Help! My dog keeps eating cat poop from the litter box and yard.

Unfortunately, dogs love eating poop! They find it tasty, and while that is completely gross, it's not uncommon. My own dogs try to treat the cat's litter box like a buffet. Eating the poop can at most cause them some GI upset in the form of vomiting. You can try elevating the litter box so your cat can jump up to it, but Farrah can't reach it. You can layer baby gates on top of each other, one with the bottom touching the ground and the other right on top of it. That should prevent her from wriggling under the gate and jumping over it. You might also consider keeping the door shut to the room where the litter box is, and installing a cat door in the door. That way, your cat can get in the room, but your dog cannot. I hope one of these suggestions help.

You can try either mixing 1 tsp of meat tenderizer in your cats food for a couple of weeks or a medicaiton called Forbid which will cause the cats poop to taste bad. Hopefully this is enough to deter Odie from eating the cat poop in the future. Also placing barriers around the litter box or a lid can also be tried. Best of luck. Take care.

That is a difficult habit to break! What has worked well for me in the past is to create A space that the dog can not access. He is a big dog so you can try a covered box and see if that limits his ability. You can also cut a Small hole “door” in a cabinet to let the kitty in but too small for the dog and place the box in the cabinet. Also putting a baby gate in front of the room to block the dog from entering works as well. You can certainly just work on training, but it needs to be consistent every time he shows interest in the litter box which is often difficult when you are not home etc. Best of luck and I hope one of these ideas works well for you. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

Sadly, there isn't a great way to stop this gross behavior. There are products that are just really high amounts of MSG, that sometimes make the stool less appealing to dogs, but I don't love that idea for puppies (or really any dog). For the litter box, you need to block Gretchen's assess to it and for eating her own stool, try to take her for walks for her bowel movements whatever possible so you can pick it up right away. You can offer a high value treat right after a bowel movement when walking so she learns to look for that special treat instead of turning around to instantly eat the feces. To be honest, it's not a habit that is easy to break. As far as the diet question, there is actually increasing evidence that grain-free diets may be harmful, so I recommend staying away from them and feeding a regular high quality puppy diet. Royal Canin, Hills, and Purina are all good brands.

Small amounts of cat litter can pass through a larger dogs digestive tract fairly uneventfully. If hazel snuck in the box and ate some of the cat poop covered in litter that is pretty small amount and I wouldn't worry. Dogs love cat poop and most if given access will sample it regularly. You could try turning the cat box to face the wall with enough room for the cat to get in, but close enough to the wall that hazel s head couldn't fit. Or you may need to block the area off in someway so only cat can fit through to use the box - maybe a baby gate?

Aside from preventing her from having access to the area, it is almost impossible to stop her. Deworming every 3 months with a broad spectrum deworming including praziquantel for tapeworm would be a good plan otherwise. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

I'm sorry to hear that! There are a few things you can do: Keep Bentley on leashed walks only when outside to keep him from getting into garbage or pet waste. Working on commands such as "leave it" or trading for a high value treat can redirect his attention back to you and away from the waste. If he's eating his own, making sure to pick up any stool ASAP (both indoors on doggy pads and outdoors in your yards or walks) can prevent him from getting access to those items. If he's going for litter boxes, moving litter boxes to rooms that you can block off with a baby gate that your cat can jump over but Bentley can't, or using a cat door with an RF chip to allow only your cat access can help prevent him from getting to the area to munch. You can also try products such as For-bid which can be added to the food of whomever's waste is being eaten to make it unpalatable. However, the best treatment is preventing Bentley from getting to the waste at all.