Stool Eating and Illness

[PeanutsMom07]

My dog, Peanut, a 2-year havanese, has eaten his stool since I adopted him at 8 months. Although I have tried all sorts of methods: fresh pineapple, additivies and what-not I haven't been able to encourage him to stop. Ironically, the thing that seems to help the most is if I leave the area while he is going potty. 25% of the time he will eat, the other 75% of the time he will sniff it and then run away. I often look out the window to see what happens. (So it may be a guarding issue more than anything..). But onto my REAL question. Peanut has bouts of diarrhea every so often although I change nothing in his diet. He has a very sensitive system, so I try not to change anything. However, I was beginning to wonder if some of his GI upset might be due to the poo eating. He only eats fresh, so I don't think it would be the parasites, but I had another idea. I give him heartworm medication (Iverhart) and Flea and tick meds (On his back) once a month. Could those be metabolizing and then be removed out of his system through his feces? Would this cause any problems if he were to eat those feces? He had diarrhea about 24 hours after giving him his flea and tick and about 4 days after his heartworm medication.

The vet has now put him on metronidazole in case he has a hard to detect protozoa/bacteria and I am concerned that if he ingests his feces during this treatment, he might get sick.

Any help on this would be appreciated! Thanks so much.

[PeanutsMom07]

I appreciate your comments, but I'm wondering if you read my follow up posts.

How I wish it were that easy. I have tried Deter, Forbid, Potty Mouth, and another kind I ordered from Drs. Foster and Smith. I have tried fresh pineapple (not canned), and anise seed. I have tried Prozyme (an enzyme powder) and pumpkin. I have tried distracting with a treat and keeping him on a leash. I have tried a high quality food and I followed the recommended protocol:  Don't let him have access to poo for two weeks, start the deterent a week into the two weeks, and then allow him to eat the poo (for if you don't allow him to, he won't know it tastes bad.) So I did that with every new thing I tried. I went out every time he needed to go poo in the pitch black of night with a flashlight, in the rain, in the snow, in the blazing heat. I would get his attention with a treat and then throw it away from the poo and then quickly pick it up. The after a few weeks of him not having any poo, I would test him. And he would eat it. And the then the next time, he would eat it and then next time and so forth.

So I hate to disagree with you, but it's not easy. I ran across a bunch of people when doing my research in the beginning that like me had tried nearly everything. But I think for my dog it has little to do with the taste - I think it was a habit - maybe one that he had formed when he was a puppy. Maybe he was scolded for pooing in the house, so he learned to clean up the evidence. Maybe he liked the taste int he beginning and now he considers it "his" and he is guarding it. All I know is that if I leave the area and don't pay any attention to him (that he can see) he will leave it more often than not. And if I hover around, he will rush to eat it - no matter if it tastes like you-know-what.

Like I said I'm just glad that he is leaving it more than eating it. I have a feeling in another year he will have stopped almost entirely (but not the rabbit or cat poo... that's just too tempting I'm sure!)

[Everything_Ren]

Eating poo can easily be fixed... go to the pet store and buy a bottle of "poo eating deterant" such as NutriVet Nasty Habit. I never tried them but my dog eats everything. I sprinkle pepper on the trash can lid and he stays away from the trash because he doesn't like getting pepper up his nose. However, I don't recommend peppering your dogs poo. Mainly I think you'll just have to watch him closely, pick up the poo immediately so he doesn't get ahold of it and distract him with a treat like therese83 suggested.

[PeanutsMom07]

Thanks for the input. Actually, I do give him yogurt at every meal (the greek strained kind). He loves yogurt and it does seem to help his digestion. What's more, because of his sensitive stomach, I have had to create a diet for him. After trying many different high quality low allergen foods like Canidae and Smart Balance, he still suffered from loose stools and upset stomach. Whenever he was sick, I would make boiled chicken, brown rice, and yogurt for him and he was almost instantly better. So I determined that the best thing would be to make his food as much as is possible. Some say I'm spoiling him, but I think I'm saving him discomfort and me vet bills in the long run! He's only 18 lbs so this is not really very expensive  - but if I had a big dog like you do, I might have to do things differently.

I feed him a small amount of brown rice with either boiled chicken, cooked and rinsed ground beef or ground turkey. To that I add a bit of Missing Link powder and some high quality wet food (Wellness brand). Then he gets a teaspoon or so of yogurt, a little dab of canned pumpkin and tablespoon of baby food (mixed vegetables with no onion powder.) He seems to do very well on this diet and we have had far less GI problems. I will check out the link you sent. Because I am making his food, I want to be careful that he gets the right nutrition. (That's why I mix some wet food, to supplement.)

I'm beginning to think that his GI bouts stem from his meds - I think they just don't sit well with him. So, I think I am going to change his HW meds and see if he tolerates a different brand better and make sure that he isn't ingesting his stool for a few days after treatment.

[PeanutsMom07]

Thanks for the concern. When I first saw him eat his stool I was really concerned. However, after a lot of research, I found that it is more common than I ever knew. After a year of dealing with it, I have finally had to accept the fact that he will do it from time to time. At least it is time-to-time and not every time now! I really think that he had some issue with me standing next to him. I tried the luring him away with a treat or throwing a treat away from the poo as I quickly cleaned it up, but that never worked really. When I gave him the opportunity to eat it or leave it, he slowly began to leave it more and more. I think he decided that it wasn't that much fun unless he was playing keep-away with it or something. The first time I found a "deposit" that he had left alone, I nearly cried for joy. No, I never thought I would be thankful to have to clean up dried poo in my yard! But I am.

My biggest concern is that he may be causing himself harm by ingesting metabolized medication. The good news is that after his metro. he hasn't had any episodes. He is due for his HW medication again so I am going to monitor him for the next few days.

Thanks for your input.

[Shyrottilovr]

Because my rottweiler did it too, I know what you are going through. There are many remedies to this. I think that the one that worked the best for me was adding plain yogurt to her food once a day. After three days she stopped, I think that it made the poo smell bad to her or something.
Also the problem may be that the dog is not getting the right nurtition for its breed, try reading the free online books by William D. Cusick at --http://home.att.net/~wdcusick/06.html -- it gives you some parameters to go by.

I ended up switching my rottweilers dog food to Kasco which can be found in most large/ farm animal feed stores. It is easy on the stomach and has the right balance of nutrition for dogs in the working class or those with high energy.

[therese83]

That has got to be making him sick?  Isnt it?

Couldnt you get something he really loves to him the moment he does a poo.

Like throw a lump of Bacon at him + then get the poo away?

I'm trying to think of an idea that might help, I hope he stops