Why do dogs like cats poop?
Dogs eat animal poop as if it was such a delicacy. I find cat poop seems to be the most popular delicacy snack among dogs.
Why dogs love eating animal poop? Some dogs eat their own.Why?
There are some theories.
1. when the dog in question was puppy,they see their mother dog clean the den by eating litters' poop,and litters learn that den should be clean place during this phase. However, some dogs mimic mother's behavior even if they grow up.
2. The puppy grew up in puppymill who had to clean the den by themselves made it as habit and remained with them
3. From boredom
4. Poop has undigested matter and that attracts dogs to eat the poop
All sounds understandable theories for reasons to me,but I was curious more on why dogs adore cats poo.
With curiosity,I looked up the ingredient list for dry food for dogs and for cats to compare.
Our dog Palette used to eat "Blue Buffalo kibble" so,I looked them up to compare.
Here is a cat food list.
Here is a dog food list Palette adored to dine on.
By looking at 2 kinds of food,what do you notice??
I noticed that dog food list has 2 protein source(both fish),cat food list has 3 fish protein source.
As a result,protein % in dog food is 22%,while cat protein % is 32%. dog food fat% is 12%,cat food 15%.
I maybe wrong but if <4> theories was the one to be the cause,then,maybe dogs adore cat poop because cat poop can be having more undigested protein matter. And that can be the cause of attraction to dogs.
Anyway,putting the theories aside, what can you do about this to stop this disgusting behavior???
I like watching dog training TV show called " it's me or the dog" with trainer Victoria Stilwell.
She uses positive training method with clicker,and her approach is usually,when dogs are doing what they are expected to be doing,the dogs hear the sound of the clicker *click* and then get yummy treats.
She let them associate the good behavior with yummy treats.
What I like about this method is that dogs have a chance to THINK by themselves and provide behavior voluntarily.
I remember one of her episodes covered poop eating dogs sometime ago.
She used "leave it" command to teach and clicked and treat for one case.
In other case, she gave chunk of pineapple to make the dog poop taste unpleasant.
Pineapple thing is known pretty well for this poop eating problem solution,but I wonder,what if dogs re-discovered yummy taste in poop even if one point time dogs learned the poop taste bad?
If owner stopped giving pineapple thinking that the behavior disappeared,I think poop still can be attractive and if for some reason dog ate it from boredom or something,then,dogs can re-discover the yummy taste. I do not feel it to be the solution to loop out from this behavior problem.
One of the poop eating dogs solutions that was suggested on google search was quite interesting.
Pineapple seems to be the most popular suggestion but, some suggest to spray the Bitter Apple spray until dog stop eating it.Other suggest to sprinkle meat tenderizer.
I was curious what is in the meat tenderizer.Most seem to suggest to use Adolf's meat tenderizer for this,so,I looked it up specifically.
It says the founder used papin from papaya and salt and other ingredients which I could not find what else is in it. Click here for founder story of Adlf's meat tenderizer.
Some other suggest to sprinkle MSG.What is it exactly? Learn more.
I do not think it right because MSG is processed item and not naturally occuring stuff.I think people tend to avoid those for their diet too!
How good that can be for our furry friends? It cannot be good if not good for us human,right?
I personally feel that picking up the poop on the spot,switching the diet to more digestible menu, teaching "Leave it" command and discourage the eating habit would be the way to go.
I know dog can be very persistent and try their own ways and unwanted behavior does not go away over-night. You must be consistent and be patient.
Palette does not try to eat other dogs' poop on walk here in VA.All she does is,locating the poop that people did not pick it up,sniff it,point at it with paw,and she goes around as far possible to come back to me and we keep walking.
Interesting thing is that,she is not a poop eater for dog poop,but if she were in Indianapolis,then she turns to poop eater.I have no idea why her behavior changes. when we back to VA, she never show one bit of interest in eating the dog poop.That is very weird thing.
With cat poop, she is so fast,and she gets it before I notice what she ate. I know she did something not supposed to because she looks so obvious and not looking right. Palette cannot tell a lie,I think
On the talk of poop, recently me and my husband were talking about poop bag. We buy poop bag from pet store and use them to pick our dog poop.
Now,I forgot to buy more and, I started using sandwich bag that has no zip. With my dog's poop size,I can use it okay. 150 bags per box and cost about $2.Not bad. But my husband came up with pretty clever idea for this.
He suggested to keep the veggie plastic bag from store to use for poop bag.You know the long plastic bag you tear from roll around veggie shelves,and put lettuce or other veggies?
I think it is cleaver idea because it is free and it is easy to tie the bag. It maybe a little emberrasing to use it because people can see-through the dog poop but,I think I go with his idea. I usually get 6 poop bag rolls package from box pet shop store with price around $9. So,that is quite money saving tip there!!
Why dogs love eating animal poop? Some dogs eat their own.Why?
There are some theories.
