# Tabasco sauce ???????



## cockapoolvr (Dec 25, 2006)

My cockapoo has started a recent diet - doctor's orders. Since his diet started, he began eating his poopies, which I can't stand! After trying ForBid for 5 days, it has failed to make him stop eating them.
My doctor has suggested just putting a drop of hot sauce on the poopies and let him eat it. 
I tend to think of this as a little inhumane, but I'm also at the end of my rope with this issue.
Some people on this forum have suggested adding pineapple to his diet, but that also adds calories, which my vet is really strict on right now.
My dog has lost 1 1/4 lbs so far in a 3 week time period. He was 30 1/2 pounds to start, and the doc wants him down to 20 (which I think is too much, I'll settle for 25 lbs).
Please give me some help with this.:redface:


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## katielou (Apr 29, 2010)

What food are you feeding?
My dogs only ever did it with science diet so i switched them to a low calorie diet that wasn't full of nasty crap.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Some diet foods are not fully digestible, which is one cause for poop-eating. What brand and formula is the food? I don't think a small chunk of unsweetened pineapple has a lot of calories. . .it's worth a try. My dogs like hot sauce  .


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## Sighthounds4me (Nov 7, 2010)

What about just cleaning up right away? He can't eat what isn't there?

In addition, rather than feeding a crappy food like most "diet" dog foods, why can't you feed him less of what he was on before? And increase exercise? For treats, try baby carrots - very few calories there, because they are mostly undigestable.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Although I don't think it's hot enough to be "mean", I'd just pick up the poops as they are dispensed. Some dogs love stuff like that. For example, back in the day I had a dog who liked to eat the dirt out of our large potted Norfolk Island pine tree's pot. Thinking I was really cleverly going to discourage this, I mixed cayenne pepper into the top 2-3 inches of the dirt -- and came home later to find the top 2-3 inches of dirt completely gone. :/


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## cockapoolvr (Dec 25, 2006)

At this point, I am poop scooping as soon as it comes out, but he can be quick!
The vet wants him to eat Nutro Natural Balance for Overweight and Underactive dogs (the brown bag). One cup a day total. For the first time, he really enjoys his kibble. I mix it with boiled fresh string beans, which is the only table food the vet says he's allowed to eat since it virtually has no calories.
Prior to the diet, he was eating Authority brand (Petsmart's store brand) kibble, which looked like it had good ingredients in it, but it probably was high in calories.
When you give him pineapple, is it the canned pineapple? I'm thinking of trying this method. How much do you give?


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## Horseshoe (Nov 10, 2010)

Here is a link the dog food info. is this the brand your vet recommended? The weight control is only rated a 2-star.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/nutro-natural-choice-dog-food-dry/


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## cockapoolvr (Dec 25, 2006)

Yes, my vet specifically told me to use this food, or a prescription Iams which I know Benny doesn't like. So I chose the Nutro.


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## Sighthounds4me (Nov 7, 2010)

Well, something to remember is that vets are generally not nutritionists. Often, the only knowledge of canine nutrition they have has come from Hill's (the owner of Science Diet), and specifically relates to that brand of food. They have no idea what makes a good food good, and a bad food bad.

Personally, if I had an overweight dog, I would reduce the amount of food I feed, and increase activity. I would stay on the same food.

In fact, I have done just that. I had a foster Greyhound come to me OUTRAGEOUSLY overweight. She was almost 20 pounds over her race weight! The poor girl had no tuck-up, and was literally round. We saw the home she came from, and it had a tiny, tiny yard. I suspect she never got walks. And I know she was overfed, and fed poor quality food, because the guy gave us a summary of her feeding schedule. Awful. So we got her on a better food (high protein, to maintain muscle, and low/average in fat and calories). We fed her a strict two cups of food daily, and gave her free run of our backyard with our Greyhound, and leash walks. Within 3 weeks time, she had lost almost all the weight!

Honestly, one cup of food sounds excessive for a dog that size. But then, I am used to feeding a food with far less filler. All that grain you see on the ingredient list is nothing but filler. The dog gets little, if any, value from them, other than to fill the stomach, and make the dog feel fuller. Then, it ends up going through the dog, becoming stool, which you have to prevent him from eating. I would check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com for info on how to select a better quality, more concentrated food, and feed that. I would also be walking that dog about 1/2 mile at least twice a day, to help work some weight off.

By the way, 20 pounds would not be unheard of for a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix. Assuming your dog is a mix of MINIATURE Poodle and Cocker, it would be about right. Male Cockers should be 25-30lbs., per the breed standard, and Mini Poodles should be 12-18 lbs. 20 lbs would be right in the middle of an average of the two.


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