Why Dogs Eat Poop And Other Revolting Things...

[Batmom]

I imagine the Smithsonian may use the term without "facultative" or "obligate" in front of it, for the benefit of laypeople who don't know what those terms mean. They may also use the term as dogs are a member of order Carnivora, which includes pandas as already noted.

Edited April 3, 2011 by Batmom

[Guest Swifthounds]

Ah, imagination.

[Batmom]

Indeed . I much prefer science.

[Guest Swifthounds]

All evidence -err, imagination, to the contrary.

[Batmom]

Actually, the evidence is spot-on. See above for the difference between "facultative" and "obligate."

[Guest Swifthounds]

See above for the internet "chit-chat?"

 

I'll stick with the nice scientists at the Smithsonian and basics of biology and physiology. If you have a quibble, take it up with them.

[Batmom]

Reference showing they're calling Canis familiaris an "obligate carnivore"? I can't find one.

 

I'd've flunked my Zoo. class if I'd done that.

Edited April 3, 2011 by Batmom

[Guest jettcricket]

Mr. Billinghurst is evidently a very entertaining writer but not an accurate or scientific one.

 

Dogs eat poop because it's there.

 

Great April Fool, though.

Yep, my vet told me the same thing. Nothing to do with something lacking in their diet.

[rschultz]

It can also make some dogs very sick. We almost lost Emmy to HGE caused from eating poop. Way too much bacteria than her stomach could process. Jilly Bean will also at times eat too much and get sick from it so I just prefer mine don't eat it at all.

I agree it can make them really sick. I have learned to just pick it up every time she goes out.

[Guest KennelMom]

Surely it's absurd to say that material an animal's own body has already processed and rejected is nutritious and good for it to eat? But I'm not a scientist, so I could be wrong.

 

Not so absurd. Poop is mostly made up of water and bacteria (over half the dry mass of poop) from the large intestine. It's not just material that the body has processed and "rejected"...it's a combination of stuff that body didn't absorb and by-products of the digestive process. And, just because something goes in the mouth doesn't mean the body actually absorbs it...even if it is useful stuff like vitamins and minerals.

 

Bacteria are the true workhorses of most (all?) digestive tracts...we rely on them to break down foods, so we can in turn break them down and obtain various nutrients (lots of other important roles as well). Plants and animals can't produce B-12...only bacteria can. Herbivores get their B-12 by digesting the bacteria that produce B-12 in their various stomachs and long digestive tract. Hind-gut digesters like rabbits, actually need to re-ingest their poop to meet all their nutritional requirements (they don't have the multi-chamber stomachs like ruminants). They rely on bacteria to ferment the plants they eat, they expel cecotropes and then re-ingest the "waste" for further processing. Maybe this is why bunny poop is like crack for some dogs?

 

In humans (and other carnivorous animals, I presume), we rely on eating the meat of these herbivores for our B-12. In fact, B12 deficiency in veg*ns is a real concern since we can not derive B12 from plants (the bacteria who produce it are in our large intestine, past the point in our GI tract where we can absorb it). So, all that B12 ends up in our poop. Dogs and people have a basic choice: get B12 from eating meat or get B12 from eating poop (or a dietary supplement, I suppose).

 

I wouldn't say poop is "nutritious" per se...but it's not totally void of nutrients either. Depending on the animal, it's going to have different components and what is waste from one animal may be a supplement to another...or for itself!

 

eta: All that said, commercial kibble is going to be fortified with B-12, so this is really a non-issue with respect to why dogs eat poop (unless, I suppose, there's a mal-absorption issue for some reason).

Edited April 3, 2011 by KennelMom

[Guest Swifthounds]

[Guest manawatugal]

Looks like I opened a can of worms here guys. Very interesting reading nontheless.

Well my greyhound spent at least 5 minutes today on his walk stopping to eat grass, so I think he is an omnivore but just loves meat!...actually he'd probably eat anything that was put in front of him. Can't remember why dogs eat grass, but he does it every day and will have a go at the weeds in our garden too.

[Batmom]

Looks like I opened a can of worms here guys.

 

 

We do like to have fun!

 

BTW, speaking of worms, my angel Zema loved them -- not so much the fresh ones as the sun-dried crispy ones left on the sidewalk after a rain. Dogs can be so weird, and I suppose there is room for a wide variety of theories as to why.

 

 

[Guest d0ggiem0mma]

There are a lot of theories about poop eating. Some say it's a throw-back to some defensive strategy, covering their tracks and all. Some behaviorists will tell you that poop-eating rates increase in puppies removed from their mother & litter too early. Some people feel it is related to missing nutrients...

 

Basically everyone has some theory but no one has any proof. I have 7 dogs that all eat the same food, and only 1 of them eats poop. One of my other dogs didn't eat poop for several months and then seemed to learn the behavior from the resident poop-eater.

 

 

 

 

P.S. If you DO have a poop eater and want it to stop, give them a few pieces of pineapple with each meal. Canned is fine, just make sure it's not packed with any sugar/syrup added.

[XTRAWLD]

We have a prolific poop eater in the house. Started one day in our yard, in 2006, he preferred the frozen variety. Kasey would grab it, throw it up in the air, run around, then find it and chew it and eat it. Of course we tried to stop him, but it was such a fun game wasn't it....he grabs poop, knows we will react, starts to run, we give chase and off he goes. We alternatively tried nothing, or running away from him, and well...he still gobbled.

 

We went to the vet, he provided us with Forbid and a quick write up from a book regarding copography. The Forbid was to be added to his food as a powder. It was designed to react with the stomach acid and make the poop even more revolting to make him want to eat it even less. You know what, he STILL went for it. This was a better option than going outside with cayenne pepper and sprinkling it on the poop already outside - I think my neighbours would think I'm absolutely loopy if they saw that. So, basically, pick up after your dog often. We thought he kicked the habit after we moved. There no longer was a yard and he gets walked 4-5 times a day. We visited my mom's place just a month ago, both boys did their business, and I didn't go out to clean up right away. Didn't he find a piece of poop I believe it was Ryder's when he went out for a later elimination round, but could have been from my mom's chihuahua and down it went.

 

I think they do it for both reasons. I think the first time Kasey did it, he was curious, maybe even hungry, I don't know. I read up about all sorts of animals doing this, horses, rabbits, FISH. Everyone seems to believe that the animals think something in the feces is not fully processed and they should eat it again and reprocess the food for lack of there potentially being no other option or food source later. Take the opportunity. Afterwards, I think he just realized, hey look what I can do mom, and started doing it for the hell of it. Now it's like a nicotine addiction to him = he got to do it a lot, got addicted to it, and when he sees the opportunity he can't resist.

[Guest lynne893]

Mr. Billinghurst is evidently a very entertaining writer but not an accurate or scientific one.

 

Dogs eat poop because it's there.

 

Great April Fool, though.

Yep, my vet told me the same thing. Nothing to do with something lacking in their diet.

 

This. Our new grey-savvy just told us the same.