# Eating poop: what works?



## didee (Oct 18, 2009)

My dog has started eating poop. Not every time, but intermittently. Sometimes it's right after she does it; other times she eats an older "sample." I go out and pick up poop as soon as I know she did it, but sometimes she beats me to it.

Yesterday I bought some "Potty Mouth" by Four Paws which are pills that apparently make the feces taste bad and stops the dog from eating them. But today I read some reviews (after I caught her eating poop this morning) and some of the customer reviews were not impressive.

Also, it seems like she enjoys carrying it around in her mouth. Sometimes I notice she will be running with something in her mouth and when I go to check, it's POOP! If I try to get it from her, she runs away and covets it. Again, this is intermittent and I'm trying to get to the poop quickly before she has a chance to get interested in it. 

She's well fed with Wellness Core 2x a day, so I don't think it's for lack of nutrients.

Has anyone used a product like this that works? There was another option on the shelf at the pet store, but I don't recall it's name. I will keep giving it to her, but if anyone has any tips on products which have worked, I would appreciate it.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

I heard just feeding a couple chunks of pineapple before/after a meal makes the poop taste really bad.

I'm not a big fan of adding chemicals or even all natural pills to make a dog's poop taste bad.


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## infiniti (Mar 19, 2010)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> I heard just feeding a couple chunks of pineapple before/after a meal makes the poop taste really bad.





> Yesterday I bought some "Potty Mouth" by Four Paws which are pills that apparently make the feces taste bad and stops the dog from eating them.



You know, I agree with the pineapple thing, then there's Bitter Apple spray. 

But really, after first reading this thread, the only thing that really came to my mind was ... "does poop really taste *so good* that something should have to be added to it to make it taste *bad*????" 

I know this is a major issue with some dogs, and I am sorry to make light of it. There is an article on About.com regarding dogs who eat poop and 20 reasons why they do it. Unfortunately, for some dogs, you can't get them to stop. 

I will say that after reading all the threads on here these last couple weeks about all the poop eaters, I consider myself very fortunate that Bella is not a poop eater ... she kisses me on the mouth, and believe me, I don't think I would be confused about poop tasting good or bad!


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

First, let me say that I have 2 poop eaters and 2 that don't go anywhere near it lol. And btw, they all eat the same food! 

Poop eating can be caused by a few things. Either your dog is missing "something" in his/her diet (some say this is a myth), or they are bored or it's behavioral attention seeking. Or perhaps the diet is not very digestible and it "comes out" (gross!) pretty much how it went in and seems appealing to the dog via smell or taste...I know, YUCK! These are just my theories.

Some say you can add pineapple or pineapple juice...I think it's enzymatic (bromelain?). There are some other "home remedies" that people have tried, such as adding Adolph's Meat Tenderizer to the food (glutamine?) or putting hot sauce on the poop itself to deter eating it. Some people say, "just pick it up asap!" lol. I'm sure there are even others I can't recall...you can google "stool eating in dogs" to find out what they are. 

Anyway, I decided to add enzymes to my girls' diet. I've had success with Solid Gold Seameal, which contains Prozyme (enzymes). I also use various other enzyme supplements. Fresh Digest or Optagest (same thing) is good.
This pretty much put a stop to the stool eating at my house, although sometimes when they want attention, they will stand beside the poop and look to see if I'm watching them hahaha. I will just tell them leave it and they do. I feed a very high quality diet...not raw, although I have fed premade raw foods. Currently, they are eating Wellness CORE. I also use Orijen. I mix can foods in, too. My treats are grain-free, for the most part.

I hope this helped a little 

P.S. The 2 poop eaters are pictured here LOL!


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## didee (Oct 18, 2009)

Thanks for the quick responses! The "Potty Mouth" has cayenne in it (and brewer's yeast), so nothing unnatural or worrisome as far as ingredients in my opinion.

I just happen to have some fresh pineapple so "someone" is going to get a little treat tonight (hope she likes it!).

And I will get seameal tomorrow. I just read some reviews and it appears it helped some dogs with itching problems which my dog has (she chews at her paw).

I read the articles about why dogs eat poop, and the only ones that seem like they might apply are: genetics, anxiety (she's a little nervous sometimes) or she just likes the taste (maybe tasting like the dog food). She seems extremely orally fixated...the dog is not happy unless she has something in her mouth unless she's napping.

