Is eating poo bad?

Hi guys,

My 5 year old wheaten will sometimes eat poo (especially cat poo) when we come by it in parks and stuff. I brush her teeth, but is it bad for her health?

Thanks guys,

Sebastien Poulin-Chartrand

ugh! just say "Enjoy your meal"

well, me thinks, it's not that bad for her health as a general rule
but as I think the less cat owners does really care properly for their cats, the less will be properly and regularly dewormed, so your dog getting worms of it could be quite possible

I can't imagine it's good for them, Duncan really upset his tummy twice with enteritis type symptoms we put that down to poo eating on both occasions.

Sounds disgusting but it is quite common. Can be a sign of nutritional deficiency though, especially vitamin B.The danger would be that she could pick up parasites etc which can't be good.Does she get fed before you take her out?maybe she's just plain hungry?

Our dogs used to regularly raid the cat litter tray
They never had any problems about it but they and my cat were all de-wormed etc.
It's not very nice and I would definitely not let her do it if you can prevent it, but it is quite common so unless it's taking on extreme proportions I don't think it's really something to worry about.

My dogs have all done this in their youth and then grown out of it. My youngster (18 months) still does it so I just have to try and pick up the poo before he gets a chance.

I would be afraid of parasites.

It could be that your pup is not getting enough vitamins and minerals from his food, I would check the quality of whatever you are feeding him.

And than some dogs just seem to enjoy the extra "meal" which is disgusting to say the least.

My Cody could never leave horse poo alone even though she had an excellent "drop-it" that was just one thing she could not resist. And that was a dog that dropped half a chicken on command.

Haha if you find a way of stopping it please let me know!
Pepsi eats poo all the time, we have to be very, very quick to stop her.
Some dogs just do, regardless of their diet.
By the way Pepsi is 12 and not grown out of it yet!!!!

Ditto to wot Nippy said!

All my dogs have eaten poo of one sort or another - the first one adored chicken and lamb poo; the second horse and lamb poo, and our current one is very partial to cat poo.

Short of muzzling them when out and about, it is very hard to stop this habit but I think that only cat poo might cause a problem in the shape of unwelcome worms.

That's encouraging isn't it!

There's a proper word for this isn't there? And it's not unusual in the animal world at all by all accounts.

Having said that I am VERY glad my dog doesn't do this! I don't even like her sniffing poo when we are out!