Yes just like it says in the title my dads dog Shiloh likes to eat poo! Not just his poo but the poo of other dogs! My Dad has tried changing his food and trying to keep the yard as clean as possible but when ever he gets the chance Shiloh just cant seem to help himself... So my Dad has sent me here for answers. Is there anything we can do to stop this VERY gross and potentially harmful behavior??
There was a recommendation in the training talk section of the site. It states mixing canned pumpkin (not pie mix) in the dog's food. Canned pineapple might work also but you can give that separate from the dog's food. Other possibilities is that dog food is not satisfying. Also if dog is a pup dog, might just grow out of this phase.
Originally posted by bocch: There was a recommendation in the training talk section of the site. It states mixing canned pumpkin (not pie mix) in the dog's food. Canned pineapple might work also but you can give that separate from the dog's food. Other possibilities is that dog food is not satisfying. Also if dog is a pup dog, might just grow out of this phase.
Ok thanks. Yea actually Shiloh is still pretty young. My Dad got him at a shelter and hes only a few months old.
I always wonder, technically a good dog food like chicken soup for the dog lover's soul is like spending 5 dollars on your dog's food a week. If someone can't afford that what will happen when the dog gets sick?
Originally posted by badkittyamy: I always wonder, technically a good dog food like chicken soup for the dog lover's soul is like spending 5 dollars on your dog's food a week. If someone can't afford that what will happen when the dog gets sick?
If you feed your dog a better quality food, they actually have to be fed less because it doesn't take as much crappy dog food to fill them up.
Wal-Mart food is filled with corn, animal by products and excess grains. Dogs are not cows, and they don't need to be fed intestines and chickens feet which are the "by products".
50 lbs of dog chow for $15? Doesn't that seem a little fishy to you?
I buy a 35 lb bag of chow for $35 and it lasts me one month. I also have FOUR dogs that I feed out of it, and in total they weigh about 135 lbs.
If Shiloh is an average sized dog that weighs about 40 lbs, one bag of 35 lb Chicken soup could last her/him 3 months. That's $2.20 a week to feed his dog.
o.O well my dad cant afford anything like that right now for a lot of reasons that quite frankly are none of anyones business and I dont wish to share with any you. I think we have gotten a little bit off topic here....
Originally posted by Knitterling: o.O well my dad cant afford anything like that right now for a lot of reasons that quite frankly are none of anyones business and I dont wish to share with any you. I think we have gotten a little bit off topic here....
If your dad cannot afford to spend $2.20 a week on dog food, then honestly, he has no business owning a pet. That's how much bad food from Wal-Mart costs, and I bet he's paying that.
You asked why your dog is eating poo, and you were answered. Your dog is eating poo because it's not getting the nutrition it needs from the low quality food your father is feeding it.
Dogs are not cows, they cannot survive off corn. What is the first ingredient in the dog food the dog is getting fed? I bet it's corn. Ingredients are listed by how much is in the kibble, and when corn is the main ingredient, you can be assured the dog is getting ZERO nutritional value from it.
Go eat a can of corn, and then poke around your feces a few hours later. Bet you'll see a lot of corn in it. Get the picture?
Not to mention all the animal by products that are in Wal-Mart pet food. By products are animals that arrive dead to slaughter, heads, feet, internal organs, etc. No whole protein sources, and protein is exactly what dogs need in their diet.
I'm not trying to come down on you or your father, because I too once fed low quality dog food because I didn't know any better until I educated myself.
Originally posted by Knitterling: hmm... I suppose this thread has lost its usfulnes now..
Why has it lost its usefulness? Because you asked a question and when presented with the solution/answer you made excuses why you could not execute them?
When viewing forums like this one, you have to take the blogs as a recommendation. There are probably more then one recommendation made and it should be up to the original poster of the question what they will try. It is a good thing to have more then one recommendation. Think of it as a backup plan or plans. BTW, you can also try to supplement the dog food by adding a little spinach to the dog's food. Also, if you keep changing the dog's food beware of the doggie trots.
Originally posted by Knitterling: hmm... I suppose this thread has lost its usfulnes now..
Why has it lost its usefulness? Because you asked a question and when presented with the solution/answer you made excuses why you could not execute them?
More like someone keeps harassing me about dog food and I am quickly losing my patience for said person.
If it helps, it's called copraphagia (sp?). Some dogs do it because of nutrition. Some dogs do it out of sheer boredom. My ex-girlfriend had a Dane that used to poop in the house (this dog was IMPOSSIBLE to potty train, as ex-psycho used to let her urinate and deficate all over the house when I wasn't home) and then turn around and gobble it up before you could grab it. Vet let her loose with a clean bill of health. Sometimes it's health. Sometimes it's habit.
I'd also like to post on the nutrition issue. As I'm finding out, Nutro isn't the best, but it's a better commercial dog food.
I feed three Danes on it. An adult (160 pounds), an older puppy (150 pounds), and a young puppy (50 pounds). That's 360 pounds of dog that eats 35 lbs. of dog food a week. Nutro is between $22-$30 a bag. Again, not the tip top best, but it might help solve something?
Wow! I don't think I ever noticed this before, but I think it's interesting.
I hate to say you shouldn't get a dog because you can't pay for a high quality food. But...if you can only afford food from K-mart or Wal-mart, then I would suggest that person hold off on getting a dog. My friend's grandmother feeds her dog Kibbles 'N Bits. An absolutely AWFUL dog food. I know she doesn't have a lot of money, but she could be giving her dog better. I know after her current dog dies, she wants to get a GSD. But if all she can feed her dog is such low quality food...then she should not be getting a dog. It's harming the dog in the long run and that's not fair to the dog. If you can't afford the absolute best out there, that's fine. But no one should be buying the worst. Honestly, if I thought the only dog food I could buy my dog came from K-Mart, I would not be getting a dog.
I get Purina for my dog and she is very healthy I tried Chicken Soup for the dog lover’s soul and it gave her the runs and gas really bad even after being on it for severally weeks! My suggestion is try adding something to Shiloh food to make it more appetizing, like an egg, carrots, apples, some chicken, and it doesn’t have to be done every day just every several days because they do get tired of eating dry food all the time. I do that for my dog and she LOVES it, I also get Mighty Dog's meat in gravy canned-food to give her once in a while. She is a very healthy 10 1/2 month old shinny soft coat with lots of energy, she eats poo once in a while but not since I started mixing up new different meals every so often (3-4 times a week)She also doesn’t have bad gas or the runs any more. It is fine to own a dog if you don't have a lot of money as long as it is happy, healthy and well cared for I hope this helps your dad out, tell him he's not the only one who can't afford to buy the best dog food.
Most commercial dog foods suck. That's the blunt way of doing it. There are few kibbles available in PETSMART or PETCO that are decent, from what I've been finding. Blue Buffalo seems to be the best available without searching too hard. (I'm two steps away from letting my Danes take down their own deer. Hehe. Just kidding... but the search for dog food is proving to be much harder than I thought. I'm now finding that Nutro isn't all it's cracked up to be. Talk about gas. That's the only problem that I've been having with it. It's some gas, though. When you walk home an hour to your home where you want to slumber and your clean house smells... you have to draw the line.)
This message has been edited. Last edited by: mod_kelly,
I am also dealing with the poop eating issue. I have 3 dogs, the two oldest and smallest are poop eaters. We have tried forbid and it didn't work. I am thinking I will try it again just to make sure. We feed our dogs Science Diet, that's all they have ever eaten and it is not a cheap crappy food. Has anyone had sucess with anything else like the pumpkin mix? I am soooo tired of the poop eating!!!! Please let me know if there are any good tips that really work.
