As disgusting a habit it is when dogs eat their own stool, its not without reason. The behaviour itself is called coprophagy which literally translates to ‘faeces eating’. Dogs tend to eat their stool as an attempt to extract more nutrients from their diet. This is normally due to a lack of nutrients within their diet, starvation or disease. Its not just dogs that have this habit either – most non-human primates do. There are other reasons that dogs eat their own faeces;
House Keeping
A behaviour also practised by wolves – its theorised that eating fresh faeces near where they sleep reduces the risk of parasitic infection. This is due to intestinal parasites’ eggs being expelled in their faeces. As the eggs doesn’t develop for several days, eating the faeces reduces the risk of parasitic infection.
Therefore, if dogs defecate near where they sleep their faeces should be cleared quickly to prevent them eating it. Equally, taking the dog further away to defecate could prevent them from consuming the faeces, but doesn’t guarantee it.
Poor Diet
Enzyme deficiency can be caused due to canines no longer eating an entire prey’s carcass, meaning that the digestive enzymes it would normally get from the guts of the prey is lacking from their kibble. This means that some nutrients will remain undigested and will be found in their faeces, causing them to eat their faeces to become less nutrient-deficient. It can also be caused by underfeeding them.
Medical Conditions
Without a vet it can be hard to determine what’s causing the faeces eating as it can be a symptom of a larger problem. These problems include exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), diabetes and intestinal parasites, whose symptoms include weight loss, diarrhoea, increased appetite or loss of appetite, but aren’t limited to them. A trip to the vets can help determine the cause of the stool-eating and help prevent any future cases.
Team Shanklinpets