The puppy eats feces. How to wean a pet to pick up everything on the street? A combination of different reasons

I once caught a dog sneaking out of a bathroom with a cat litter box. Yes, we have two bathrooms in our apartment and one is given exclusively to the meowing creature. Moreover, interest arose - what was the barking creature doing there and why did she have such a mysterious look. Everything was explained in a minute.

When the pet decided to lick me. The smell from the muzzle is rare. It became clear that the pet eats poop. But why? She receives adequate and good quality food. What attracts her and other tailed brethren to eat feces? We understand in the article why the dog eats poop.

Why does a dog eat poop

• The young mother immediately after the birth of the cubs eats all the excretions. Instinct kicks in. You can not leave a smell so as not to attract predators while the puppies are small and defenseless. After the introduction of complementary foods, the bitch stops doing it. But some of them get a taste and continue to eat excrement in the street. This phenomenon is called coprophagia.
• Puppies, like all cubs, learn everything from their parents. And since mom eats poop, then babies can also do the same for brothers and sisters. Over time, this goes away on its own. Sometimes you need the help of the owner in adjusting the behavior.
• Curiosity. This reason is only suitable for puppies who, like all children, explore the world for taste.
• Hunger. If the animal is hungry, then it will eat everything, even things that are not very suitable for eating.
• The absence of the necessary enzymes necessary for the digestion of fiber. In the acidic environment of the stomach, carnivorous enzymes do not linger, and fiber must be digested for balance in the body. To do this, dogs in the wild eat manure. There are so many necessary enzymes in the feces of herbivores (horses, cows). In the conditions of the city, any other excrement will do.
• Boredom or lack of attention from the owner. This opinion is debatable. Zoopsychologists say that in this way the pet is trying to attract attention, not even very positive. But after all, when eating feces for the first time, the pet does not yet know what kind of reaction its behavior will cause. Dogs want to please their owner. And if, despite the active protests and punishments on the part of the person, the animal continues to do what is forbidden, then pay attention to other reasons.
• Unbalanced nutrition. If the animal's food is poor in proteins, B vitamins, microelements, then it can diversify the menu in such a strange way.
• Diseases of the pancreas or infectious diseases. Only a veterinarian can help confirm the diagnosis.

How to wean a dog from eating feces

Based on the reasons why the pet picks up on the street, we solve the problem in stages.

1. On the street, pay attention to the pet, not people. I know from my own experience what interesting companies are forming and how much is discussed while walking. But at this stage, focus on communicating with your pet. These are games, execution of commands, conversations, hugs. Don't expect a positive reaction right away. The dog will check on you.
2. Do power balancing. Do at the same time as point 1. If the dog eats naturally, then add to the diet beef tripe. It does not exude the most pleasant smell, but it has those enzymes that help digest fiber. You should choose a black scar, untreated. Buy vitamins or a dietary supplement containing B vitamins and sulfur. Another option is meat and bone meal. If you are using dry food, then only buy premium or super premium food.
3. If a nursing bitch eats up feces out of habit, not only for her babies or a puppy out of curiosity, then behavior correction will help in this case. Closely supervise the animal while walking. When approaching an object, distract, prohibit with a clear command. More details. A training course will also help.
4. If it doesn't work, visit the vet. He will prescribe a study and make a diagnosis. Do not self-medicate.

Don't punish your dog for eating feces again. With punishments, you will achieve that the animal will try to do this unnoticed by you. Try to reinforce positive behavior with treats or praise.

What is the danger of eating feces

In addition to useful substances that are found in excrement, there may be found:

So this behavior is dangerous.

Why does a dog eat the poop of a cat that lives with her in the same house

In our case, there was a psychological reason for eating cat feces. Purr lives a warm half of the year in the country, regularly eating mice and moles. In winter, he lives in an apartment, dreaming of the onset of heat. The dog does not understand why the cat reappears in the house and takes away her food.

By eating the feces of the murka, the dog thereby tries to regain its territory. Win prestige. Since the cat leaves the piles, demonstrating the position of the owner under this roof, then these piles must be destroyed - eaten.

We thought about how to solve this problem and came up with a wonderful solution. Hope it helps you too. We taught the purr to do things on the toilet. Heaps no longer lie in the tray and the tray itself has been removed as unnecessary. Clean, no smell, no need to buy toilet filler. True, the problem of the uncertainty of the miniature schnauzer remained.

