Author: Ian Westynn
Article:
This is one of those underground subjects that everybody sort of
knows about and ignores. It just is not a "conversational"
topic. As humans, we just can not accept the practice of fecal
eating. All sorts of imagery pops up. In fact, you are doing it
yourself right now. And you are wondering if you can even finish
reading this article. You have already been through the worse,
might as well keep going now. It is all in the spirit to keep
your dog healthy, right?
<b>Coprophagy Or Coprophagia</b>
Coprophagia is the technical term for the action of eating fecal
matter. In the case of dogs, it can mean their own, or any other
animals, including other dogs in the household. There would
appear that there is a reason for this behavior. In fact, nobody
has come up with a conclusive reason as to why dogs do it. Some
believe that it is because of the dog lacking something in their
diet. But if you think about this for a moment, fecal matter is
comprised of non-essential "stuff" that the body could either
not digest or not use. It is in all sense of the term "waste"
product. So, to eat it does not any sense really, does it? This
isn't to say that a quality food should not be used to make sure
that your dog is getting the right nutrition.
It is an unpleasant behavior in your pet. But it is not by any
means fatal. Of course there are side effects that go along with
your dog eating fecal matter. It goes without saying that the
dog's breath is horrendous and it is going to require you doing
more doggie dental care to keep your dog healthy. There are also
certain intestinal or internal parasites your dog can catch from
practicing coprophagy. These parasites are even worse when your
dog is eating other animals feces.
One of the worst offenders are cats. A lot of families have both
cats and dogs in their homes as pets. That makes cat's feces
readily available to dogs inside of the home. Just a quick trip
to the little box, and dog is in fecal heaven. Nobody can exact
explain why, but cat feces seems to be a favorite amongst dogs.
If you do have both in the house, to help keep your dog healthy,
find a way to separate the litter box in an area of the house
that the dog can't get to. If you have a bigger dog, maybe
installing an internal little doggie door to the area so that
the cat can go through, but the dog can not fit through it. The
best method is to buy one of those cat litter boxes that do
self-cleaning after every use. That way if it is even out in the
open, your dog does not have access to it. Yes, they are
expensive, but then so is a vet bill and meds for your dog.
<b>Some Ways To Try To Eliminate Coprophagy</b>
There are some things you can do to try and curb or stop
altogether your dog from eating on the "snacks" of other
animal's rear ends. Below are some things you can try that have
been stated to work. But there is really only one absolute way
to put a stop to this behavior. It is time consuming and even
laborious, but an absolute positive way to stop this behavior is
to constantly get rid of the poop as soon as it "arrives" in the
lawn, in the cat box, or wherever. It is an obvious thing, but
if it is not present to feed upon, the dog can not eat it. As
promised, below is a list of possible solutions if eliminating
the substance does not seem doable to you.
Supervision. This is as time consuming as cleaning it up at
first, but this option you might be able to stop doing after a
certain time period where cleaning it up is constant. Just like
training the dog on what to chew and what not to chew, you will
have to supervise the dogs activity and every time the dog goes
in for a "snack" either make a loud noise or shout a stern "No"
and immediately give the dog something alternative to put into
their mouth. Give them a toy, a chew toy, a raw hide, or a chew
bone. This can, over time, re-wire the dog's mind into thinking
to chew on the alternative versus the fecal matter every time
that urge comes up.
Flavor the poop. There are certain food items and additives
that, after digestive processing, makes the poop taste bad. I
know you are currently thinking, "what, it doesn't taste bad to
begin with?" I can not honestly answer that question, and hope
that I never will be able to. But you do have to keep a
perspective in mind. Dogs have no problem chewing on rotting
road kill that has been in the hot sun for days. I can not
imagine fecal matter can taste any worse than that, right? So it
is rumored that pineapple makes fecal matter taste bad to dogs.
You can either pour pineapple juice over the dog food, or try
mixing some chunks of pineapple in the food. I believe the
fresher, the better. Dogs like the sweet flavor, but apparently
some chemical reaction happens during digestion that changes
that completely at the other end.
Try a product. There are some products you can get from either
your vet or at a pet store that is suppose to eliminate the
behavior as well. I am not sure how they work, I would assume
they work something similar to the pineapple theory above,
rendering the fecal matter tasting bad to the dogs. I can not
recommend any particular brand name, as I have not used any. But
I am sure your vet or maybe a friend or family member could give
you some idea which ones work and they have had success with.
<b>Summation</b>
Dogs often are found eating the fecal matter of themselves, or
other animals. The technical term for this behavior is called,
"coprophagy" or "coprophagia". Despite rumors and suggestions
that the dogs eat the matter because they are missing something
from their diet, there is no proof to support it. The reason
dogs do it is currently unknown, and anything used for the
reasoning at this time should be taken as pure speculation. Cat
feces is a personal favorite amongst dogs. If you have both dogs
and cats in the house, try to take care to separate the litter
box from the dogs so that they do not have access to an instant
buffet. The only true way to stop the behavior is to eliminate
any fecal matter by picking it up as soon as it is dropped. You
can also try to train the dog to no longer eat fecal matter.
There are other ways that have been stated to work, although I
personally have no evidence to back them up. The other ways
require you to feed the dog something with their food that will
make the fecal matter no longer tasteful to the dog. Pineapple
is rumored to be one of the best deterrents. Another method is
to purchase a product made specifically for this from your vet
or from a pet store. Eating fecal matter is not deadly to the
dog, but can create health issues, especially internal
parasites. Stopping the fecal eating not only seems "practical"
(no kisses for me thanks) but also helps you to keep your dog
healthy and happy.
About the author:
Ian Westynn considers himself a Renaissance man who speaks on
many subjects. He loves new things and has just recently found
an outlet as being a web author. The above article can be used
freely as long as this resource box is with the article. Ian has
created a blog too, you can visit it by going to
http://keepyourdoghealthy.wordpress.com . Ian often recommends
products, and for this article, he recommends
http://venusormars.com/doghealth
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