My dog eats things that aren’t food, like poo!

(inappropriate eating / pica / coprophagia)

Yep, they’re dogs and sometimes they gross us out by rolling in something stinky or eating their own poo. Yuck!

Sometimes too they eat things. Things like books, wood, carpet, cardboard, socks, you name it. And I don’t mean just chew them, which is relatively normal, I mean ingest them, sometimes purposefully seeking them out to eat. Except grass*.

Inappropriate eating (pica) can be medical or behavioural. Medically, if your dog eats inanimate objects, otherwise eats normally but seems hungry all the time and loses weight, it could indicate some kind of digestive problem. Certain enzyme deficiencies and other precursors to pancreatitis have these kinds of symptoms. See a vet to rule these things out. Behaviourally, it could be learned behaviour, somehow rewarding for the dog, or inadvertently rewarded by you. As having inanimate objects surgically removed is costly, the first step is to block access as much as possible. The rest of the behavioural modification plan will depend largely on your individual circumstances.

Poo eating (coprophagia) is a specific form of pica, which is any kind of faecal munching – their own, other dogs’ or other species (like those ‘crumbed sausage’ treats in the litter tray). There are many possible reasons dogs do this, and again any medical problem should be ruled out first. Speculative reasons for poo-eating:

• nutrient deficiency, the dog is trying to get something by re-eating its waste
• instinctive, to keep the ‘den’ clean
• smells like food, as in the case of some canned or cheaper foods smelling the same on the way out as in
• they think it’s delicious (they have fewer taste buds than us, and with more scent receptors all smells are ‘good’)
• learned behaviour

While it’s not particularly harmful to eat poo, it is gross, so again the first step is to block access. Pick up faeces in the yard as soon as possible, do not allow access to the cat’s litter tray, that kind of thing. Then the rest of the plan depends on your individual circumstances.

Call me, I can help.

*grass eating is a different matter, for a separate post
Good reference on grass-eating here: https://theconversation.com/why-does-my-dog-eat-grass-and-when-is-it-not-safe-for-them-205658