Why Do Canines Eat Different Canines’ Poop? Details, Risks & Fixes

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You’re having fun with a pleasant, peaceable stroll when immediately your canine dives headfirst into the unspeakable. Earlier than you may react, they’ve swallowed it, tail wagging like nothing’s mistaken. In the meantime, you’re left questioning the query many canine dad and mom finally ask: Why do canine eat different canine’ poop?

The excellent news? You’re not the one one coping with this nightmare. Even higher? Science really has some solutions.

10 Causes Canines Eat Different Canines’ Poop

In line with a survey research revealed in Veterinary Drugs and Science in 2018, researchers led by Dr. Benjamin Hart, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist on the College of California, Davis, discovered that 16% of canine sampled had been critical poop eaters, consuming different canine’ feces regularly.

It’s believed that canine eat different canine’ poop, a conduct coined coprophagia, attributable to a mixture of instinctual, dietary, and behavioral causes.

1. A Leftover Survival Intuition

Lengthy earlier than kibble bowls and Amazon deliveries, wild canines survived by scavenging. When meals was scarce, feces weren’t waste — the droppings had been a second shot at energy and vitamins.

Some researchers consider this historical conduct nonetheless lingers in domesticated canine. Regardless that your Lab simply ate a premium grain-free dinner, his DNA nonetheless whispers, “By no means waste an opportunity at meals.”

2. Mother Confirmed Them How

For the primary few weeks of life, mom canine lick their puppies clear and eat their feces. This isn’t some odd craving. It retains the den sanitary and hides scents from predators.

Puppies raised watching mother do that typically don’t “unlearn” the conduct. It’s like youngsters who by no means cease biting their nails — it begins as intuition, then sticks as a behavior.

3. Smells Like Leftovers

Canines don’t share our disgust reflex. To them, poop can really odor appetizing, particularly if the opposite canine is on a protein-rich weight-reduction plan.

Analysis reveals canine are most drawn to stools which are lower than 48 hours previous, as a result of more energizing droppings comprise extra intact vitamins. To us, it stinks. To them? It smells like leftovers price sampling.

4. Lacking Vitamins Or Digestive Points

Typically poop-eating isn’t about intuition; it’s about want. In case your canine’s physique isn’t absorbing vitamins properly, feces can appear to be a “second cross” at dinner.

Potential culprits embody:

• Pancreatic enzyme deficiency: Canines with this situation (EPI) can’t produce sufficient enzymes to interrupt down fats, protein, and carbs to be absorbed by the physique.
• Intestinal parasites: Worms like roundworms or hookworms steal vitamins straight out of your canine’s intestine, leaving them hungrier and extra more likely to hunt down additional energy from feces.
• Normal malabsorption issues: Inflammatory bowel illness and different intestinal points can forestall your pup from totally processing meals.
• A poorly balanced weight-reduction plan: Low-quality kibble or home made diets with out correct formulation can go away dietary gaps.

Vet Tip: In case your canine immediately develops this behavior, or if it turns into obsessive, schedule a vet examine. Easy bloodwork or stool checks can uncover hidden issues.

5. Boredom = Dangerous Selections

Canines are good. After they don’t get sufficient day by day bodily and psychological stimulation, they create their very own hobbies like poop-eating. An under-exercised Husky could chew drywall. A bored Beagle could eat… properly, droppings.

Each are cries for enrichment. Research present canine crave psychological stimulation as a lot as bodily train. With out it, they create “video games,” some harmful, some disgusting.

6. Drama = Consideration

Canines discover what will get a response. If each time your pup chomps, down you shriek, dash over, or yank them away, they’ve discovered one factor: poop-eating equals instantaneous consideration.

The repair? Don’t give them the drama. Quietly redirect and reward once they ignore the pile. To your canine, calm coaching beats your horrified response.

