean a lot, but they get some. NASTY!!!!! I have tried pineapple, green beans, meat tenderizer and Forbid. Forbid worked the best, but did not stop it. They say one box of forbid should cure them. Nope. Off it and right back to eating.

 

Nala has thrown up after eating poop on my carpet. So wrong!

[Sighthounds4me]

We have this problem with Naples, too. She is muzzled-with-stool-guard at all times when outside, too.

 

We plan to try something new, when we are able. We want to build an enclosure that all dogs go into before getting the run of the yard. They will do business there before being allowed to run and play. In addition to making it easier to clean up (rather than searching the whole yard - about 3/4 acre), hopefully, it will preven them from finding and eating poop. ALL of my dogs do this, but Naples is the only one that gets sick.

 

Other than that, and the use of a stool guard, I can't make any other suggestions.