When a pet eats excrement, it is unpleasant for the owner. After all, he lives in a family, often licks all family members, sometimes even his face. Therefore, imagining that he had previously eaten poop, an unpleasant sensation is created. Find out why dogs eat feces, and how to wean them from it, the article will help.

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What is coprophagia?

Coprophagia, the eating of feces, is one of the major problems that dog owners face. Eating the feces of other animals, especially herbivores, is a common occurrence in the animal kingdom.

There are different types of coprophagia:

• autocoprophagia - eating one's own feces;
• intraspecific coprophagia - eating the feces of relatives;
• interspecific coprophagy - eating the feces of other animals, for example, cats, deer, rabbits, etc., by a dog.

This behavior is not considered abnormal, just not desirable.

Many dog ​​owners, seeing how their pet is grabbing excrement, begin to yell and run to him to stop eating, which is not worth doing. The pet, instead of stopping, on the contrary, tries to eat what he has found as quickly as possible. Dogs perceive eating feces as a reward.

When the owner tries to punish the dog, she may not understand the reasons for the punishment and get scared. Therefore, before dealing with this phenomenon, you need to find out why she does it, and then apply appropriate measures.

The dangers of eating poop for a pet

Organisms such as Toxoplasma may be present in cat poop. In dogs, these organisms can cause a variety of problems, including damage to the central nervous system and muscle tissue. If the feces have lain in the ground for a long time, fly larvae can lay their larvae in them, infection with pathogenic bacteria and fungi is possible. It is best to avoid such sources of infection. If possible, remove faeces from the yard as soon as possible.

Diseases such as hepatitis and parvovirus infection can be transmitted through feces. In vaccinated animals, the risk of disease is much lower.

The reasons

Fecal eating is a more common behavior in bitches and puppies. In females, this is more of a sanitary and hygienic measure than a demeanor. Thus, it keeps the habitat clean. In addition, a natural instinct works: by eating feces, the female destroys the smell, which can attract predators.

A puppy watching a female eat its feces or a person clean up after it's poop may similarly eat its own feces to earn a reward. Also in a puppy, fecal intake may be associated with intestinal formation. This behavior goes away when the puppy grows up, if it doesn't develop into a habit.

Excrement contains many unprocessed nutrients, minerals and vitamins. Their lack in the diet can cause pets to eat poop. In this case, their diet should be reviewed. Malnutrition, diet food can make you want to fill your stomach with anything to feel full. A possible reason for eating feces may be very fatty foods: the body of a four-legged friend may not be able to cope with the processing of such food.

Using feces, pets sometimes want to attract the attention of their owners in this way, not getting it in everyday life. The dog can eat the excrement of the dominant animals in the house.

Ways to Correct Unwanted Dog Behavior

In addition, the veterinarian will be able to properly adjust your pet's diet, find out what is missing, and create a new diet so that it contains all the necessary nutrients and minerals. If the cause of coprophagia is a disease, then you must first cure the animal, and then wean it from the bad habit that has appeared.

Various behavioral strategies can be used to wean a pet from eating feces, even if the cause is related to its health.

We can highlight the most effective ways:

1. Eliminate the dog's ability to eat feces. If there are other animals, then clean the yard from feces to walking the pet, take it out for a walk only on a leash. You can use a muzzle for this purpose.
2. If the owner sees that the pet is about to eat his feces, you need to switch his attention, for example, to a toy, give him a treat, or involve him in some kind of game. The same strategy should be followed if the reason for eating feces is to attract the attention of the owner. You need to try to pay more attention to the furry pet, not only on walks, but also at home.
3. A puppy from an early age needs to be taught to obedience, to teach him to understand the forbidding commands: “fu”, “no”, “quit”. In this case, you need to walk with him on a short leash. If you see that the puppy is going to use feces, you should sharply pull the leash and say a forbidding command. As soon as he moves away from the bunch that interested him, the pet should be rewarded with a treat or praised. Such exercises should be done as often as possible so that the puppy learns the lesson. But in the future, you need not to relax your attention and follow the dog during walks.
4. You can treat the feces with pepper, mustard, horseradish, or any drugs that will make the feces less attractive to the pet and discourage him from eating.

When weaning a pet from a bad habit, you need to show patience and love, you can’t punish him, shout at him, poke his muzzle into the feces. This will only complicate relations with him, the owner may lose understanding with a furry friend. The next time, finding his feces, the dog may, on the contrary, eat them as quickly as possible so that the owner does not notice and does not scold.