7. Underlying Medical Issues

Typically poop-eating isn’t only a quirky behavior—it’s a crimson flag for one thing happening inside your canine’s physique. A number of well being points can set off or worsen coprophagia:

• Diabetes: Canines with diabetes typically really feel continually hungry as a result of their our bodies can’t correctly use glucose. That starvation could drive them to eat something, together with feces.
• Hypothyroidism: An underactive thyroid slows metabolism however can even disrupt urge for food and digestion, typically resulting in odd food-seeking behaviors.
• Cushing’s illness: Extra cortisol ramps up a canine’s urge for food, making scavenging and poop-eating extra doubtless.
• Liver illness: The liver processes toxins and vitamins. When it’s not working proper, waste merchandise can construct up within the physique, altering urge for food and resulting in uncommon consuming habits.
• Anemia: Canines with low crimson blood cell counts typically really feel weak and crave non-food gadgets, together with feces, in an unconscious try and “repair” their deficiency.
• Dementia (Canine Cognitive Dysfunction): Senior canine with dementia typically lose their regular sense of what’s acceptable to eat. Poop-eating can seem immediately in older pets who by no means did it earlier than.

In case your canine’s poop-snacking is new and comes with weight reduction, thirst adjustments, or vitality dips, it’s time for a vet go to.

8. When It’s Not Simply Poop: Pica

In case your canine isn’t solely consuming poop however additionally gobbling up rocks, grime, socks, or different non-food gadgets, it might be a situation known as pica. In contrast to typical poop-snacking, pica is normally an indication of a deeper medical or behavioral drawback.

• Medical causes: anemia, intestinal points, or nutrient deficiencies.
• Behavioral causes: anxiousness, stress, or obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Pica will be harmful — swallowed rocks or toys may cause intestinal blockages, which frequently require surgical procedure. In case your canine’s “bizarre snacking” goes past feces, name your vet. They might run bloodwork or imaging to rule out medical causes earlier than tackling the behavioral facet.

9. Dwelling With A Sick Or Senior Canine

In some households, a wholesome canine will begin consuming the stool of an older or sick companion, particularly if that canine struggles with accidents.

Specialists counsel this comes from an historical intuition to defend the pack. Cleansing up after weaker members stored predators from catching the scent.

At dwelling, that survival drive interprets into your youthful canine “serving to” their senior sibling. It’s not revolt; it’s intuition.

10. Canine “Janitors” Don’t Like Messes

Canines typically eat poop to tidy up their house, particularly in the event that they’re confined to small yards or not taken out sufficient. In multi-dog households, it may be a bizarre however sensible type of housekeeping.

That is particularly widespread in canine who’ve been punished for accidents. By making the proof disappear, they really feel safer. Of their thoughts, they’re problem-solving. In ours, it’s simply one other gross shock.

Is It Harmful If My Canine Ate One other Canine’s Poop?

If the thought of your canine consuming poop isn’t unhealthy sufficient, right here’s a scarier reality: coprophagia can expose canine to parasites, viruses, and micro organism. A few of these infections are gentle, whereas others will be life-threatening. Puppies, seniors, and immunocompromised canine are particularly in danger.

Creepy Crawlers In Feces

When canine eat the feces of an contaminated animal, they threat ingesting stay worms or eggs. Widespread offenders embody:

• Hookworms – Tiny bloodsuckers that stay within the small gut. They trigger anemia, weak spot, and digestive upset. Hookworms may even infect people.
• Roundworms – Lay 1000’s of eggs that survive in soil for years, making reinfection widespread. Roundworms are particularly harmful for puppies.
• Tapeworms – Flat, segmented worms that steal vitamins out of your canine, typically resulting in weight reduction and malnutrition.
• Whipworms – Stay within the massive gut, triggering diarrhea, weight reduction, and anemia. Eggs can survive within the atmosphere for a very long time, making reinfection widespread.

Essential: All of those parasites require veterinary remedy or prevention — dwelling cures received’t reduce it.

