My 16-year-old dog suddenly started eating dirt. Is she okay?

Have Madu examined by your veterinarian. Blood work may diagnose anemia or a mineral deficiency. Other causes include simple boredom, inadequate nutrition or he likes the taste. Review his diet with your vet, provide more exercise and playtime during the day with him and provide toys as distractions.

It’s possible that she ate dirt or plant material and has an upset stomach. If you know what type of plant was in the pot you may want to check the ASPCA toxic plant list. It might also be unrelated. If the unusual behavior continues you should check in with your vet for a physical exam to try to determine what might be going on. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants

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!

Pica - eating non food items - is often an indication of disease or poor digestion/absorption of her food and more rarely due to senile confusion. I would recommend a full vet check and blood panel to rule out any medical causes or indication of poor digestion (vitamin B deficiency in particular) as soon as possible

Hello. It sounds like Willow needs a good evaluation by your veterinarian. Eating unusual objects is called pica & it may or may not be an indication of some underlying condition. At the very least, eating rocks & underwear can lead to an obstruction resulting in surgery. Please consult your veterinarian as soon as possible to see what might be going on with Willow. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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.

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.