does the dog eat faeces? It will take a lot of patience to wean your dog off this behaviour.
When taking their dogs out for a walk, people often get confused and don’t know what to do when they see their pets eating faeces. After all, the dog is well fed and the excrement is nauseating. But it turns out that dogs have a different opinion. So why do dogs do this?
Coprophagia (faecal eating) is one of the main behavioural problems in dogs and is more common in females than males. However, this is a natural behaviour for dogs, e.g. bitches eating their children’s faeces.
However, this is not a good example for the puppies as they will later repeat the same actions of their mother. Some zoopsychologists believe that faeces remind a young dog of the first food it ate: warm, semi-solid and semi-processed.
Coprophagia may mean that your dog’s body requires digestive enzymes or that you are feeding your pet poor quality food. As a result, your dog’s diet lacks protein, B vitamins, vitamin K and minerals. It is for these reasons that the dog eats its faeces, which contain 10 to 20% protein, 5% fat, 40% fibre, 35% soluble carbohydrates and 35 to 55% of its body weight in micro-organisms. Therefore, when punishing your dog, think before you do so whether you are really feeding him correctly.
Another important point is that if you come home to find a warm pile on the floor and punish your dog for it, he will understand that in order to get rid of the traces of the crime, they must be destroyed, which means eaten. To avoid similar situations, it is advisable to:
show the dog to a vet;
eliminate the diseases that cause this behaviour;
check the dog for worms;
change the diet of your four-legged favourite and feed it more often;
Include in the diet: black bread made from unsifted flour, sauerkraut, animal kidneys, tripe, mineral supplements, B vitamins, polyvitamins and fish.
As well as being fed properly, the dog must be trained. If you notice that your dog is eating excrementntus, start walking him on a leash. Please note that a lot of patience will be needed to solve this problem. If necessary, put a muzzle on your dog. Keep your dog occupied, play with it, train it, so that it doesn’t want to snack in small bunches. You can put a toy in the dog’s mouth and tell it to keep it in its mouth for the whole walk.
Do your best to keep your pet occupied at all times. You can try a few more options:
Go to the same places where you always walk your dog, alone, and sprinkle the droppings with red pepper, gravy or vinegar.
If you walk your dog on a leash, when the dog approaches a pile of faeces, give the leash a firm tug and a firm command such as “Don’t”, “Fu” etc. After all this, be sure to praise your pet.
You can also put an ultrasonic or electroshock collar on your dog to correct this behaviour.
Foreign cynologists advise adding e.g. monosodium glutamate or pancreatic enzymes, which give dogs an unpleasant taste in faeces.
Dogs often eat cat faeces because, like cat food, it contains a lot of protein, whereas dog food contains almost none. Excess protein can be very dangerous for them. Dogs can develop kidney disease because the kidneys get tired very quickly when processing trace elements that are harmful to the body.
Owners should therefore be very careful, especially if they have both a dog and a cat living in their home. Keep the cat’s litter box in such a way that you can see when it needs cleaning. Or put it out of the dog’s reach, e.g. behind a cupboard, so the cat can easily access it.
If possible, place the cat’s toilet at a height where the cat can reach it but the dog cannot. This is because when the dog eats the cat’s faeces, it also picks up litter, which is harmful to their body. This can lead to intestinal blockages in your pet that can only be cured by surgery.
If you are concerned about your pet’s health, please try do everything you can to keep him out of the cat’s litter box. After all, eating faeces is not only a sign of bad behaviour, but also the quickest way to catch dangerous diseases.