To prevent coprophagia, you need to make sure that the dog eats properly, do the worming on time, give the pet as much attention as possible, and monitor its health.

Video "Why do dogs eat feces"

This video explains why dogs eat their own feces and poop from other animals.

Article 3:
Coprophagia - eating feces by a dog
Coprophagia is the eating of feces by animals.

Dog owners often face a problem. But oddly enough, but coprophagia (eating feces) is considered natural for all members of the canine family. To begin with, the mother bitch's normal behavior is to eat the feces of her cubs up to 3 weeks of age. It is precisely the absence of this that is considered pathological. But if eating feces has begun in an ordinary dog, this is a cause for concern.
In puppies, feces can remind a puppy of the first solid food he ate: warm, semi-solid, semi-digested.

Coprophagia is a complex problem, and it needs to be addressed comprehensively.

Health:

Coprophagia can occur due to such diseases: due to congenital pancreatic insufficiency, infectious diseases of the intestine, malabsorption syndrome, overfeeding (especially with a diet high in fat).

However, in most cases, many other symptoms in addition to coprophagia are expressed in such conditions, in particular, diarrhea. Usually coprophagia is only a small aspect of these problems.
Some of the dangerous viral diseases of dogs can also be transmitted through litter. Hepatitis and parvovirus infection are two serious diseases that can be transmitted in this way. Fortunately, vaccinated dogs are much less at risk.

Feeding :

Before punishing a dog, first think about whether you are feeding it correctly. Coprophagia can be the result of a lack of digestive enzymes in a dog, as well as poor quality food. Change your dog's feeding routine - feed more often. Include wholemeal black bread, sauerkraut, animal kidneys, mineral supplements, B vitamins and vitamin K in your diet. Increase the amount of protein in your diet.

"Educational Therapy":

When you notice the first signs of this behavior in your puppy, start walking him on a leash. Provoke the situation, i.e. find heaps of excrement and abruptly pull the dog away from them, preventing any attempts to touch them, some preliminary command can be used. If necessary, put a muzzle on the dog.
Be sure to actively praise an obedient dog.

You can use the method of negative reinforcement. Without a dog, follow the route and thickly sprinkle the found poop with red pepper, pour sauce or vinegar, treat with emetic.

If your dog eats his own feces, among other things, try to get his attention right away with a treat or a toy. Or after a bowel movement immediately fix the dog with any team. Then approach, praise and drag her away.
If the dog "loves" you immediately after his bowel movement, run away from him, of course drawing his attention to this event.

Also, if you punish a puppy when returning home for heaps on the floor, he can understand that eradicating the traces of the crime helps to get rid of the punishment.

Punishment can be resorted to only as a last resort. Punishment can lead to aggravation of behavior, as the dog understands that attention will be paid to it (even if punishing).
It is not uncommon for owners to ignore a dog while eating litter if they can figure out that it is trying to draw attention to itself. While this may be better than scolding and punishing the dog, it is clearly not as effective as positive reinforcement for good behavior.

Do not rush to walk without a leash, all problems associated with a change in metabolism are solved very slowly.

Try changing your dog's idea of ​​walking. Keep her occupied with games, physical and training exercises. Don't leave her idle time.
Take the dog's mouth with a toy and strictly forbid it to be released.

Treatment:

For the treatment of coprophagia, there are several dozen drugs, including homeopathic remedies. Of course, there is no systematic information on their application. Among the additives can be called pumpkin seeds, mint, papaya, aniseed, pineapple.

Meat tenderizers: It is believed that processing foods with various enzymes can help in the fight against coprophagia. It appears that these enzymes help break down nutrients better, and the dog digests the food better, eliminating the need for additional faecal nutrition. There is experience of successful application of this method.

Forbid ™ ®:: This drug is a dietary supplement in powder form. It is supposed that it gives to a litter unpleasant taste for a dog. Be aware that this drug is added to the food of the dog whose feces are eaten by a dog suffering from coprophagia. The drug is dispensed by prescription of a veterinarian. But its effectiveness has not been sufficiently proven. Also keep in mind that this remedy…does not work in cases of autocoprophagia and interspecies coprophagia.

