Hi there!
i just found this site and thought i'd give my question a try.
here is a little background info:
i have 2 black AKC certified labs, Duke and Ally. Duke is almost 3 and Ally is 4. she is the stubborn dominant one and he is the sweet cuddle bug. he follows her around and copies everything she does. when duke was 9 months he got ally pregnant. she had 11 puppies (choc, yell, & blk). she was a GREAT mother, very nurturing. we sold the puppies, let her boobs shrink back up, then we got her fixed. the puppies will be 2 Feb 18th, 2009.

just recently, about 5 months ago i noticed her eating poop. i havent noticed any other changes in her (except she's calmer then before we got her fixed)and im not sure why all of a sudden she started eating poop.

we've fed them Pro Plan chicken and rice for a long time now. we havent changed their diet. just a few weeks ago i started adding an egg to their food. but that made no difference. she doesn't eat her own poop though, she only eats Duke's poop. i took her to the vet and the vet said maybe after her pregnancy she started lacking nutrience. so i got another good dog food high in nutrience and started mixing it in with her dog food. that hasnt worked either. she still walks around with poop mouth! i even tried this forbid stuff the vet gave me to put in duke's food so she wont like the taste of his poop. that didnt work either. so i pretty much dont know what else to try. i feel horrible because i wish i could fix it and i hope this isnt doing damage to her insides.

also, another question i have is...Duke eats ally's collars. since they were pups, we could NEVER put a collar on ally because duke eats it! its wierd. i'll get her a collar, put it on her, by the next day or two its gone! then we find it in his poop! we stopped putting collars on her because that has GOT to be harmful to his digestive system! he keeps a collar on all the time and she doesnt mess with his.
i dont know...does anyone have any advice?????

[lulusmom]

There are many, many reasons why dogs eat dog poop and I found a site that cites most, if not all of the reasons I've heard about. I've posted the link below.

I have two dogs with cushing's and most dogs with uncontrolled cushing's has voracious appetites. Eating poop is very common for them because they are just starved all the time. I had to do poop patrol frequently to keep it picked up or it was tootsie roll time. My four dogs are toys so you get my drift. It is an unpleasant thing so I understand the urgent desire to find a solution. It is possible that Ally has acquired a taste for Duke's doo-doo so your only option may be to get to it before Ally does. Fighting over a piece of dog doo is just so undignified.

20 Reasons Why Dogs Eat Poop (Coprophagia, Pica)

Vitamin B12.

One of the benefits of good gut flora for both our dogs and ourselves is that those wonderful little microbes produce vitamins K and B12 as by-products of their metabolism of fiber. We and the dogs absorb a portion of those vitamins but poop out the majority of it. So, your dog may be attempting to resolve a vitamin B12 deficiency via poop eating.

As to the collar eating... I don't know if dogs suffer from pica like humans do. Pica is a condition where a person eats non-food items (ice, dirt, etc.). Pica is also caused by a nutrient deficiency.

The problem could be that the dog food does not provide sufficient nutrients or the form they provide is less usable OR your dog has a problem somewhere in the digestion/absorption/utilization process.

I don't know if the same is true for dogs but humans can have a condition wherein they lack something called Intrinsic Factor (IF) in their stomach. IF is required for the successful absorption of B12 from dietary sources. If a human lacks IF, they must either take mega doses of B12 orally or receive B12 shots or take B12 sublingually -- all these bypass the need for IF. AGAIN: I DON'T KNOW IF THIS TRANSLATE INTO DOG DIGESTION.

thank you guys for your help! that site was very interesting.

i want to try the vitamin B-12. do i just give her a regular vit B-12 pill from a vitamin store or are there special B-12 pills for dogs? and what kind of dose should i give her? (she's about 60lbs)

thanks so much again!! :mrgreen:

The sad truth is, dogs like poop. There doesn't have to be a reason, other than they like it. Anyone who has horses and dogs will tell you the dogs love to eat horse poop. Cats in the house? Dogs love to eat cat poop. They'll clean up the baby's diaper if they get a chance. They eat deer and rabbit poop.

I don't think it usually signifies anything other than they like it. But because it can be a health risk, and certainly gives them foul breath, I try to pick the poop up as soon as it's deposited, and keep the cat boxes in areas the dogs don't have access to.

Originally Posted by tsdominguez311

thank you guys for your help! that site was very interesting.

i want to try the vitamin B-12. do i just give her a regular vit B-12 pill from a vitamin store or are there special B-12 pills for dogs? and what kind of dose should i give her? (she's about 60lbs)

thanks so much again!! :mrgreen:

For a 60 pound dog, about 14mcg a day. Probably the easiest and cheapest way is by sprinkling the dog's food with nutritional yeast (from the health food store) which tastes cheesy. Or, you can make homemade treats with blackstrap molasses which is a great source of B12. Or, you can use human supplements but at the right dosage.

We live in a wooded area and have a lot of deer that 'hang out' in our backyard. My dog LOVES deer poop and if we leave him outside alone, he will just sit there and eat it. To be honest, I never thought anything of it except that it was gross. Dogs seem to eat anything, so I just assumed it was just a nasty habit. After reading this post, though, I am questioning myself. Should he be getting B-12 pills too?