Help! My dog is eating poop
Maybe you have experienced this before; you are walking with your dog and he has just done his business. Then your dog turns around and eats his own feces...
It can also happen that your dog eats the feces of other dogs. You will probably find this behavior very unpleasant and would prefer that your dog does not do this. So why does a dog actually eat its own feces or the feces of other dogs?
Causes of poop eating in dogs
1. A female dog eats the feces of her puppies. The puppies imitate this behavior and do this during their puppy stage, but the puppy can also show this behavior as an adult.
A female dog with a litter of puppies eats the feces for two reasons:
- To keep the nest clean.
- The second reason is more instinctual; the female eats the feces so that the smell of the feces does not spread and thus does not attract predators. Even if there are no predators in your home, the female will eat the feces for this reason.
Because puppies still 'learn by watching' their mother how to do certain things, they adopt this behavior. The female will stop eating the feces when the puppies start eating solid food and can leave the nest to do their business. However, sometimes puppies continue to eat feces and do so even when they are adults.
2. Feces can contain undigested nutrients. These undigested nutrients smell very attractive and therefore a dog will eat the feces.
There can be various causes for undigested nutrients in the feces: overfeeding, a condition where there is a deficiency of digestive enzymes (for example EPI) or poor digestion of nutrients. If your dog eats his own feces, you can try to solve this by feeding him a little less or by giving a diet that contains only high-quality ingredients.
However, if your dog eats the feces of other dogs, you can only tackle this problem by watching your dog very closely during walks, so you can prevent him from eating feces.
3. Your dog has worms or other intestinal parasites. These worms or parasites absorb nutrients from your four-legged friend’s intestines, causing your dog to have a nutrient deficiency. The dog will then eat feces to compensate for this deficiency.
If your dog has worms or other intestinal parasites, he can no longer properly absorb nutrients from the food; the worms or parasites absorb these nutrients instead of your dog. To still get nutrients, your dog will eat anything that contains nutrients, which can also be feces. If you suspect your dog eats feces because he has worms or parasites, it is necessary to treat the animal for these.
Myth
It is sometimes thought that dogs eat feces because they receive an incomplete diet. To compensate for the nutrient deficiency, a dog may start eating feces. However, this is a myth.
Dog foods labeled - complete - must meet strict requirements in the Netherlands. This means that a complete dog food is truly complete and provides your dog with all essential nutrients. If you give your dog a complete dog food, he cannot have a deficiency in certain nutrients (unless there is a health problem that prevents your dog from properly absorbing nutrients from the food; in that case, the problem is not with the food but is a medical issue...).