Deter ™ ®: This drug in the form of tablets is administered to the dog with food. Like Forbid, Deter supposedly imparts an unpleasant taste to litter. It is released without a prescription. 8 in 1 (8 in 1) Excel Deter Coprophagia Treatment

This tasty edible tablet has already been tested to be 95-98% effective in stopping this disgusting habit. In addition to this remedy, adequate exercise and a high quality diet can also help control this behavior in the dog.

How to use: Give daily one tablet for every 4.5 kg of body weight of the dog for 2 weeks from the moment the dog is found to have a habit of eating its own feces. If the treatment fails, double the dose and extend the treatment for another 2 weeks. To prevent new cases, continue to give one tablet daily.
Contains: Natural fermented vegetable extract, thiamine hydrochloride, capsicum oleoresin.

From experience it is known that coprophagia is more common in young individuals. Many owners note that this behavior has gone away with age.

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The dog is a member of the family. She plays with children, often licks everyone's hands, sometimes even her face. It becomes unpleasant when the owner notices that his beloved pet eats his own excrement. Often this behavior is manifested in small dogs. You need to understand why dogs eat feces and how to deal with it.

Coprophagia, what is this disease and why is it dangerous?

Sometimes dog owners face a big problem when their pet starts eating feces. This disease is called coprophagia. In the animal kingdom, eating feces is a common phenomenon. Considering statistics, 80% of dogs periodically eat excrement and only 16% do it constantly. Most of all, this behavior is observed in castrated males and females. Such behavior in animals is not considered a deviation - it is harmful and undesirable. There are several forms of coprophagia:

• Eating the feces of other dogs is intraspecific coprophogia.
• Eating your own feces is autocoprophagy.
• When a pet eats human, cat, rabbit feces, chicken droppings, etc., this is interspecific coprophagia.

dwarf poodles- the only breed of dog in the world that almost never does this.

Flies lay their larvae on excrement that lie for a long time. You can get infected if you eat them various bacteria.

The puppy eats its own feces, what does it lack?

Trying to figure out and establish the cause why dogs eat feces, cynologists have come to the conclusion that several factors influence this.

If homemade pet has been tested in a veterinary clinic, and no abnormalities were found, the process of weaning from the bad habit of eating feces can begin. What advice do dog owners give on the forum:

Conclusion

Positive emotions, love and care of the owner will help the dog cope with the habit of eating animal excrement . Important for your dog- feel the attention of the owner. In return, you will receive obedience.

Sometimes from owners of dogs, even elite breeds, you can hear complaints that the pet eats its feces. Let's try to figure out what is the reason for this behavior of the animal.

Why does a dog eat its own feces?

For wildlife, coprophagia (the scientific name for the phenomenon in question) is quite natural. For example, wolves, obeying the protective instinct, eat their excrement so as not to leave any traces behind them. Mother dogs eat feces behind their puppies for hygienic purposes - to keep both the puppies and the bed clean. It is possible that in domestic dogs, coprophagia is a manifestation of instincts. But there may be other reasons for this phenomenon. First of all, do a clinical examination of your pet, as a dog eats feces due to possible health problems. This can be infection with helminths and toxoplasma, as well as infectious lesions of the intestine, malabsorption syndrome, pancreatic insufficiency.

Another reason why a dog eats its own litter is an unbalanced diet. The dog simply does not receive the necessary nutrients and minerals. Eat sauerkraut, wholemeal black bread, organ meats (especially kidneys), vitamin K and B groups, mineral supplements, and increase protein.

Dogs are undeniably intelligent creatures. And sometimes the cause of coprophagia can be a lack of attention on your part to your pet. The dog in this way makes it clear that she is bored. Pay as much attention as possible to the dog during walks, play with it.

How to wean a dog from eating feces?

Although the situation is not very pleasant, but never poke the dog in the feces, do not yell at it, and do not beat it when everything has already happened. Punishment can have the opposite effect - the dog will understand that in this way it attracts your attention to itself and will carry out such actions with redoubled zeal. Start walking with your dog on a leash. As soon as she will do his "big things" and begin to show interest in his own piles, sharply pull the dog away, preventing any attempts to touch them. In this case, you can use some prohibition. This method is especially good for young dogs. The method of encouraging good behavior has also proved to be quite good.

You can also try to eliminate a similar problem with the help of medicines, including homeopathic ones, which will be recommended to you in any veterinary clinic. And experienced dog breeders sometimes recommend adding ground raw pumpkin seeds, mint or anise seeds to food.