Why do dogs eat poo?

To a human this sounds a disgusting idea, but believe it or not it's more common than you think with dogs, and some dogs love it. However, we must ask ourselves why? It may well be for behavioural or medical reasons, so before we try to stop it we must first determine which is the case.

Before dogs became domesticated their diet consisted of whole prey and vegetation found local to where they were at the time. In eating the whole prey they also ate the digestive tract, which provides the dog with the necessary digestive enzymes it needs to digest it's own food. Today as they don't eat the whole prey but highly processed foods these important digestive enzymes are missing in their diet so they have to find it elsewhere. These digestive enzymes help your dog to properly absorb his nutrition, without them some food will pass through undigested. A dog can produce it's own digestive enzymes but sometimes not enough so an enzyme supplement is sometimes recommended.

If a dog has any nutritional deficiencies in his diet or is unable to absorb sufficient nutrients he will eat poo in an attempt to make up the deficiency. If he goes searching for food or starts 'counter surfing' give him a larger portion for his breakfast, which if enough should put an end to eating poo.

Some dogs will only eat their own poo - to clean up or find the nutrients he feels is missing in his diet. Some will only eat other dog's and even cat's poo which is usually looking for additional nutrients, and some will eat other animals poo. Sheep and horse dung in the spring time is full of additional nutrients from the lush vegetation eaten by those animals which is now in a form a dog can digest.

EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) is a genetic condition that causes the dog not to be able to make or not make enough digestive enzymes in the pancreas. If your vet discovers your dog has EPI then he will need a supplement to assist the process to prevent him from slowly starving.

Parasites digest the food your dog has eaten and as they get larger they digest more nutrients. It is vital therefore your dog is treated against parasites on a regular basis.

Diabetes and Thyroid issues may cause your dog to feel hungrier than he really is and being on Steroid can make him ravenous to the point he will eat any poo laying around.

If your dog is fit and healthy then we must look towards his behaviour to see if this is the cause.

A female dog having had puppies will clean up the 'nest' by eating the puppies stools. Some puppies will learn this behaviour of keeping the area clean from it's mother into adult life especially if it feels low down in the pack order or is a subservient dog. To avoid a dog 'cleaning up' always remove the poo as soon as you can after it's been done.

Boredom and attention seeking can also cause them to eat poo so ensure your dog always has plenty to do to occupy his mind and it shouldn't become a problem.

If your pet greyhound is eating his own poo or poo from one of your other dogs an easy way to wean him off the idea is to add some tinned crushed pineapple in juice to his food. Dogs love it, and it makes the poo taste awful so they will leave it alone. Doing this for a while may help to break the habit, but if it doesn't look into adding supplements to his food, giving him more food or changing the make of complete food you are feeding them.

The only times our centre has experienced dogs eating poo was our Lena when she was on a course of steroids - she became ravenous and would eat everything and anything till her dose was reduced to a point she had no need to do it. Occasionally we have a new dog arrives who will want to eat the horse and sheep dung in the spring after being on a winter diet in the kennels. This is to boost the nutrients they needed, but feeding them a good wholesome diet soon gave them no reason to continue.