My dog eats poop and grass after deworming. Is it worms or behavior?

Eating diet can indicate that Red isn't getting enough nutrients, and if he was recently dewormed he may have just loss a lot of nutrients from his parasite load. I am not sure what parasites he was treated for or how bad his parasite infection was, but it can take several week to rid all the worms out of his system. Worms attach the intestines and eat all the nutrients in the pets diet, leaving most pets malnourished or even mildly anemic to some degree, which can in turn lead to dirt eating behavior. Once the parasites are gone most pets will discontinue this behavior. You can also supplement with a daily pet multivitamin (i.e. Hivite, Nutrical) for a few weeks until things go back to normal. Visit your local pet store to see what is available in your area. If there aren't any over the counter options suitable for you, then your vet should be able to prescribe something to help and also determine if his current diet is the best choice for him moving forward. I hope Red returns to his normal self soon. Take care.

Coprophagia (eating poop) occurs in some dogs for no particular reason. It is not an indication of hunger or something lacking in their diet. There is a product available (in the US at least) called For-Bid that can help prevent dogs from eating poop. There is certainly a risk that KC could get worms from ingesting feces including cow manure. I would suggest keeping her on a monthly preventative that would prevent worm infestation.

Hello, this could be due to a number of issues, including her known heartworm disease if she is symptomatic and it's making her feel unwell. A few common reasons for a young otherwise healthy dog to have a waxing and waning appetite with no other symptoms would be a low grade chronic pancreatitis, mild IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), or a food sensitivity. If you haven't done a complete bloodwork panel with your vet, I suggest starting there. Your vet can discuss a feeding trial with prescription food - I would recommend trying an easily digestible food that's easy on the stomach such as I/D or EN (there are lots of acceptable brands of prescription food, these are just a few common ones), and if that doesn't help then do a trial of a limited ingredient or hydrolyzed diet for food sensitivity. Hope this helps!

Puppies are usually wormed more than once so you shouldn't be too concerned. At some point, he should have a fecal sample tested for worms to make sure he is all negative. He also should be started on a monthly heartworm prevention that treats intestinal parasites, too. Heartgard and Interceptor are two commonly used monthly preventions. Talk to your vet about the best program for your puppy.

Yes, it sure could be worms. I suggest you have a fecal test done by your veterinarian so you will know what type of worms he has (if any) and what would be the most appropriate treatment. Best wishes.

Hello. Eating strange & unusual items is called pica. This might be an attempt for your puppy to address a nutritional problem, deal with parasites or might even be a psychological problem. It might be a good idea to have Tuffy examined & a fecal analysis done to see if you are missing something in his diet, or if your wormer was effective & he is eating odd things for another reason. A fecal analysis would also show if you need to use a different wormer altogether. But I would recommend having Tuffy looked at before he potentially eats the wrong thing & causes an intestinal blockage. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I agree that it is likely vomit and not poop. The Long object could be a worm, but also resembles a plant stem to me. Since she was eating grass I suspect she could have also been consuming other plant materials. I would, however, recommend that you take a poop sample to your veterinarian to have it tested for parasite eggs to make sure that she doesn’t need any medications. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.