A lot of our four-legged friends have bad habits. The most disgusting thing is probably to eat the waste of other animals.
Some dogs go after the poop of other dogs and cats like it’s a special treat. Most dog owners aren’t happy about this new thing on their dog’s menu.
But unfortunately, eating poop is not just gross because it looks bad. Eating something the dog shouldn’t has health risks for both the dog and its people.
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Why do dogs really eat their own waste?
First of all, it’s clear that eating poop is not a normal thing to do.
In the language used by experts Coprophagy is the act of eating feces. Normally, neither the domestic dog nor its ancestors, such as the wolf, eat poop. The only exception is the dog’s mother, who eats the puppies’ waste.
Eating feces for energy
There are many different reasons for the bad behavior. A dog’s lack of something could be one reason why it eats poop. But this is very unlikely with the complete feeds we have now.
But it can happen to dogs who have lived on the streets or in very hard situations. Most of the time, these animals will try to eat anything they can to keep from going hungry.
Dogs that work hard, like sled dogs or greyhounds, often eat their own waste after working hard. One might assume that they want to make up for the lost energy quickly.
Clearly, this behavior happens more often in kennels that aren’t run well. If the hygiene conditions are not good, animals will start to eat their own poop or the poop of other animals of the same species.
As a behavior problem, eating poop
Most of the time, though, the feces eating is just a problem with how the dog acts. It can be seen in dogs that spend a lot of time alone or don’t know where they stand in the pack.
The dog eats its own waste.
Excitedly, the person acts in the same way.
and gives the animal more attention without realizing it.
This makes it more likely that the dog will eat its own waste again.
in order to get people’s attention.
A vicious circle starts, and the only way out is to keep learning.
With consistent education, you can break the habit.
If your dog eats poop, you should first try to figure out why. You and the dog both want this behavior to stop as soon as possible.
If the dog isn’t sick and just likes to eat poop, this can only be fixed with a lot of patience and training. Work hard and give yourself treats that are especially fun.
Forbidding is often a lot more work and doesn’t work as well as a tasty alternative. The important thing is to always find the unappetizing pile before your dog does and to stay consistent.
A serious illness?
On the other hand, a very serious reason why the dog eats poop is that it has a disease of the pancreas. A condition called “pancreatic insufficiency,” in which the gland doesn’t work well enough, makes the dogs always hungry and very thin, even though they eat enough.
The lack of digestive enzymes is to blame. These dogs can’t get the right nutrients from their food. Because of this, the dog is always looking for food. Worms can also make the dog eat more of its own waste.
If dogs eat cat poop, they could get sick.
But most dog owners don’t want their dogs to eat poop because they don’t want their dogs to get sick. It’s also bad for your health. There is a much higher chance that the dog will get parasites like worms.
Also, the chance of getting a viral infection like parvovirus or hepatitis goes up. This is also a way that Salmonella can spread.
If the dog’s owner is pregnant and the dog eats cat poop, this can be dangerous.
Toxoplasmosis can be spread through cat poop. The virus is then passed on to people by the dog. This disease doesn’t hurt adults, but it can do a lot of damage to an unborn child.
