My Brittany will not stop eating her poop

[JasonW77]

I have a 10 month old brittany and since she was around 4 months old she is obsessed with eating her own poop. I spoke with her vet and he suggested for-bid which work for about a week after the main dose. So we did a second dose per the instruction hasn't stop her. I keep her yard clean as often as i can get to it but she still seems to eat it. Now she only eats her own. I'm worried she could pick up some type of parasite from doing this especially with warmer weather coming. It just stinks when she comes inside and you go to pet her and you can smell it on her breath or she licks you. Does any one have any other ideas for me to try? Thanks

[kninebirddog]

With one dog had to double the dose the first couple days and then had to give it to her for literally a month before she finally broke the habit...nasty

what are you feeding her?

[big steve46]

What do you expect from a Brittany?

Seriously though, could a change in feed help? I'd say that's possible as perhaps the dog simply is still hungry after eating his food. What are you feeding and how much? If your Vet approved the diet, that doesn't mean much.

[kninebirddog]

What do you expect from a Brittany?

Seriously though, could a change in feed help? I'd say that's possible as perhaps the dog simply is still hungry after eating his food. What are you feeding and how much? If your Vet approved the diet, that doesn't mean much.

Steve hate to tell you the one we had the worst problems with was one of bob's ,,,,,Setters

[big steve46]

What do you expect from a Brittany?

Seriously though, could a change in feed help? I'd say that's possible as perhaps the dog simply is still hungry after eating his food. What are you feeding and how much? If your Vet approved the diet, that doesn't mean much.

Steve hate to tell you the one we had the worst problems with was one of bob's ,,,,,Setters

Somehow I knew you were gonna say that. So, did the serious part of my post help, or did you only treat it as a "habit-breaking" procedure?

[kninebirddog]

The second worst is this one pointer she is also a fecal artisit in the kennel and on the chain gang. and I will admit I had a couple britts that were in to recycling but a week of forbid they got over it

But Steve serious this one setter she would try and scarf it up as it was coming out...was gross but it funny to watch at the same time

[KY Grouse Hunter]

sounds like a $#!* eater to me. J/k

[natetnc]

my new brit does not eat his own poop but he loves my female brits poop. to top it off my female never ate poop but she is a greedy dog and now eats her own just so he can't have it. she will not eat it if she does it in her kennel and he can't get to it. i am going to try the for-bid when i get my next LCS order up.

[big steve46]

I pretty much free-feed as i feed 2-3 times a week. It's easy because I only have 1-2 dogs at a time. I have owned several Setters in the last 35 years, and none were poop eaters. Could the feeding style have anything to do with it, or I have just been lucky?

[MikeB]

I would do a search the web for "Corprophagia" the more formal name for Stool Eating. You may find more help there.

I have known of products like Prozyme or Wholistic Digest-All Plus, a digestive enzymes to help stop the habit. Many times it starts as a nutritional deficiency then into a habit that can be hard to stop if your not around to correct the problem.
Prozyme Products - http://www.prozymeproducts.com
Wholistic Digest-All Plus - http://www.k9power.com/wholistic_digest_all.php

[hustonmc]

What kennel did you get your dog from? Please PM me because I don't want to ruffle any feathers. I have been noticing this alot from a certain kennel, so this would rather strengthen my claim, or make it a mute point. It's not dogs kenneled all day either, they'll go run for 20 minutes, come back into the kennel, poop, then eat it.

[JasonW77]

I feed her Perina adult dog food. She gets 1 1/2 cups in the morning and the same when i get home from work. The dog food bag says she should get a total of four cups and that seems like alot of dag food for a brittany. Also some days she eats it all and other days she doesn't. What she doesn't goes outside with her in the am when i leave for work and its always gone by the time i get home. Should I be feeding her more? I guess I could start all over with the forbid and see if tis takes this time I still have some left. Or at this point of time should I take her to the vet? This is my first gun dog and I want to keep her fit with out over feeding her.

[big steve46]

I feed her Perina adult dog food. She gets 1 1/2 cups in the morning and the same when i get home from work. The dog food bag says she should get a total of four cups and that seems like alot of dag food for a brittany. Also some days she eats it all and other days she doesn't. What she doesn't goes outside with her in the am when i leave for work and its always gone by the time i get home. Should I be feeding her more? I guess I could start all over with the forbid and see if tis takes this time I still have some left. Or at this point of time should I take her to the vet? This is my first gun dog and I want to keep her fit with out over feeding her.

Which Purina Adult food? Their better foods should not recommend 4 cups for a Brittany. Unless you are feeding their poorer quality Dog chow. Most of their good foods would probably recommend no more than 2 1/2 cups a day. i don't feed purina, but I know they have some good feeds and some not so good. As someone mentioned, she may not be digesting and assimilating the food properly.

