Eating poo....
 

Hey Everyone - well, as a first-time dog owner, and a now proclaimed yorkie LOVER, I have to say that this site has been AMAZING in helping me through my first few "challenging" weeks. :)

So, that being said, I have a NEW challenge.... my beautiful little Gia is still working hard to understand the "potty pads." She is PERFECT when she is in her "room" - never misses the pad. Then at my office, she has a slightly larger space, and she's accurate about 95% percent of the time. At home, it's a different story - but as long as I see her sniffing around and run over to the pad area, she'll follow me and then go! So, the burden is on me to watch her, and it's going well so far.

My first question is, about how long does it take before they "click" in larger spaces and understand that they should always go on the pads?

My second, and MUCH BIGGER issue is that she is eating her poo! (gross!) I reward her for going on her pad with a treat, and while she's eating the treat, I quickly try to pick up her homemade desired treat. Yuck! But sometimes there's more than one, and I can't get to both before she does.

I read that pineapple is good to feed them to cure this, so I bought fresh pineapple chunks, but she won't eat it.... Am I supposed to try the canned chunks? Are there any other suggesstions outside of pineapple? (Ironic that she'll refuse pineapple, but eat her own mess)

I also changed her diet, as I thought maybe it was the sweet smell. My mom got her hooked on Chef Michael's wet food mixed in with the dry while I was away, so I changed her diet to just dry food: the Pro Plan Special for puppies. She likes the food, but she's still eating the poop too.

Sorry this is gross - it's just so hard to ask her to "Give momma kisses" when i know what's been in her mouth. ha ha ha!!!!!

Happy Monday!

~Jenn "Gia's loving, albeit grossed-out, mommy"

Food quality
 

Hi Jenn, Gia looks adorable :love:. The vet told me they eat their poo when they are missing vitamins or minerals in their diet. I became an avid reader of all the ingredients found in my babies food & treats. Can't tell you the number of poor quality dog foods & treats I weeded through. In the mean time I noticed that the more a food and/or product was advertised the poorer the quality! There are many 4-5 star quality foods available that are within reason so don't just accept what is advertised. Here is a link to an excellent website to help you find a good source for your baby:

Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble

In reference to the poo eating. I have a friend who would sprinkle cayane pepper on the poo and leave it for their pup. After a couple of attempts he stopped the behavior. I also know there are some tablets available that you can give her to make the poo undesirable.

hope this helps and give that baby lots of love and kisses :hearts-xx

I defiinitely feel for you! I created this thread a little while back because I had (still have) the same issue. Lots of good info: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...is-poop-5.html

Thank you both so much! I tried the pineapple again tonight. This time I pretended I was eating it, but instead I bit off tiny bites. When Gia saw me, she started licking her lips and "sitting" (which is her way of saying "please") so I gave her a bit and she ate it right up! :) YAHOOOOOO

She ended up eating an entire chunk of pineapple (since she's about 1.7lbs I thought that'd be a good start). I'll keep doing this each day and check back in after about 4 days and update on how she's doing!

Here's hoping! :) Thanks again!!!!

You can try the canned or frozen pineapple too. Just make sure you thaw out the frozen first. My vet told me to use meat tenderizer, but it has so much salt in it I don't feel comfortable doing it. Max has been eating pineapple regularly for almost a month and still eats his poop. The only thing I can do is potty train him to go outside. If he poops outside he doesn't eat it. We are trying very hard to get him trained!:rolleyes:

I am having the same issues but more so with my Izzy playing with (shredding it everywhere) rather than eating it... I stay home w her all day so I cant understand why she does it. She somehow shreds it is tiny little pieces with in seconds...

Fynn will eat his poo occassionally. I have to leave him pinned in the kitchen during the day and he'll eat the poo he makes in there and just leave nice little messes from where he's chased it across the floor... But, if he has an accident in the house, he ignores it. When he poos outside, he'll sniff it and then run away.

On only! eats the kitchen poo. I don't know why but it grosses me out. I'm going to start trying the pineapple tonight and look for those tablets that make poo 'undesirable.' Seriously? Who'd'a thunk it? Poo being undesirable as a snack.

I tried the tablets and it gave Henry and Izzy diarrhea...

Then I won't be doing that! I don't need diarrhea.

Semi-success report!

I started feeding Gia tiny bites of pineapple, and she's eating it! I also bought these delicious looking doggie cookies (they look like REAL cookies!) and when she does her poo on the pad, I call her over and give her a piece of the cookie. This is more time consuming for her to eat, so she takes it to her "rug" area to crunch it, giving me time to clean up her poo!

So far so good! I'll post again in a week and update! :)

Thank you everyone!

Poop Guru here! :rolleyes: I've somehow been crowned the poop guru by unnamed members.............:cool: here is what I have recently discovered. There is a little doggy who is a hardcore poop eater (Teddy~I promise not to tell it was you;)) and he will not eat poop with BROWN RICE. So my suggestion is to feed the pineapple and possibly either add cooked brown rice to their food or try the NB Brown Rice and Lamb dog food.

