My senior dog has gas, eats poop, and smells. Is his food the problem?

Changing the food may help with the gas, but is not likely to help with the body odor and bad breath. They tend to smell bad like this when they have infections. For the mouth, this usually requires a good dental cleaning. For the body, this can usually be helped by bathing a few times with a medicated shampoo (can find this in the pet store). As for changing the food, it may require that you feed a lower calorie, less fat sort of food. I recommend starting Diezel on a senior diet food, since he is eight years old. These diets have less calories and may help if fed as directed by the manufacturer. My best recommendation is to have Diezel evaluated by a veterinarian. They will be able to have a good look at these issues and better advise on the best solutions. I hope that helps and all is well with Diezel.

If he is a young dog it is possible that he has a mild food allergy or an easily upset stomach (sometimes this is irritable bowl syndrome). Typically strong smelling gas in from the diet. I think slowly switching Ziggys food to maybe a different protein source of purina would help calm down or stop the gas. However, if you want to try an over the counter probiotic every day in the food and see if helping the good bacteria grow improved the gas. Do not forget to have a fecal checked for parasites just incase! hope that helps

Hello, and thank you for your question. Mojo's symptoms may be indicative of gastroenteritis (a gut infection), gastrointestinal parasites, food intolerance or food allergies, pancreatitis, or inflammatory bowel disease. As you can see, the list of possibilities is long and varied. I would recommend taking him to the vet. They can perform a full physical exam and assess for any areas of pain, which would be supportive of pancreatitis (for example). They may recommend testing a stool sample for parasites, senior blood work, and/or taking x-rays of the abdomen. At minimum, they can prescribe medicine to help with the tummy upset and improve his comfort. In the meantime, I would continue with the probiotic, and try small, frequent meals of a bland diet such as boiled chicken and white rice. This may be easier for his tummy to digest. I would also think back to any new food or treats that were introduced prior to this problem starting, and if so, make sure to eliminate them in case they are contributing to his symptoms. I hope this helps, and that Mojo feels better soon!

Eating feces is a very gross habit that is unfortunately common in dogs. Since this is a recent behavior change for Mahtzee, it's possible that it could be related to an underlying medical problem of some kind - some illnesses such as diabetes and Cushing's disease can cause an increased appetite, which can lead to eating all sorts of unappetizing things that he may not have been interested in before. Your vet can do some simple blood tests to check for these problems, so it might be a good idea to have this done if he hasn't had any lab work recently. If everything checks out normal, then it may be that Mahtzee has simply developed a taste for poop - this sometimes happens, sadly! In that case, I would recommend teaching him a "leave it" command to prevent him from eating feces on your walks. To teach this, carry some tasty treats with your in your pocket when you take him for a walk. If he shows interest in something on the ground that you don't want him to pick up, say "leave it!" and show him a treat - give him the treat as soon as he looks up at you. Over time, he will start to turn away from whatever he is sniffing and look expectantly at you as soon as you give the command.

When an older dog is having a behavior change they should be checked out by your vet. Eating stools at this age is not normal and almost always has an underlying medical cause. You can try this supplement if you wish to see if it helps. If it does not, she should definitely see your vet. ( https://www.thepetcarefactory.com/online-store-digestive-health ) It would also be a good idea to add some of this supplement to the other dog's food to make the stools "taste bad" so hopefully it will curb Cora from wanting to eat it: ( https://www.animigo.co.uk/coprophagia-for-dogs.html )

I am so sorry to hear of these concerns for Nypsy. Changes in behavior such as increased anxiety and inappropriate eating can be an indication of a neurological issue. This could be a condition known as canine cognitive dysfunction (doggy dementia), lesions in the brain can also affect behavior and are more commonly suspected if there is increased aggression or the onset of seizures. The change in appetite could be due to a metabolic issue such as kidney disease, which can cause a pet to feel nauseous. These types of conditions would require bloodwork with your veterinarian to diagnose. Dental disease is also very common in older, small breed dogs. It can contribute to changes in food intake due to oral pain. I would recommend tempting Nypsy with some tasty treats such as boiled chicken or a little canned dog food. Also do not offer her any more sweet tea-sugar is not good for our pets and if Nypsy is suffering from some sort of metabolic issue it could make things worse. When you are able I would recommend taking Nypsy to your regular Vet for a thorough physical exam and possibly some bloodwork to rule out anything significant.

If this is the only sign you could try changing to a highly digestible diet (like Hill’s i/d or Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat) as long as she doesn’t have any food intolerances or diseases requiring a therapeutic diet. Sometimes I also have people try a probiotic like Fortiflora. If she has also had a decrease in appetite, diarrhea or weight loss you should see your veterinarian.