Animal And Company: Re: [boxer lovers] Please help..

1. There is a name for this. It is "coprophagia".

While it is an extremely disgusting habit to us, it is not harmful to your
dog if he eats his own feces. However obviously it is a habit we want to
correct. the first thing is to ensure you do the pooper scooper routine as
soon as your dog has a bowel movement. Then we work on finding our why he
is doing this and eliminating the desire to eat his own stool.

You can try putting meat tenderizer, garlic, or pumpkin powder on his/her
food, which will make the feces unappealing to them. This would only keep
them from eating their own feces of course. Hopefully your dog doesn't eat
other dogs' stools.

There are several reasons that dogs eat their feces. It could be from
boredom, stress , anxiety or the lack of nutrients in their diet. In most
cases, it is a lack of proper nutrition. Be sure that he is fed a high
quality natural dog food. If you are in doubt, a rule of thumb is not to
buy any dog food from a grocery store, only from a high quality pet store.
Do not buy food that includes by-products, corn, soy, wheat, gluten or
artificial flavors or coloring. Better quality dog food will cost more
money on the one hand but on the plus side, better quality foods are more
digestible and this digestability in turn means less poop, and the dog will
gradually eat less of the better food as he will require less of it to get
the proper satisfaction of the higher nutrition (thereby eating less) =
less cost to you + a healthier, happier pet with fewer digestive issues,
including flatulance!

Look up "BLUE" dog food or Pets1st.com (Canada)

Any food on the following web-site is very good for your dogs, and will
contain the nutrients that they need:

http://search.onlynaturalpet.com/search.aspx?searchterms=Natural%20Dog%20Food&click=5&s_kwcid=food%20for%20dogs|903810603&gclid=CPW47evIio4CFQYjWAod3zJ2Dw<http://search.onlynaturalpet.com/search.aspx?searchterms=Natural%20Dog%20Food&click=5&s_kwcid=food%20for%20dogs|903810603&gclid=CPW47evIio4CFQYjWAod3zJ2Dw>

The most important thing is to get the feces picked up before your dogs get
to it.

2. This behavior is actually fairly common with pups and younger dogs.
Also most common with pups bought from a pet store.
There are several reasons that dogs will consume their own feces. T*he most
common cause is that the feces still contains minerals and other beneficial
nutrients. *This usually happens with younger dogs, however it can happen
with any age dog. Dogs that do this because of nutritional deficiencies
usually have a disorder known as Coprophagia. Changing your dog's diet from
a grocery store brand of dog food to a wholesome and balanced nutritious
balanced diet will help.No corn, fillers, gluten or by-products.The dog may
also need supplements to compensate for their deficiencies. Another thing
you must do if you want this behavior to stop is to pick up/remove and
properly dispose of the feces before your dog can get to it to eat it.
Either, you pick it up, or you watch your dog as he/she eats it. Most
puppies grow out of this behavior. You can buy products that make the poop
unpleasant smelling (and tasting) and this can also stop the habit.

Jeanne

*Sources:* my knowledge plus web-sites

On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 12:13 PM, jayekno <jayeknow@rogers.com> wrote:

> **
>
>
> Our 3 month old boxer eats his own poop. If he goes out side and we pick
> it up right away, he licks the ground. (even rips out chunck of grass to
> get every last drop) Or if we turn our heads for too many seconds and he
> poops inside he quickly eats the evidence. We have treats on hand to give
> when he does his business outside and he anxiously awaits them after he
> relieves himself but he'd much rather eat his own business, rather then a
> treat when he does #2.
>
> We went online and even asked the vet, who both mentioned that maybe he's
> hungry? We free feed our puppy and he has access to food all the time. This
> was the suggestion of the breeder so we just went with it. My husband can't
> handle it, although he had the same issues with our daughters diapers (she,
> of course, didn't EAT the poop but he still gagged even at the thought of
> diaper duty)
>
> It's not making him sick, which was the vet's concern and we can't seem to
> get him to stop.
>
> Hoping that someone here has experienced this and can reassure me it will
> pass or can offer a suggestion as to what to do to curb this behaviour. We
> will be starting obedience classes early December and I hope that helps.
> He's learning "leave it" since I say it every time he poops but he still
> devours down if we don't get to it in time...
>
>
>

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