1. when the dog in question was puppy,they see their mother dog clean the den by eating litters' poop,and litters learn that den should be clean place during this phase. However, some dogs mimic mother's behavior even if they grow up.
2. The puppy grew up in puppymill who had to clean the den by themselves made it as habit and remained with them
3. From boredom
4. Poop has undigested matter and that attracts dogs to eat the poop
All sounds understandable theories for reasons to me,but I was curious more on why dogs adore cats poo.
With curiosity,I looked up the ingredient list for dry food for dogs and for cats to compare.
Our dog Palette used to eat "Blue Buffalo kibble" so,I looked them up to compare.
Here is a cat food list.
Here is a dog food list Palette adored to dine on.
By looking at 2 kinds of food,what do you notice??
I noticed that dog food list has 2 protein source(both fish),cat food list has 3 fish protein source.
As a result,protein % in dog food is 22%,while cat protein % is 32%. dog food fat% is 12%,cat food 15%.
I maybe wrong but if <4> theories was the one to be the cause,then,maybe dogs adore cat poop because cat poop can be having more undigested protein matter. And that can be the cause of attraction to dogs.
Anyway,putting the theories aside, what can you do about this to stop this disgusting behavior???
I like watching dog training TV show called " it's me or the dog" with trainer Victoria Stilwell.
She uses positive training method with clicker,and her approach is usually,when dogs are doing what they are expected to be doing,the dogs hear the sound of the clicker *click* and then get yummy treats.
She let them associate the good behavior with yummy treats.
What I like about this method is that dogs have a chance to THINK by themselves and provide behavior voluntarily.
I remember one of her episodes covered poop eating dogs sometime ago.
She used "leave it" command to teach and clicked and treat for one case.
In other case, she gave chunk of pineapple to make the dog poop taste unpleasant.
Pineapple thing is known pretty well for this poop eating problem solution,but I wonder,what if dogs re-discovered yummy taste in poop even if one point time dogs learned the poop taste bad?
If owner stopped giving pineapple thinking that the behavior disappeared,I think poop still can be attractive and if for some reason dog ate it from boredom or something,then,dogs can re-discover the yummy taste. I do not feel it to be the solution to loop out from this behavior problem.
One of the poop eating dogs solutions that was suggested on google search was quite interesting.
Pineapple seems to be the most popular suggestion but, some suggest to spray the Bitter Apple spray until dog stop eating it.Other suggest to sprinkle meat tenderizer.
I was curious what is in the meat tenderizer.Most seem to suggest to use Adolf's meat tenderizer for this,so,I looked it up specifically.
It says the founder used papin from papaya and salt and other ingredients which I could not find what else is in it. Click here for founder story of Adlf's meat tenderizer.
Some other suggest to sprinkle MSG.What is it exactly? Learn more.
I do not think it right because MSG is processed item and not naturally occuring stuff.I think people tend to avoid those for their diet too!
How good that can be for our furry friends? It cannot be good if not good for us human,right?
I personally feel that picking up the poop on the spot,switching the diet to more digestible menu, teaching "Leave it" command and discourage the eating habit would be the way to go.
I know dog can be very persistent and try their own ways and unwanted behavior does not go away over-night. You must be consistent and be patient.
Palette does not try to eat other dogs' poop on walk here in VA.All she does is,locating the poop that people did not pick it up,sniff it,point at it with paw,and she goes around as far possible to come back to me and we keep walking.
Interesting thing is that,she is not a poop eater for dog poop,but if she were in Indianapolis,then she turns to poop eater.I have no idea why her behavior changes. when we back to VA, she never show one bit of interest in eating the dog poop.That is very weird thing.
With cat poop, she is so fast,and she gets it before I notice what she ate. I know she did something not supposed to because she looks so obvious and not looking right. Palette cannot tell a lie,I think
On the talk of poop, recently me and my husband were talking about poop bag. We buy poop bag from pet store and use them to pick our dog poop.
Now,I forgot to buy more and, I started using sandwich bag that has no zip. With my dog's poop size,I can use it okay. 150 bags per box and cost about $2.Not bad. But my husband came up with pretty clever idea for this.
He suggested to keep the veggie plastic bag from store to use for poop bag.You know the long plastic bag you tear from roll around veggie shelves,and put lettuce or other veggies?
I think it is cleaver idea because it is free and it is easy to tie the bag. It maybe a little emberrasing to use it because people can see-through the dog poop but,I think I go with his idea. I usually get 6 poop bag rolls package from box pet shop store with price around $9. So,that is quite money saving tip there!!