Microscopic Menaces

Not all poop-borne infections come from worms. Microscopic organisms known as protozoa may cause extreme intestinal illness:

• Giardia – Identified for inflicting watery, foul-smelling diarrhea. It spreads simply in kennels, canine parks, and multi-dog households.
• Coccidia – Widespread in puppies, resulting in diarrhea and dehydration if untreated.
• Cryptosporidiosis – Could cause extreme, extended intestinal upset. It’s additionally zoonotic, that means people can catch it.

The Germs That Linger In Poop

Feces doesn’t simply carry parasites. It might probably harbor viruses and micro organism that linger within the atmosphere for weeks or months.

• Parvovirus – A number one killer of puppies, parvo causes vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and dehydration. Even with remedy, it may be lethal.
• Infectious Canine Hepatitis (Adenovirus 1) – Adenovirus is unfold via feces, urine, and saliva. This virus causes irritation of the liver. There’s no treatment—solely supportive care.
• Salmonella – Causes diarrhea, fever, and stomach ache. Canines can cross it to people, making it a family threat.
• E. coli – Some strains trigger extreme diarrhea and cramping in canine. Like Salmonella, it may well unfold to folks.
• Campylobacteriosis – A bacterial an infection that results in extreme diarrhea, particularly in puppies. It’s additionally zoonotic, that means folks can catch it too. Good hygiene (handwashing, disinfecting, fast cleanup) is essential.

Essential: Ensure you preserve your pup’s vaccinations updated. The DHPP vaccine gives immunity for parvovirus and adenovirus, in addition to canine distemper virus and parainfluenza.

Is Coprophagia Ever A Medical Emergency?

Most instances aren’t, however typically, sure. Name your vet straight away in case your canine reveals:

• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Blood in stool
• Sudden lethargy
• Lack of urge for food

If the poop they ate got here from a sick canine or an unknown supply, it’s higher to err on the facet of warning.

6 Ideas On How To Cease Poop-Consuming (With out Dropping Your Sanity)

Breaking the behavior of poop-eating takes persistence and consistency. The excellent news? Most canine will be redirected with the correct mix of coaching, administration, and enrichment. These methods not solely reduce down on gross snack assaults but additionally enhance your canine’s general conduct and well-being.

Listed below are six methods to get began:

1. Get Skilled Recommendation

Typically poop-eating is an indication of one thing deeper. That’s why the primary cease ought to at all times be your veterinarian. A full checkup can rule out (or diagnose) underlying points like parasites, malabsorption, or different medical circumstances.

In case your canine additionally reveals crimson flags resembling weight reduction, lethargy, or blood within the stool, a vet go to is non-negotiable.

As soon as medical issues are off the desk, the following step is conduct. Some canine want greater than at-home coaching; they want structured steering from an expert. A licensed coach or veterinary behaviorist can:

• Pinpoint the foundation trigger (boredom, anxiousness, attention-seeking)
• Design a customized coaching plan to your canine
• Educate you strategies to handle the conduct constantly

For busy house owners or these with out native assets, on-line coaching programs are an incredible possibility. They mean you can work at your individual tempo whereas getting professional recommendation.

Professional Tip: Verify whether or not your pet insurance coverage covers coaching or behavioral consultations. Some plans do, particularly if it’s tied to a recognized medical or behavioral situation.

2. Educate A Rock-Strong “Go away It”

That is your primary software for walks. As soon as your canine understands “go away it,” you’ll have a dependable option to steer them away from temptations earlier than catastrophe strikes.

Find out how to train it:

• Maintain a deal with in a closed fist. Let your canine sniff, lick, paw, or nudge. Say nothing.
• The second they again off, mark the conduct (“Sure!” or a click on) and reward with a deal with out of your different hand.
• Stage up: place a deal with on the ground and canopy it along with your hand. Solely reward when your canine backs off. Steadily uncover the deal with, then observe outside with distractions.

With sufficient observe, “go away it” turns into second nature — a lifesaver if you spot a suspicious pile mid-walk.

Professional Tip: Observe “go away it” with completely different temptations, like meals, toys, even dropped crumbs, so your canine generalizes the command to poop, too.

