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I have several friends whose pups have a rather unusual palette that leans towards eating poop. A little gross I know. I could never quite understand it. Both my pups don’t have a predisposition for fecal matter. In fact, Angelo gets freaked out by poop (it’s pretty funny). I remember asking my veterinarian about it and looking it up online, there was never a clear cut explanation. However, we might have an answer as to why some dogs demonstrate this behavior. A recent study reveals that it could have to do with being greedy:
A new study led by veterinarian Benjamin Hart, director of the Center for Animal Behavior at the University of California at Davis, has managed to link the off-putting behavior to “greedy eating” (dogs that quickly ravish their food bowls, according to owners) as well as an instinct connected to canines’ ancestral wolf pack days.
The article does go onto say that dogs maybe looking at feces as a secondary food source. This sort of falls in line with some of the stuff I’ve read that says the cause of poop eating could be from a lack of nutrients in their body or a lack of enzymes. Either way you fall back to nutrition. Evaluating the type of food you are feeding your pup and try to figure out if there is something amiss in their diet. A few canine nutrition experts suggest that probiotics may be a way to help with this issue.
Do you know a dog that has issues with eating poop? If so, what other suggestions do you have?
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