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E-MAIL TO DR SING
March 31, 2010
Doc,
I would
like to ask, if my 3 months old puppy is
eating its own stool, is it because we
over-feed it or under-feed it ( we feed
him twices a day, once at 9am and once at
around 8 to 9 pm, in between sometime we
give him a little pet milk at 3-4 pm ). I
found out that he had been chewing on his
stool. We are able to prevent it during
the evening time but in the early morning,
I had to work and unable to monitor him.
When I came back from work I found some
pieces of stool being chewed. I read at
the net, there's some tablets where we can
give the puppy eat and make the stool
taste nasty so that the puppy will not eat
it. Is it true? And safe?
Please
Advice. Thanks.
Best
Regards,
Name of
Owner
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E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
Thank you for your email. Stool eating is a common
complaint but most puppies don't do it. The
exact cause is not known. Pet shops do sell
many products like tablets and powders to be
eaten. They are supposed to make the stools taste
bad and therefore prevent stool eating. Some
owners I speak to regarding the powder form from a
dog food manufacturer, claim effectiveness.
As for their safety, I don't know because
there are no scientific studies on such products.
In your puppy, I would suggest the following which
may work or not work in your case:
1. Ensure that you don't play with the puppy in
the morning. Feed him and let him poo in 15
minutes as a routine (if possible). If you play
with him, he does not do it.
2. Sprinkle hot pepper on his stools (without him
seeing you do it). See if he stops eating the
stools after a few days (evenings in your case).
Some owner claims it works.
3. Provide much bigger confined area for him.
4. Feed him small slices of pineapple in his dog
food. See whether the stools will be unattractive
for eating.
5. Let a can of coins drop suddenly when he eats
stools (in the evenings), but not letting him
associate that you are the one causing the can to
drop. The noise is supposed to distract him from
eating stools.
6. There are lots of advices from the internet.
The best advice is to remove the stools promptly.
Let me know if you have successes in any of the
methods I mentioned.
Best wishes.
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