3. Management The Setting

Typically prevention is the only answer. The much less entry your canine has, the much less alternative there’s to observe the behavior.

• Decide up poop in your yard as shortly as doable.
• At canine parks, avoid corners the place feces are inclined to pile up.
• Preserve your canine on a shorter leash in high-risk areas so you may redirect earlier than they dive nose-first.

Managing the atmosphere received’t “repair” the behavior alone, but it surely reduces temptation whilst you work on coaching.

4. Repair Weight loss program Gaps

Some canine eat poop as a result of their physique isn’t getting or absorbing what it wants. Even when your canine’s meals is high-quality, digestive points can go away vitamins behind in feces, making it odor edible.

Speak along with your vet about including:

Did You Know? Canines with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) are infamous poop-eaters till they’re handled with enzyme dietary supplements. At all times rule out medical causes if the behavior begins immediately.

5. Beat Boredom Earlier than It Begins

Boredom will be one of many largest triggers for poop-eating. A canine with too little to do will invent their very own leisure, typically within the type of “gross hobbies.”

Methods to combat boredom:

• Provide meals puzzles, lick mats, or snuffle mats for mealtime.
• Rotate interactive toys each few days to maintain issues novel.
• Schedule extra train, particularly actions that problem each physique and mind.
• Incorporate nostril work: disguise treats round the home or yard and let your canine sniff them out.

6. Attempt Style Deterrants

For some canine, poop-eating is about taste. If that’s the case, you may theoretically make the “snack” much less interesting. For multi-dog households (or for canine who eat their very own poop), some folks swear by pineapple or business complement deterrents.

Nevertheless, the science isn’t so positive.

In a 2008 research revealed within the Journal of Utilized Companion Animal Habits, researchers discovered that poop-eating deterrent drugs, like For-bid and Deter, had very combined outcomes. Nevertheless, youthful canines responded higher to medicine than older ones.

The simplest “therapies?” Stopping entry to feces was the simplest manner of stopping the conduct, adopted by rewarding good conduct and distracting the canine from the feces.

What The Science Says About Poop Eaters

For puppies, poop-eating is normally simply a part of their “the whole lot goes within the mouth” exploration stage. Whereas most pups are content material to smell and examine droppings, some can’t resist taking issues a step additional and giving them a style check.

Listed below are some curious (and barely gross) information that Benjamin and Lynette Hart discovered of their research of canine poop eaters:

• Different canine’ poop is extra interesting. About 85% of research topics had been completely satisfied to pattern one other canine’s droppings however averted their very own.
• Texture issues. Canines are far much less more likely to contact unfastened or watery stool. What actually grabs their consideration? Agency, well-formed poop—and frozen droppings rank excessive as a favourite.
• Recent is “greatest.” Round 92% of poop-eating canine want it no multiple or two days previous.
• Extra canine, extra poop eaters. In single-dog households, solely about 1 in 5 canine develops this behavior. In properties with three canine, that quantity jumps to 1 in 3.
• Coaching isn’t the difficulty. Canines who eat poop aren’t any more durable to housebreak than non-poop eaters.
• Gender variations. Feminine canine are extra susceptible to it, whereas intact males are the least doubtless offenders.
• Meals thieves are sometimes poop eaters. Canines who swipe meals off tables or counters usually tend to indulge on this conduct.

Breeds Most Inclined To Coprophagia

Not all canine are equally tempted by poop. In truth, the 2018 Hart research broke down outcomes by breed and located some clear traits. Hounds and Terriers topped the record because the teams most certainly to eat feces.

Why these teams? Hounds had been bred to trace, path, and scavenge, typically utilizing their highly effective noses to smell out something remotely edible. Terriers, alternatively, are identified for his or her intense vitality and curiosity. Put that along with an absence of impulse management, and also you’ve received the proper recipe for poop-snacking.

