Why does my dog always eat feces?

The eating of feces by dogs is called "corophagia"; some dogs grow out of it; some don't.

Mama dogs have a high instinct to keep their living space clean and will often eat the feces of their pups in order to keep the birthing / whelping area spotless... but they stop doing this when their pups are about 5 weeks old.

Some dogs eat feces because they have a nutritional deficiency.

Some dogs eat feces because they like the taste of it.

Generally, it's unwise to let the dogs eat other animal's feces because the feces may contain worms, insect eggs, and other intestinal parasites (like coccidia, giardia and Parvo virus).

To stop the behavior, you need to clean up all the feces (including the bunny poop) as quickly as possible; take your dog out on a leash to do its business, and give it firm, calm correction (we use a "no dirt" command to the dogs here who try to eat feces) whenever it looks like it's going to snack on feces. You can also give you dogs pills (available through many on-line pet supply places) which make the flavor of the stools unpalatable so the dog doesn't want to eat them any more. Check a site like www.drsfostersmith.com for prices on the pills.

Sometimes dogs will eat feces if they are not getting proper nutrition from the food they are eating. If they use up all the nutrients in the food, they will usually not eat it. But if nutrients are not soluble, they will pass through the dogs system and still be present in the poop, where they make a tasty snack for nasty little animals.... ewww.... This was actually a scientific study, but I don't have a web site to point you to, it was done about 6 years ago. On the other hand, some dogs are just nasty and like to eat poop. If that's the case, the only thing to do is keep the dog away from poop, or hope she doen't give you a big lick on the mouth.

This is a common problem. Most dogs will eat cat feces or horse manure. One of the Southwestern Indian Tribes called them sh**eaters not dogs, that was their word for dog. What I have heard that may stop this is to give the dogs that meat tenderizer <Accent> in their food, I think a 1/2 teaspoon per cup of food. There is other stuff you can buy at the pet store. Some dogs eat their own.

She could have a nutritonal problem... you could be feeding her well, but she might need something more. Or it might just be a habit. My puppy used to sneek into our cat's litter box and it totally grossed me out. Turned out it was a habit, I guess the cat feces smells like the cat food... which she also tried to eat. We got her to stop but she started again when she started teething cause it was softer than her puppy food. We got her to stop again by getting soft dog food and buying a new litter box with a flap door.

Try figuring out if there's a reason for your dog to be doing this... you may be able to substitute something in to suppy the need she's getting from the feces. If it's just a plian old habit... you can pick it up before she gets to it or you can just let it go. It won't actually hurt her at all... it's just gross to us.

My dog was doing this but luckily grew out of the phase. I spoke with my vet about it though and this was the info I was given. Mothers eat their puppies feces to clean up after them. Your dog could be doing this because it learned from the mother. Another reason is because your dog likes to clean up the area. My puppy was pooping in her cage and eating it. My vet told me that she might have been doing it to keep her space clean. Your dog might be doing the same thing. The vet sold a powder that you sprinkle over their food to make their poop very bitter to the taste. This should help. Check with your vet to see if they carry this or check at a pet store such as petsmart or petco.

You can buy a powder to sprinkle in theri food that is suppose to make the feces taste bad. (not like it probably doesn't already) I would suggest trying the powder, you can get it at pretty much any animal store I think. My mother has a dog that use to do that too, but he is much better about it now. I think changing the food to a food that is easily digested helps too. She feeds Science diet.

Take her to the vet, my daughter had a male dog that would do that, and even get to the cats litter box. The vet told her to discourage the behavior, she works so that was hard to do. Unfortunately the dog died 3 weeks ago. They are suppose to grow out of that behavior, but some don't. Watch her carefully.

I have two show dogs and one of them did the exact same thing and boy was it gross. I have pills that i have my dog, Deter, is what they are called. You give the pills to them, i just put mine in the food, and after awhile they stop and you only need to use the pills for awhile and then the dog is cured. but the pills work great. i don't suggest rubbing the dogs nose in the poop, it didnt work for our dog and just made him mad at us. and i think its a cruel. how would you like it?

Alot of puppies do this and outgrow it. If the behavior is habitual then it means the animal has a vitamin deficiency of some kind. Try giving her a higher in nutrient food, or better yet a daily multi-vitamin. The chewables are great and she'll love them.

There is also something that you can put in her food that makes her feces taste bad to her. I think you can buy it at a pet food store.