Very often we may find our dog acquiring an unbecoming behavior that inadvertently may put us into embarrassing and awkward situation, particularly in public areas.
Abhorrent to us or not, the behavior of our dog eating his own faeces or poo (the polite way of calling such behavior is coprophagia) is normal and is a common problem faced by many loving pet owners.
The questions to ask are why our dogs doing such an action and what can we do to alleviate such behavior.
In this article, I'm going to discuss some of the causes why our dogs are behaving this manner.
In my second article, I'll be addressing the possible cures to this behavior.
There are several possible explanations as to why our dogs are behaving this way.
Dogs are pack animals that live in the wild in the past.
As with other animals in the wild, by eating their own excretion, nature allows the dog to maximize his food absorption through a secondary stage of food being processed in his body thus increasing his chance of survival in the wild.
Another reason for this behavior is the manifestation of the dog's maternal instinct for nest cleaning and licking immobile puppies to cause defecation and urination, and the consequent action of the mother dog consuming her puppies' wastes.
A third explanation points to the possibility of dietary deficiency despite owners providing sufficient amount of food to their dog.
Of course, there are others who believe that the richer our dog's diet is, the dog will also his resultant faeces to be more palatable.
Last but not last, it is almost possible that our dog acquired this behavior during his period of boredom (eg when the puppy is kept too long in his kennel while the owner is at work, etc).
By and large, coprophagia is not harmful to our dog unless there are worms or bacteria found in his faeces.
The consumption of such faeces will produce toxin that are eventually harmful to the dog.
While we are going to take a look into possible cures and remedies that others have successfully used to eliminate their dog's behavior, do consult your vet if your dog is having sever coprophagia problem or you suspect harmful bacteria and/worms are present in his poo.
Abhorrent to us or not, the behavior of our dog eating his own faeces or poo (the polite way of calling such behavior is coprophagia) is normal and is a common problem faced by many loving pet owners.
The questions to ask are why our dogs doing such an action and what can we do to alleviate such behavior.
In this article, I'm going to discuss some of the causes why our dogs are behaving this manner.
In my second article, I'll be addressing the possible cures to this behavior.
There are several possible explanations as to why our dogs are behaving this way.
Dogs are pack animals that live in the wild in the past.
As with other animals in the wild, by eating their own excretion, nature allows the dog to maximize his food absorption through a secondary stage of food being processed in his body thus increasing his chance of survival in the wild.
Another reason for this behavior is the manifestation of the dog's maternal instinct for nest cleaning and licking immobile puppies to cause defecation and urination, and the consequent action of the mother dog consuming her puppies' wastes.
A third explanation points to the possibility of dietary deficiency despite owners providing sufficient amount of food to their dog.
Of course, there are others who believe that the richer our dog's diet is, the dog will also his resultant faeces to be more palatable.
Last but not last, it is almost possible that our dog acquired this behavior during his period of boredom (eg when the puppy is kept too long in his kennel while the owner is at work, etc).
By and large, coprophagia is not harmful to our dog unless there are worms or bacteria found in his faeces.
The consumption of such faeces will produce toxin that are eventually harmful to the dog.
While we are going to take a look into possible cures and remedies that others have successfully used to eliminate their dog's behavior, do consult your vet if your dog is having sever coprophagia problem or you suspect harmful bacteria and/worms are present in his poo.
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