Yuck

Beth1708

My beautiful Barney is now 20 week old, and he's a lovely, sweet boy. However, I'm still having the problem of Barney eating his poop. I spent all Christmas day sick because I was smooching him on those lovely lips on Christmas eve (who could resist?) and he'd been eating poop, but I would have thought he would have outgrown it by now. I tried spraying the Bitter Apple and Bitter Yuck (if that's what it's called) on the mess, but he's still interested. He knows enough not to eat it when I'm with him, but occasionally he'll steal away for a hidden poop and a snack, or if I let him go into the back yard with just the other dogs, he'll sometimes come back with telltale stains on his mouth and terrible poop breath. My vet says that there's a pill that she can give him to make his poop taste bad (really? It doesn't taste bad already?). Has anyone heard of a dog this old continuing to eat his own poop? Any suggestions? Has anyone heard of a dog taking this pill? Thanks! I love all your pictures of your beautiful dogs!

BulliesofNC

I remember watching "The Dog Whisperer" a few years ago and hearing Cesar mention that wwhen some dogs eat their own poop it's due to certain vitamin deficiencies. I don't know whether or not you provide your Bull Terrier any vitamins or supplements but if you don't the most common deficiency is potassium and the over the counter aid to this problem is giving your dog one banana day. I can't verify how effective this is because none of my EBT's have a liking towards eating their poop. Possibly the supplement I provide them combats the urge for them to eat their poop. Who knows? However, I would try providing Barney a banana a day and see if Cesar is correct with his theory. It can't hurt and Bull Terriers love bananas.

Beth1708

Thanks for the advice! My vet said it's fairly common in puppies, but that they grow out of it. My handsome guy is almost 5 months old, so he should have grown out of it. I don't provide any vitamin supplements. Can you suggest any? He's munching on his first banana right now!

Beth1708

I answered my own question, I think, by going to your website. You mention a particular supplement and Grizzly oil. Is this what you mean, or is there another type of vitamin supplement that you recommend? Your passion for the breed shines through in every word -- yours and Phil's. I love reading your comments and advice!

BulliesofNC

I recommend NuVet. Here's a link that will provide you with a lot of information on the product: http://bulliesofnc.com/online-store/supplements-vitamins

philsergeant

It's called Coprophagia and there is a supplement that you can put in his food called "I can't remember any more"... We had a girl once who did it, disgusting, no matter how much you luv'em... and the additive solved it forever in about 3 weeks.  Check online.

xchairity_casex

Sometimes it can be caused by a deficiency, sometimes i think its simply due to habit or boredom.

I know plenty of people who's dogs would eat poop despite the expensive kibbles, vitamins and treats.

I also think it is sometimes a Genetic habit. Chimera was a poop eater on Raw, her brother is a poop eater on Orijen Kibble, her other brother is a poop eater on Hills science diet and her mother is a poop eater on Taste of the wild kibble with cooked veggies and meat and vitamin supps.

Feeding pineapple or pineapple juice causes the poop to taste bad to them when fed some with every meal.

Stoges_mom

Stoeger is an occasional poop eater too. I've looked up what causes it and if it's bad but as gross as is it I can't find anywhere where it says it's bad unless they hv worms. But I do stop him if I see it.
He did it while on kibble and raw, but only sometimes.

philsergeant

Oooooo that's aawwwwful!

Quinnofhearts

Quinn ate poop as a learned behavior. She didn't do it until I started taking her to daycare, where the dogs would basically eat it straight out of the butt or rush over to get to it first. She contracted giardia from this...and I immediately stopped taking her to daycare. The staff had a not-my-problem attitude, so I had a not-my-patronage response. I also quit my own job there like...a month later.

I had already taught Quinn "leave it," so I had to start giving this command with every poo pile she sniffed on the walks, whether she started to snack or not. After removing her from daycare and reteaching that poo was gross, she didn't do it again. Not including the occasional wildlife snack she finds somewhere...

If you're going out and spraying things on the poop, why not just pick it up? Not the most glamorous job, but if there's no poop, he can't eat it.

philsergeant

Well we've been lucky then... our kids won't even go near their own poop... they often leapfrog away from some pile another dog has left.... sometimes it hard walking them when they won't go in a certain direction and you think "what's your problem"!!! for a second or so before you see the pile they're avoiding.

Beth1708

I definitely pick it up, but I've been spraying it in the hope that he would become averse to it in general, so that when he's old enough to be out in the back yard unsupervised, he hopefully won't be interested. We have 3 fenced acres, so our dogs can roam a bit: I don't want to spend the next 15 years (fingers crossed) following him around to fling away his poop before he can eat it. He doesn't go for it when I'm standing there: the problem comes when he slinks away to sneak an indoor poop, or when one of my daughters takes him out. I don't want him to eat it in general -- it's gross! -- but I also just want to kiss his face without worrying about it. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I love to kiss his snout and lips. I can't do that if he's eating poop.  My basset hound eats straight from the kitty litter box when she gets a chance. Barney doesn't do that (yet), but it somehow seems even more revolting that he's eating his own. Thanks for the great advice, everyone. I'll get the supplements and try to find the whatever-it's-called!

philsergeant

Yes get the whatever-it's-called... Add it to his food and he stays away from his poop like the plague... If you have other pets you may want to add it to theirs too.

Quinnofhearts

Haha gave me a funny picture in my mind, you slingshotting his poo away. Hopefully he'll grow out of it. They really eat anything at that age. My dog would clean the sidewalks of just about anything.  [-X

Beth1708

I fling it like angry monkeys. We live on property that backs to open space, and I think we have a poo perimeter now to keep the coyotes away! (I hope!)

mbgood

Haw! "Fling it like angry monkeys" just made my morning! I have had 2 poo eaters from totally different bloodlines and many years apart. And to add to the grossness, the first one would eat a poo, throw it up and eat that. Revolting. She never outgrew it (lived to 14+) and I just had to be diligent about picking it up pronto. On a positive note, it kept the yard clean. But I don't wish to repeat it with my pup.

If anyone can remember the name of the additive that you add to the food, please post, as now my 9 month old is showing an interest, despite my "Leave it!" protestations. And I agree with Beth, how does anything make poop"taste bad?" I'm looking at the NuVet link right now.

Soapskid

Lol Spud eats all the cat poop he sees in the yard. We have 3 cats that are being taken care of for my niece as she is away and Spud is always trying to eat their poop until he sees me looking. He even tries to eat with them when they are being served food. Sometimes I think Spud thinks he's a cat.

Beth1708

Thanks for the Amazon link!

Tammy

Thank you to everyone about the problem with Binks eating poop. I feed him Taste of the Wild Salmon now but I will try the banana and see if it works.

xchairity_casex

You can use pineapple juice-same thing, easier to get and cheaper too.