When particular breeds, the research discovered:

• Shetland Sheepdogs had been the worst offenders, displaying the very best charges of coprophagia. Their herding background could make them extra susceptible to “clean-up” behaviors.
• Different high-ranking breeds included a number of sorts of Terriers, Basset Hounds, and Beagles — canine with robust noses or excessive prey drive.
• Poodles (all sizes), surprisingly, had been among the many least more likely to indulge. Their fastidious nature and selective tendencies could defend them from growing the behavior.

Often Requested Questions

Nonetheless have questions? You’re not the one one. These are a few of the most typical (and most Googled) issues from canine dad and mom. Should you don’t see yours right here, drop it within the feedback — we’d love to listen to from you.

Why Do Puppies Eat Poop?

Puppies are interested in the whole lot — sticks, socks, lifeless leaves, and sure, poop. Exploration is a part of studying, and their mouths are like fingers. On high of that, many puppies copy their mother. Since mom canine lick and eat their puppies’ feces to maintain the den clear, the behavior typically carries over.

Most pups develop out of it as they mature, particularly with constant coaching and redirection. In case your pet is obsessed, rule out dietary points along with your vet and ensure boredom isn’t driving the conduct.

Why Does My Canine Eat Different Canines’ Poop On Walks, However Not At House?

Many homeowners discover this sample. At dwelling, your canine could ignore their very own poop, however on walks? Abruptly, it’s a buffet. That’s as a result of different canine’ feces odor completely different and should comprise undigested vitamins or engaging scents from weight-reduction plan variations.

It’s additionally a novelty issue. At dwelling, the poop is predictable. On walks, it’s one thing “new.” Consider it like your canine ignoring kibble mud at dwelling however begging for desk scraps if you’re out to eat.

Is Consuming Poop Dangerous To My Canine?

It may be. Not all poop is created equal. Your canine may get fortunate and haven’t any signs, however the dangers embody:

• Parasites (roundworms, whipworms, hookworms)
• Micro organism (Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli)
• Viruses (parvovirus, adenovirus)

Even when signs don’t present straight away, a vet can examine for parasites or infections earlier than they escalate.

Why Does My Canine Eat Cat Poop, Too?

When you’ve got cats at dwelling, you might have observed your canine raiding the litter field prefer it’s a snack bar. Cat poop is particularly interesting as a result of feline diets are increased in protein and fats. To your canine’s nostril, it smells like concentrated kibble.

Other than being gross, it’s dangerous. Cat feces can carry Toxoplasma gondii and different parasites. The answer? Cowl or relocate the litter field so your pup can’t entry it.

How Do I Cease My Canine From Consuming Poop Exterior?

Prevention is a mixture of coaching, administration, and typically weight-reduction plan tweaks:

• Prepare “go away it” so you may redirect mid-walk.
• Use a brief leash in high-risk areas like canine parks.
• Decide up poop shortly in case you have a number of canine at dwelling.
• Ask your vet about probiotics or digestive enzymes if nutrient absorption is a priority.

Consistency is essential. Each time you efficiently redirect your canine and reward them, you’re instructing them that poop shouldn’t be price it.

Ought to I Punish My Canine For Consuming Poop?

No, punishment typically backfires. Canines don’t join the punishment to the act the best way we predict they do. In truth, scolding could enhance stress and make the issue worse.

As a substitute, use optimistic reinforcement. Catch your canine ignoring poop? Reward and reward. Prepare various behaviors like “go away it” or “take a look at me.” Over time, they’ll study poop is boring in comparison with treats and reward.

Why Cease At Poop? Different Bizarre Issues Canines Eat

Should you’ve ever questioned why your canine eats issues they actually shouldn’t, you’re not alone. We’ve received guides on vomit-eating, dirt-snacking, and different unusual canine cravings. As a result of with regards to canine, “gross” is usually simply one other phrase for “regular.”

Uninterested in taking part in poop police on walks? With the correct mix of coaching, administration, and vet perception, you may lastly break the behavior. Share your individual poop-eating tales (and wins!) within the feedback. We’d love to listen to the way you’re tackling it.