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 cleaning the den by eating litters’ poop,and litters learn that the den should be clean place during this phase. However, some dogs mimic mother’s behavior even if they grew up.
2. The puppy grew up in the 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 as 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.
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 the dog food is 22%,while cat food’s protein % is 32%. Then, dog food fat% is 12%,cat food fat% is 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 known as solution for dogs that has habit of eating poop .
However, I wonder,what if dogs re-discovered yummy taste in the poop even if one point time dogs learned the poop taste bad?
If owner stopped giving pineapple thinking that the behavior has 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 personally do not feel it to be the best solution for 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 occurring stuff.I think people tend to avoid those for their diet too!
How good would it 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 best way to go.
I know dog can be very persistent, and try their own ways and unwanted behavior does not go away overnight. 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 doggie 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 embarrassing 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 store with price around $9. Therefore,that is quite money saving tip there!!
