My puppy eats dirt & rocks. Is he missing something in his diet?

It may due to boredom or an attempt to correct a nutritional deficiency. If she continues, she could cause a gastric or intestinal obstruction which may require emergency surgery. Review her diet with your veterinarian to confirm a balanced diet. Provide extra playtime and a variety of toys and activities to keep her distracted from eating rocks. Restrict access to areas with rocks if possible as well.

Puppies absolutely do like to get into things they shouldn't, as frustrating as this can be. Exploring their environment, including rocks, is in most cases a normal developmental stage. To keep Atlas safe from the possible harmful effects of eating or chewing on rocks, such as broken teeth or intestinal concerns after ingestion, such as blockage, try to remove rocks from her environment as much as possible. One reason why puppies are known for their destructive or explorative tendencies is they are in need of more stimulation, or experience anxiety when separated from you. There currently are several toys on the market which will interact with Atlas and release treats, that can be used while you are out. Atlas also possibly benefit from plenty of exercise, as well as puppy socialisation classes. Though less likely, there is also a possibility that Atlas could have something else wrong that causes him to seek out strange foods. For instance, metabolic disorders, parasites, and vitamin deficiencies can all be underlying causes. In order to rule out these causes a trip to the veterinarian would be needed. The vet would check on the parameters of Atlas's blood, and check a fecal sample for parasites. Hope that was a helpful answer! Warmest regards and best of luck to you both

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This can sometimes point out the possibility of a gastrointestinal condition and just like you pointed out it can be some lack of a nutrient or something in the diet. I think a good place to start would be changing his diet to something else to see if that makes a difference. If no difference is noted, I recommend that you have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Otherwise, start by changing his diet to something like a Purina Pro Plan or Hill's Science Diet product that tend to be very complete diets. Also, try to avoid him eating the sand as that could result in gastrointestinal upset or obstruction. Good luck!

Puppies are kind of like kids, they explore things with their mouths. There is nothing wrong with Mayor. However, I would recommend that you keep a close eye on him and prevent him from eating rocks. Dogs will ingest rocks (or several small pebbles at once) that are too big to move through their intestines and will cause a blockage. He should always be supervised outside (and inside!) until he (hopefully) grows out of his puppy stage and eating things he shouldn't.

A small amount of dirt and leaves probably won't hurt him much although he can pick up parasites, so I would recommend deworming him on a regular basis. It may also cause him to vomit or have diarrhea. I would worry if he eats rocks or sticks as these can cause a blockage in his stomach or intestines that will require surgery. You can monitor him closely when outside and try to deter him from eating these things by giving him an appropriate chew toy.

It sounds like this may be a learned behavior for him since he is on a good quality diet and nutritional deficiencies are unlikely. I would recommend distracting him with some play time with his favorite toy in the morning when he tends to do this so you are not giving him attention (even though it is negative attention) for eating the dirt. In order to completely stop this behavior you may need to prevent his access to the dirt by putting something like a basket muzzle on him.

I see from your information that Zeus is a puppy. Puppies often find inappropriate things to play with and eat. I would try to engage Zeus in playing with some other (more appropriate) toys when he starts to eat dirt. You may also consider a feeding ball like a Buster Cube or similar. Make sure that Zeus is on a balanced large breed puppy food to make sure that he isn't missing any necessary minerals. And finally make sure you continue regular fecal testing and intestinal parasite dewormings as recommended by your veterinarian because there can be internal parasite eggs in soil. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and please let us know if you have any other questions.