CHENNAI : Hi, As disgusting as this may sound, it is not so uncommon for a dog to eat its own poop. Dogs are natural scavengers that are attracted to scent. Unlike humans, they are not averse to faeces.
The reason behind your dog’s faeces eating could be medical or behavioural.
As in all cases, talk to your vet is the first step. Malnutrition, deficiencies, stomach parasites and insufficient food are some of the reasons for this behaviour. If this is the case, the doc will recommend dietary changes and appropriate medications to address the issue. Appropriate supplements and nourishment will automatically address it.
There could be other behavioural reasons for this as well. In puppies and new mothers, eating faeces is common and temporary. The mother licks her pups to encourage them to defecate and also clean them for the first few days after birth. Puppies in turn, have a natural curiosity that tempts them to explore their surroundings. While some pups just sniff around, others try out the feces out of mere curiosity. Pups usually grow out of this behaviour.
In older dogs, anxiety is one of the significant reasons for poop eating. Pets that are treated to physical harm as punishments tend to eat the feces to hide evidence in fear of further punishments. Similarly, dogs that are confined and isolated for unreasonable time periods tend to do this. Dogs in puppy mills have been observed to have this behaviour because they are usually underfed, malnourished and confined cruelly.
A dog also does this as a reason to entertain himself when he is alone and bored. This is the case when the dog has no physical or mental stimulation. In some cases, it is an attention seeking tactic where he knows it is an easy way to draw your complete attention to him. If you have an older dog that has this habit, the younger one could simply be copying his sibling. But, this behaviour can easily be corrected with correct and consistent training.