A very nasty habit indeed and very difficult to break.
What is the cause of eating faeces
Maybe your dog is a Labrador or other kind of retriever, in these dog breeds this behaviour is seen more often. If your dog is castrated then he is often hungry. Also your dog can be bored, then eating faeces is an occupation. If his food is full of carbohydrates, not tasty or lacks vitamin B1 then this can be the cause of eating faeces.
How to take care of this problem
- If it is abnormal behaviour, then you can try to break this habit with help of a behavioural therapist. Ignore the behaviour, as negative attention by punishing your dog is also attention. Try to transfer the attention from the faeces by acting interesting. Like throwing a ball up in the air, suddenly run away, duck or act as if you have discovered a rabbit hole.
- If your dog is normally off the leash when you are walking, keep him on the leash in the future. Then he is not able to eat faeces.
- You can also reward your dog with his own food during his walks. Then his stomach is filled and he is not so hungry when he wants to eat faeces.
- If need be you can transfer to food less tasty, with less carbohydrates and more proteins and fat. Instead of a big meal twice a day you can give for at least four times a day a small portion. In this way he will be less hungry during the day and his food is better digested.
- When your dog only gets dry kibbles he can miss a certain structure in his food. You can add cooked vegetables, like green beans, to his food.
- Dry kibbles can also be soaked during 10 to 15 minutes in lukewarm water. Then the stomach and intestines of your dog have less trouble with digestion.
Which food supplements to use
- You can add HOKAMIX to the food, this stimulates stomach, gallbladder, intestines and pancreas to secrete their juices which will support digestion. The food your dog consumes will be better utilized.
- Also a Moor product (like Sanofor) can be used.
