How can I stop my pet from eating its own or other animal's waste?

For helping to eliminate purely behavioral causes of coprophagy, a three step method can be used: 1. Decreaseattractivequalityoffeces • Change in diet can oftentimes be beneficial, switching to a brand with a lower protein content to lower the amount of protein excreted into the feces (which the dog finds palatable). • Commercially available products added to food can decrease the palatability of the feces. Examples include: For-bid®; Deter®; and meat tenderizers. Consult with your veterinarian as to the proper dose to use. 2. Preventexpressionofbehavior • Being present and scooping up the feces immediately is a good way to prevent this behavior. • Keeping the dog on leash when taking him/her out to eliminate can help the owner physically prevent the dog from engaging in coprophagy. • Controlled feeding time allows the owner to predict time of defecation and be more vigilant when watching the dog. • Preventing access to other pet’s litterboxes or cleaning them frequently. • Spray collars, such as citronella can be used to deter the dog as well. • “Booby-trapping” feces, by adding hot sauce or “bitter apple” flavor INTO the feces, so the dog associates bad tastes with its feces. • Not rewarding the behavior by ignoring the dog when it consumes its feces, despite how difficult it may be for the owner. 3. Rewardpost-eliminationbehavior • Positive reinforcement immediately after good behavior (so owner must be present). Keep the dog on leash, and if the dog does not go for its feces, reward it with food and praise. Also, if the dog does try to reach for its feces, divert its attention to another simple task (such as asking to “sit” or “shake paw”) and reward it for performing the task. Health Concerns: As with all pets, regardless of whether or not the dog is coprophagic, owners should be careful about washing their hands at appropriate times, such as before eating, after handling feces, etc. Cleanliness is the first line of defense against potential disease transmission, which can include intestinal parasites. Coprophagy can be very distasteful to owners and can be a public health concern. If this occurs, consider seeing your local veterinarian to rule out any possible diseases as the cause and to develop a plan to help eliminate the behavior.

You could try a product called For-Bid and see if that helps but you may need to pick up your dogs feces so he/she can't eat the stool. You can also teach your dog the "leave it" command and use it to teach him/her to leave the feces alone. http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/leave-it.html

You can try For-Bid powder. Mix it into the food. Buy it from your veterinarian or at the local Petco. You can also leash walk Sadie to steer her away from stool or areas where there is stool. A last resort would be a basket muzzle which may prevent her from eating stool or at least make it harder to give you time to get her away from it. Pick up any stool in the yard before she goes outside or as soon as she is done defecating. Review her diet with your veterinarian to confirm adequate nutrition and use a variety of toys, tasks and exercise to keep her distracted from any stool.

The next best step here is to make his poop taste bad. You can do this by purchasing a product called Forbid, which can be bought at your local pet store or online and give him that as instructed on the box for up to 2 weeks. You can also try 1 tsp of meat tenderizer added to his food daily. Most pets will grow out of this habit, but it is best to pick up the poop immediately after he defecates, and only leash walk him outside so that he does not have free range to eat feces. I wish you all the best with Geno and hope that you can break him of his bad habit. Best wishes and take care! : )

Some dogs will eat anything. I've even seen dogs eat glass. Unfortunately you can't train a dog out of this but you can protect them. Keep the house picked up and things kept out of Toy's reach. Kennel toy or keep him in a small room that is 'Toy-proofed" so he can't get into anything. Never leave Toy unattended as he could end up with an intestinal blockage that requires a surgical repair. lastly, one would think feces tasted bad enough BUT there is a supplement called Forbid that can make them taste worse. You feed it to the dog and then when he eats the feces he dislikes it. Some dogs don't respond to this. The other tough thing is most dogs will eventually taste the stool again and may resume the habit again. Forbid is not meant to be given a prolonged amount of time. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Unfortunately this is just a gross, bad habit. No medical reason or diet deficiency... I know, not what you wanted to hear! The best thing to do is clean it up immediately and start taking her out on a leash so she is trained to go outside. Then you can lead her away from the contaminated areas I have good success with a product called Forbid. You will have to feed it to both dogs though. It works well however it is not permanent so it will have to be redone periodically

Hi, thanks for using Petcoach. Unfortunately eating stool is a behavior problem without a simple answer. Cleaning up immediately after the dogs defecate and/or leash walking Dove may be the only viable way to prevent this. In some cases training along with deterrents such as Forbid may help, but preventing access to stool is the true solution. This article has a bit more information. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/dog-behavior-problems-coprophagia