Coprophagia is a common behavioral complaint presented by the puppy and dog owner. Although dogs of all ages display the behavior, it is particularly prevalent in the case of puppies and young dogs. Besides eating their own feces, some puppies specialize in directing their interest towards other dog's feces, cat feces, or horse droppings. While the habit represents a small health risk to the offending dog, the owner is often disgusted with the "vice" and unwilling to tolerate it. Many persistent coprophagic puppies have been given up as the result of the problem, especially where the dog interacts with young children. COPROPHAGIA
Steve Lindsay Canine Behavioral Services Philadelphia, PA
The exact causes of the habit are unknown. Many anecdotal correlations between stool-eating and various psychological states ranging from boredom to attention-seeking have been suggested but not convincingly demonstrated.
There appears to be some connection between stressful and unsanitary rearing practices and the incidence of coprophagia. One rather fanciful theory suggests that the some dogs have learned to eat their feces by imitating their owner performing clean-ups. Unfortunately no study to date has been performed to identify the causal factors underlying coprophagia. Whatever the case may be, the dog is definitely not adverse to eating his or other animal's feces. The canine mother instinctively elicits elimination and happily ingests her brood's excrement. Perhaps this is the natural basis for the dog's attraction to feces. Most dogs actively explore and "taste" with their noses the droppings of other dogs and animals. Apparently, for some puppies and dogs something in the feces is sufficiently interesting for them to go further and eat it.
Some experts have speculated that undigested food or digestive enzymes are the sought after ingredients.
Certainly, the resistance of the habit to punitive training suggests that some very strong drive motivates its performance. Most owners observing their puppy's indelicacy for the first time are horrified and demonstrate their disgust with a strong reprimand and punishment of some kind. Many puppies respond and desist from the habit -- at least when the owner is present. The most commonly recommended course of training for the coprophagic puppy is to contaminate the feces with some offensive substance like hot sauce. Such an approach may seem reasonable until one realizes that the puppy quickly learns to avoid the tainted feces by smelling it and movingon to a more appetizing stool not so treated.
One rather persistent, if not ingenious authority, recommends carefully injecting the feces with hot sauce through a hypodermic needle. The theory, believe it or not, is that the dog will not detect the hot sauce so concealed. Considering the olfactory powers of the dog this procedure seems ludicrous and unlikely to be very effective. Even if the hot sauce could be masked in such a way, the exercise would be pointless since the repellent effect of the hot sauce requires contact with mucous membranes in order to be effective. The coprophagic dog does not chew their prize, but usually gulps it down in a single action, leaving little time to release the repellent substance.
Other common remedies include products aimed at making the stool smell offensive like Forbid. For dogs attracted to undigested proteins occuring in their own stool, the addition of papain (a natural proteolytic enzyme) to the diet may facilitate more thorough digestion and render the feces less attractive.
Copyright 1995 Steve Lindsay All rights reserved -- do not reproduce without permission.
