I've been battling with Bijou eating her pooh since she was on confinement after breaking her leg...four months now. She's had off and on runny and mucusy or bloody pooh since then. I thought it was just a puppy thing since she wasn't house broken, but now that she's 90% housebroken I thought she'd stop it, but she still tries to eat it, so I took her in to see her vet today. Bijou has something called Colitis. She said it's when there is too much of the good bacteria in the intestines so her intestines are inflamed.
She said that it could be caused from Bijou eating her pooh, or that Excel stuff that I gave her to stop eating the pooh could have made them become inflamed, or it could be her food, or it could just be something she was born with. It's kind of like irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease.
So to reduce it she's on an antibiotic called Metronidazole for a week and a prescription food I got from my vet called DCO...stands for Veterinary Diets Diebetes Colitis (No she's not diabetic...I asked if that was possible and she said this food is for both conditions). It's made by Purina (
thought all their foods were trash, but my vet recommends it) it's higher in fiber which is what she needs. My vet said most people give up on using this food because it's higher priced then over the counter dog foods. I was like I don't care if it works...it was only $21.00 for an 8 lb page. I didn't think that was too much, but then again our little ones don't eat that much. Bijou seems to like it just fine and she's started the antibiotic as well.
My vet said that for some dogs eating pooh can become a habit like how some people smoke, it's nasty but they do it. She advised that we see if Bijou stops eating it once she's been on this medicine and food for a while. I hope so, as I'd pay twice or three times that much for her food if it'd keep her from eating the results LOL Otherwise all that can really be done to get her to stop eating it is to be very vigilant with cleaning it as soon as it happens...yeah, like I can quit work to become the pooh police LOL but it's really all that you can do.
I'm attaching a link to a site my vet recommended, I found Colitis on it if you'd like to read more about it. Otherwise, the site's very informative.
Good Luck!!!
Colitis: An FAQ - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!