The tables are the same as meat tenderizer (MSG). I would stick with the pineapple and add the brown rice to the food. Feed 2 or 3 pieces a day and see how that goes. You can increase if needed. Just give like a snack between meals. It will take about 3 days or so to see a change in the poo. Let us know how it goes.

Make sure the brown rice is well done.

Hey Poop Guru - I don't think it is fair to single out some dogs on here who suffer from poop eating. Teddy is become quite skilled in scent training class -- he is a natural -- and I suspect that this is the problem...he is able to smell even a microscopic droplet of undigested food in poop (namely fresh baked sweet potato poop cooked up by his older and sickly sister Daisy). Why on earth Teddy would want to eat Daisy's crap over Barney's or his own I'll never know.... Daisy has IBD and a whole variety of issues and her poop is totally disgusting. Just cleaning it up makes me gag - I should really be putting on a respirator and heavy work gloves and handling it like a haz mat team would.

In any event, it is true that Teddy will not eat poop of his or Barney's and they are on brown rice and chicken diets. There is untouched poop left for me on pads daily of this variety. Yet, I must keep Daisy on a schedule, let her poop in private and promptly clean up otherwise we have unauthorized snacking. It is enough to make me gag and what makes me even more mad is when he refuses to brush his teeth after.

yes brown rice should be cooked in plenty of water. I use the Success Boil in the Bag brown rice and it is very easily digestible and less fuss than making up a whole big batch in the rice cooker.

NOTE: do not use Basmati Brown Rice - the popcorn smell is appealing and it could be a problem. Just saying...

Oops~you were not suppose to see this :eek: You know I love Teddy~he's Yorkie Royalty! :notworthy

I've been thinking about the Daisy and her IBD..........I wonder if the food moves so quickly through her intestines that its just not digested properly.

Thank you! I didn't know that about the tablets. I will definitely stick with the pineapple and give the brown rice a go. If it has people food in it, Fynn will LOVE it. So, it's worth a shot!

Thanks so much.

After 5.5 years of battling the poop eaters, I have finally won!

I home cook for mine and their recipe from my Vet-Nutritionist called for 1/2 teaspoon Konsyl fiber for each AM and PM meal. I did try it way back when, but it made the consistency too thick, so I went the Biopectin fiber route instead...Well BIG MISTAKE, I should have stuck to the Konsyl...For the past 6 months I have been adding only a flat 1/4 teaspoon of the Konsyl fiber to AM and to PM meals and like magic, we are a poop eating free house now...

Not sure if the Konsyl makes the poop undesirable or if it makes my two "full" for the day that they don't want to snack, or a combo of both. Whatever the reason, all I can say is it worked! I wish I would have stuck to the Konsyl in the beginning...

P.S. I have tried every product out there for combatting poop eating, every method and every technique. My did it bc they were bored and it simply became route and habit for them....

I still throw a YAY poop going into the toliet party and give a yummy treat for good poop behavior!

I would love to have your recipe! Would you be willing to share it with me?

The only problem with that is this recipe was created for my Roxy who is 5lbs and who has liver issues, which is low in protein, and not suitable for a healthy dogs needs.

Getting a recipe that is made specifically for your dogs weight and needs cost about $140 from my Vet Nutritonist:
Dr. Joseph Wakshlag DVM PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

Now I am wondering if it could be the increase in fiber that will make the dogs stop eating their poop? Brown rice is a fiber as well. So really makes me :confused::confused::confused: It would make sense that increasing the fiber content would change the "end" result.

I tried pineapple for a month with no success, then added brown rice and still nothing. Mine was a hard core poop eater:confused:. So I finally broke down and did the Forbid from the vet. I treated everyone for 2 full weeks and mine stopped and has not done it since.
My guy came as a pup doing it, I think he learned from his mom. He ate his and everyone elses and decided it was better than dog food so I had to do the Forbid....

I don't know how you could have made poop eating hilarious, but you all have succeeded. I've got to stop reading this board during my work breaks. Now I'm going to have to explain to my colleagues why there are tears running down my face.

IDK....Mine have both had rice (white and brown) in the food before and they still ate the poop.

I have read the that Psyllium fiber (Konsyl) swells to 10 times the amount inside you, so part of me think it makes them feel very full during the day. AND it seriously might do something to how the poop smells and/or tastes to them, because they poop and leave it :animal-pa It has truly been a miracle for me...this is something I have been fighting for so long and really prayed for it to stop ;)

I don't think fiber has anything to so with it because daisys diet had 16% fiber in it and when I have fed her diet to the boys, teddy stuffs himself like it's thanksgiving. Forbid failed us too. Even tobasco on the poop itself was no help. I've got a weird dog and he eats poop. What more can I do? I accept him with these and all his other shortcomings. I'll try the fiber TLC recommends. Why not, I'll try anything.

Ah, right! Well, I appreciate the info! :rolleyes:

I have Gia on ProPlan Select right now because it's dry and crunchy. However, should I be making my own food for her? If so, can someone give the recipe for a healthy dog food for puppies? :) Thanks so much!