- Messages
- 47
- Reaction score
- 9
- Points
- 8
anyone any idea why my one year old shih tzu has started eating other dogs poo?
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Sometimes they just like the taste... particularly if the other dogs have been fed on cheaper food with lots of filler and even sweeteners.
But it's also suggested there could be something lacking in your dog's diet - what do you feed her? It might also be boredom, so if you could distract her and find something more interesting for her to do that might help.
Anecdotally, my dog used to do this but stopped when I changed him to a raw diet. There may be a link there, or it might have been coincidence. Certainly plenty of raw-fed dogs still eat dog poo.
Tails.com are good for delivery but it's not as great a food as the marketing would have you believe - if you ask for specific things like for example both poultry free and low protein (as an example, I forget the details) they can't actually provide these. A friend uses it, it does get delivered on time but it seems expensive for what it is and her dog's poos are somewhat spectacular.
I normally refer people to www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk for independent ratings of dog food. They score foods from 0 to 5, and it's a useful source of information. Many suppliers will tell you who does home delivery, I use Gentle (4.8 out of 5) and get it delivered free. You may not find a rating for Tails as it has several mixes.
Tails isn't the best food - to save time, I'm shamelessly copying @JoanneF 's words from another thread:
There's a chance that switching him to a better food might make a difference, but it's by no means guaranteed. Dogs seem to vary in how resilient their stomachs are - for some, eating something icky can cause problems/illness, but others seem absolutely fine. Remember, they do lick their own bums!
You sometimes see suggestions that you should muzzle your dog to stop this - I wouldn't bother. In my experience, it doesn't stop them and you end up with a horrible filty muzzle!
I don’t really want to change his food again it took a while for him to settle on this one as we tried a few and he wouldn’t eat or eat for a couple of days and not bother but he seems to like tails