[claybuster_aa]

I feed her Perina adult dog food. She gets 1 1/2 cups in the morning and the same when i get home from work. The dog food bag says she should get a total of four cups and that seems like alot of dag food for a brittany. Also some days she eats it all and other days she doesn't. What she doesn't goes outside with her in the am when i leave for work and its always gone by the time i get home. Should I be feeding her more? I guess I could start all over with the forbid and see if tis takes this time I still have some left. Or at this point of time should I take her to the vet? This is my first gun dog and I want to keep her fit with out over feeding her.

I agree with others that suggested a possible dietary issue. 4 cups for a Brittany weight class does seem high, an indication of a bottom line Purina feed, maybe the standard Dog Chow, but no excuse for underfeeding your dog according to the feeding tables. I think it is a good idea to use them as a guide. If your going to go that route (standard kibble), then I think your best option is to supplement the diet to give it a boost. You have to be careful with some of these bottom of the line feeds. They may be wonderful for some Brittany house dogs I'm sure, but you plan on hunting this dog I assume, right? The standard kibble may be too weak in proteins and may have to go with vitamin supplementation to help. Some theorize the dog smells the protein in the poop and that's the attraction.

[JasonW77]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I'm wondering what would be a good dog food for her since she going to be a hunting dog. Also how much do you think she should be feed daily? Thanks again to all of you this is a great forum

[big steve46]

Stay away from WalMart when buying feed. They have a couple that are ok, but you are better off finding a locally owned feed and farm store. I presently feed "enhance-hunter's edge," but there are several good products. Loyall by Nutrena is great. Purina's better products are great. It depends on what you want to spend, but most parts of the country has good feed for less than .75 a pound.

[natetnc]

amount to feed depends on specific dog and activity level. i just started with the recommended amount on the bag and adjusted from there. i have a summer amount for low activity level and a higher amount during hunting season. i have recently had to change these amounts since i added a second pup to the back yard, energy level up = increase in food. if you pay attention you will find the correct amount.

[stlgsp]

Try adding a little cottage cheese or yogurt in with her food. It worked for a Lab we had and a friend's Britt.

[NeBrittany]

Try adding a little cottage cheese or yogurt in with her food. It worked for a Lab we had and a friend's Britt.

+1

My 10 month old Brittany of all things is obsessed with eating stools. He always has a bowl of Eukanuba on the floor for him when ever he wants it, but will go days with out eating. His vet told me to mix some yogurt in with the food to get him to eat.

Somewhere I heard to feed them a few pieces of pineapple each day to curb the stool eating. I've been trying this for the last week and so far its been successful.

[mcbosco]

as far as the poop eating goes try this: 1) make sure you clean up after her immediately after she goes so she has no chance of eating. eventually she MAY stop because there is nothing to eat and 2) put some Accent meat tenderizer in her food, like a 1/4 teaspoon, it seems to work for many dogs because it breaks down into a fowl tasting compound.

as for foods, i think the best lower end food is probably Chicken Soup, best middle is Canidea and best upper is Orijen. Depends on where you live and budget. no matter what dry i mix and i dont use a lot of dry, i always mix some raw, at the very least plain whole milk yogurt and eggs.

good luck

[ezzy333]

as for foods, i think the best lower end food is probably Chicken Soup, best middle is Canidea and best upper is Orijen. Depends on where you live and budget. no matter what dry i mix and i dont use a lot of dry, i always mix some raw, at the very least plain whole milk yogurt and eggs.

It has been proven over and over that the feed has nothing to do with it. Number one thing that seems to get it started is boredom but we have never been able to really comeup with a nutritional or health cause.

The Accent or there are some products available that have been developed just for the purpose of keeping them from eating their waste seem to help most dogs.

Ezzy

[BigShooter]

The only dog we've had this problem with is my son's French Brittany!

Brittanies are such quick learners. No doubt this is learned behavior from the dams eating all of the puppies' poops for at least the first five or so weeks of their lives. Next time find a line of dogs with slow learning, dumb dogs and buy one of those.



Sorry .... just kidding!

[JasonW77]

Well I started this post awhile ago and just to update. We tried for-bid per my vet instructions. He has a french brittany that has the same problem, and he tried it and it seemed to work but the dog got the runs from it. So he had to stop. I gave it a try and ended up doing the double dose and well a month or so later back to eating it. Now I'm going to try the yogurt. Wish me luck

[Sharon]

Well I started this post awhile ago and just to update. We tried for-bid per my vet instructions. He has a french brittany that has the same problem, and he tried it and it seemed to work but the dog got the runs from it. So he had to stop. I gave it a try and ended up doing the double dose and well a month or so later back to eating it. Now I'm going to try the yogurt. Wish me luck

I was told the forbid is a waste of money, so I haven't gone that route. The only thing that does work, is to go outside right after she goes, and tell her to leave it, and then immediately clean it up. My neighbors probably think I am nuts, and quite mean to my kids (hopefully they realize I have a dog, and am talking to her), because you can regularly hear me out there saying not very nice things after she gets a turd. That is my BIGGEST pet peeve.

Have any of you noticed that it is mostly female dogs that eat their poop? I rarely hear of a male dog doing that.

If you find something that works, let us know!

Yeh? So what's your point?