I had a poop eating dog a rescue - 3yr old purebred Sheltie that the owners took to the vet to be pts because she barked too much. A barking sheltie - oh my how strange!! Anyhoo, she ate her own poop if i wasn't quick enough to pick it up. The owners also complained that she wasn't housebroken and peed in the house. It turned out that the owners kept her crated 10-12 hrs a day and when they came home she barked like crazy and peed because she wouldn't pee in her crate. The vet put her on a low protein Science Diet canned food (5% protein) and said she had a bladder infection and had to be on antibiotics and so on. So..I think the owners wanted her pts because they didn't want to pay vet fees and buy expensive food. The vet thought she was too nice a dog to put down so he contacted Sheltie rescue which is where I came in. i was feeding kibble at the time but put her on a 22% protein kibble and had to exercise her slowly as her muscles were mush. She stopped eating her poop about 2 weeks after I got her - she was never crated, on a high protein diet, regular exercise and lots of attention - which also resulted in NO BARKING unless someone came to the door. I rescued her in February, and in the following September (7months later) she got her third leg to obtain her Canadian CD with a 193 score and High in Class!! She turned out to be an awesome little dog.
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I cannot believe that people go to vet to put their dog to sleep just because dog barking too much.Good thing she found you.And, she is receiving better care,better diet,much bonding time,and much more attention..I think everything you did for her worked great to stop the poop eating habit.
Reading your comment I thought that previous owner crating dogs for 10-12hrs is way too long..poor dog. Cooped up in very cage for long time never be a good thing for dogs..Sometimes,I also wish more people walk their dog,not just let the dog cooping up in small fenced area day in day out. There is one house near us that has one pit bull in probably 6 feet 6 feet fenced area.This dog has dog house in the fenced area but,I am thinking that if the dog was spending 24 hours in such a small area,then,pit bull being an energetic dogs,she/he may be stressed.. I also know there is one house that has Rottie in the fenced area and,she/he is there day in day out,but every time we walked by,that dog slam into fence with loud bark and,palette gets scared and,we now avoiding the road for walk. Other house has JRT,when we walk by,one time,this little furry friends escaped from fenced area,followed palette and I to our house..now this JRT has more secured fence but she barks so loud when we passed by as if to say "Heey,can I join?".
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This is very disturbing to hear that the owners of this poor dog wanted to get rid of it like a defective product. Shame, shame! IMHO the vet should have reported the owners to the local Humane Society and they should have been investigated for cruelty to their animal. The owners should have been punished by being locked up in a crate for 10 hours.
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We also use the newspaper sleeve plastic bags for poop patrol...They are long enough to go over your whole hand and tie a nice knot when you've picked up the poop.
A few weeks ago, our dog found something left on the sidewalk, probably some other dog's poop, and gobbled it up before the son who was walking her could catch her...The next day she had horrible diarrhea, bright yellow. Yuk! Silly dogs. Sometimes you have to be faster than lightning to catch them from eating something they shouldn't eat.
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News paper sleeves to use for poop bag is actually good idea! However, downside is,you get those on only rainy days around here. So,if we had all day rainy day,we get free nice poop bag,hmm.Which you like better:good weather ? or nice poop bag?
For poop control, maybe teaching your dog "Leave it" commands maybe better. I walk my dog and,when she was on kibble,she used to pick doggy poop here and there if I let her.I,without thinking anything,I tried to take the poop out,and came closer to where my dog was.But I think coming closer to my dog who try to munch on other dog poop was bad idea.She might have felt threat and tried to munch it and swallow very quick. I now think that teaching command "leave it" and control your dog without physically reacting would have been better.
I like the dog training show titled "It's me or the dog".It is on animal planet channel on 9 pm or 10pm(sorry I do not remember which) on Saturday night. It is one hour show but it is good show to watch.She is an British trainer(used to be actress) Victoria and,she uses clicker and treats and explain things what you need to do to solve your problems in easy to understand words. In that show, there was a dog who loves eating anything and like to guard and eat paper. His favorite inedible food was paper
Find very high valued training treats and keep in your hands(make fists and hold the treats). Dog maybe go sniff your hands and nose at it to try to get to the yummy treats. Don't open the palm.Once the dog back off from the treats you click and give the dog yummy treats from other hand,not the hand you are holding ,and then eventually,right about time the dog back off,you say"leave it" and click/treats/praise. It works.
My puppy class teacher taught us puppy parents to use the foot for this. put the treat on floor,step on it.Dog come sniff at it and try to paw at it but wait until dog back off and you click and treat(not the treat under your foot).This method worked fine too.
Eventually,you can toss the treats around near your dog or on your dog's body such as on dog's paws but they can leave it alone even if you are feet away..and they take the treat from you not the treat on their paw.Leave it alone forever until you release them.
I saw Victoria was using the paper for the dog that loves eating paper but I wonder if it is necessary to use actual poop to train to back away from the poop. Maybe,with leash on,if your dog found doggy poop and try to go sniff at it,you maybe you can quickly say "leave it" and click and treat that you carry on walk maybe?? I do not think I like to train my dog with actual poop:holding or stepping like other item
My dog stopped eating other dog poop,rather making face,pointing at each poop and go around to back to me as far around as she could.It is so funny but she cannot resist temptation of cat poop.It still is her delicacy thing on walk.
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