My dog ate poop. Is it normal? When should I worry and visit the vet?

While it is not great that your dog ate poop, many dogs do so and survive! If your dog's vaccinations are up to date then it is unlikely he will catch one of the nasty viral diseases such as parvo from it. He may pick up intestinal parasites. But I would not worry so much about it and certainly would not kiss him now!

As long as he is eating and drinking normally, I would not be concerned. If he begins to vomit or loses his appetite, then I would recommend having a veterinarian take a look at him and perform some diagnostic testing such as x-rays to help rule out a foreign body obstruction from the plastic. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Not necessarily--most dogs do just fine with occasional forays into the trash! Watch for excessive vomiting that lasts longer than 1-2 hours, and be advised that Lucy might develop diarrhea at any time as well. As long as she is bright, alert, eating, and acting like her normal self there is probably no need to take her to the clinic.

Dogs do like to eat feces, which is very very gross! If Chichi did not eat it and was only in her mouth for seconds, then you very likely have nothing to worry about and I wouldn't bring her into the vet if she is showing no symptoms. Make sure she is up to date on her leptospirosis vaccine, as rats are a vector for lepto (it's passed through urine but there may have been urine around the droppings. There is also a concern that rat poisoning can be present in the feces, thus transmitting it to your dog. If she did not eat it, the risk is pretty much non-existent but signs to look out for include bleeding from the mouth or nose, abnormally colored gums and tongue, difficulty breathing, signs of pain, rapid heart beat, bloody vomit, and bloody diarrhea. If you see any of those signs, take Chichi into the vet immediately. Otherwise, she should be fine. I hope this helps :-)

Dogs will often do coprophagia (eating poop) and other than it being gross, it is not really that big of deal and it does not necessarily mean there is something wrong. It could mean there is an issue, of course, but not necessarily. There is some speculation that this could be due to a nutritional deficiency but there is so scientific evidence to back it up. There is also speculation that it could be due to internal parasites. My suggestion would be to have her to your vet so they can do a fecal test to rule out parasites and deworm her if needed. I would also put Dora on a multivitamin made for dogs. Here is a link to an article about this issue in dogs. This may answer more of your questions: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/dog-behavior-problems-coprophagia

It is not unusual for dogs to eat feces and this can make them throw up. Try to stop her from eating feces by going outside with her and immediately removing any waste. You can also feed her a product such as Forbid which can make some pets stop the behavior. Vomiting has many causes. If she vomits for more than 24 hours or if she has severe vomiting, she should see her veterinarian. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! In theory, she has not mount a response to her vaccines yet so she can still get infected with like parvovirus if those feces were infected with parvovirus. However, that is very unlikely so I would not worry about that too much as the chance of that is very small. Good luck and have a great day! She is likely going to be just fine.