The other day I got a call from Ron of Fort Collins. His 8-year-old Pekinese, Cody, had suddenly decided to start eating his own poop.
Ron was not real happy about this. He’d gone to his vet and got some powder to sprinkle in Cody’s food but it wasn’t working. What was going on and how could he stop Cody’s sudden very socially unacceptable behavior?
I explained to Ron that puppies may briefly experiment with eating feces as a normal part of exploring their environment. However, when a grown dog suddenly starts this behavior it is usually for one of two reasons: Either the dog is experiencing a nutritional deficiency or more likely from the do'’ perspective, the feces tastes good.
I asked Ron if he had switched dog foods recently. He said he had but not real recently. Since Ron’s vet had given Cody a clean bill of health, I decided to go ahead and approach the problem from the it-tastes-good theory.
Ron was feeding Cody a big piece of cooked chicken breast in the morning followed by an evening meal of canned food. It seems that when Ron got Cody as a rescue four years prior, the little Peke refused to eat dry food so Ron has given him the canned rations ever since.
What was different was the brand of canned food. He had gone from a so-so brand to a premium brand several months before the behavior materialized. My theory was that Cody had only recently discovered the “outcome” so to speak of this switch, and once discovered had decided that it was a tasty treat.
Dogs, especially older dogs, can only digest so much protein. What their body can’t use is eliminated in the form of waste. This is why most dogs think of cat feces as such a delectable treat. Cats, because they are much more finicky about what they eat than dogs, need more protein. More protein going in means more protein coming out. And, voila, instant doggie treats.
I suggested that Ron eliminate the chicken breast. The little dog did not need that much high quality protein. I also suggested he start giving him a little good quality dry dog food mixed with canned. I told Ron that canned food isn’t usually high in fiber and that the combination of too much protein and too little fiber was probably causing the problem.
I figured that Cody wasn’t feeling full after a meal and when he investigated his stools he found what he thought was a suitable food source.
Ron made the switch the next day and he called me with the good news. Cody loved the dry food, gobbling it down. And he hasn’t eaten his stool since the switch.
Ron’s happy, Terry’s happy that Ron’s happy, and little Cody is no longer a Pekinese non grata.