Ugh, everytime she licks me I almost gag...

Thanks for the tips and keep them coming if anyone has more!


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## didee (Oct 18, 2009)

Update:

1. She likes pineapple. Yay.
2. She hasn't eaten any poop yet today (knock on wood).
3. I bought Seameal (yikes, it's expensive, but she's bites at her paw and I am hoping it helps her in more ways than one) and Fresh Digest. I also bought Adolph's unseasoned meat tenderizer (the vet also suggested this), but haven't given it to her yet, since I gave her the Potty Mouth, Seameal, Fresh Digest and pineapple.
4. Fresh cored pineapple on sale today for $2.99. I love pineapple, so I bought it for me, and got some canned pineapple for her.

I hope all of this works.


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## losinsusan (Nov 20, 2009)

My 5 month old pup has started to eat other dogs poop at the dog park. Really old stuff not fresh. It is suppose to be cleaned up but you know how that goes. I notice he does it when he has been playing hard for an hour and is hungry. He needs to eat right after playing. So I started to bring treats with me and I take him out to the car and feed him a bit and then bring him back in and he stops doing it. I know that to them it is just another food source. It isn't gross to a dog. I like that bitter apple idea! I have that here and might take it along. If he gets a bad taste of it, he might decide to wait for his food instead. Treating his food won't help he doesn't eat his own!!


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

When I first joined this forum when Bella was a pup there was a "poop eating" post...I added, "thank goodness that is ONE thing she DOESN'T eat!"...wouldn't ya know it, a week later I caught her snagging a turd in the yard.

I tried EVERYTHING when I realized it wasn't just a one-time craving! The additives from the pet store...joke. The pineapple...just made her fart more and didn't help...cayenne stuff she wouldn't touch. I gave up on the additives and tried bananas. Apparently (myth?) if they are missing potassium they will try to get it from their poo. Nothing. More farting. 

The only thing I could do is be SURE I pick up every turd in her reach...including the gigantic Lab turds from the neighbor's dog. I've become a very good poop-flinger - aiming at THEIR side of the yard! 

Since her tummy troubles, I've changed her diet, added some pro-biotic/enzyme additives to her food - and now that I think about it - I haven't seen her turd-stalking since then! 

hmmmmm.....


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## elah42 (Feb 12, 2010)

Colleen won't eat her own poo (well, I also am very conscientous about cleaning up after her so she doesn't have a chance, as well) but there are some poos that she just loves. I don't know what food different dogs are eating that turn their poo in to candy. I've taught "leave it" and "drop it" but there is no reward I can give her that is a higher reward than poo.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

elah42 said:


> Colleen won't eat her own poo (well, I also am very conscientous about cleaning up after her so she doesn't have a chance, as well) but there are some poos that she just loves. I don't know what food different dogs are eating that turn their poo in to candy. I've taught "leave it" and "drop it" but there is no reward I can give her that is a higher reward than poo.


Hmm Nia likes to eat bird poop and geese poop. Truffles likes to eat cat poop, rabbit poop. They both LOVE horse poop! It's so disgusting! None of them will touch dog poop though. Nia actively avoids it and if she steps in it she looks traumatized and hops around as if her feet are melting.


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## bklantz (Feb 14, 2010)

My 7 month has the poop eating bug BAD - I have tried basically everything; meat tenderizer on her food, pumpkin in her food, pills from the pet store, spraying the bitter spray on her poop....nothing has worked.

I think it depends on the dog - I swear my pup has no taste buds she eats anything she sees, literally anything!

I pick up her poop right away every time - each time she squats I'm instantly next to her to pick it up and now at home she knows she isn't suppose to so she doesn't automatically turn around as fast as she can anymore but still if I gave her 1 min before I pick it up she would be on it.

I hope yours isn't as bad as my pup because she is BAD - at the dog park the second she sees a dog squatting she runs over as fast as she can, even if it ends up being a female just peeing.

It's annoying so hopefully the pineapple will work for you, I hadn't tried that so maybe I will give it a try too!


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

I couldn't get Chloe to eat anything with pineapple or come close to it so I tried pumpkin - she LOVED it and no more poop eating.


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