Coprophagy- Stool Eating

 

 

 

 

Coprophagy is the medical term for stool eating.  The behavior is common to young puppies and nursing mothers.  Coprophagy less commonly occurs in healthy adult dogs. There are three categories of coprophagy:  1) Autocoprophagy- eating one’s own feces, 2) Allocoprophagy- eating the stools of other members of the same species, and 3) Heterospecific coprophagy- eating the stools of other species. 

There is also Intra-pack allocoprophagy,which is found in multi dog situations.  It is most commonly observed with subordinate animals that ingest the feces of more dominant pack members.  There are a variety of potential physiological and psychological causes for the behavior. 

 

Physiological causes may include:

1. Hunger,
2. Feeding only one time per day,
3. Feeding protein rich food,
4. Overfeeding,
5. Feeding a poor quality diet,
6. Parasites/Worms,
7. Deficiencies in digestive enzymes,
8. Pancreatitis,
9. Gastroenteritis,
10. Food allergies,
11. Cushing’s Disease,
12. Diabetes, and
13. Hyperthyroidism.

Psychological causes may include:

1. Allelomimetic behavior,

2. Attention seeking behavior,

3. Boredom,

4. Understimulation,

5. General anxiety,

6. Environmental stress,

7. Emotional stress,

8. Obsessive–compulsive behavior, and

9. Self reward.

 

Solutions:

First, take your coprophagaic dog for a thorough veterinary examination to determine whether an underlying parasitic, digestive, endocrine, or allergic disorder is causing the behavior.  Most likely your dog’s stool eating has a behavioral origin.  Still, we are wise to start by ruling out or treating potential medical origins. 

 

In addition, check with your veterinarian regarding the proper amount of food intake for your dog’s age, weight, body structure, and activity level.  Also, ask your vet whether you are feeding the right type of food (puppy, adult, lite, senior, performance, prescription).  If you are overfeeding or underfeeding or feeding the wrong type of food, adjust your dog’s diet accordingly.  Moreover, if you are feeding only one time per day, adjust feedings to two or three times per day.

 

Concurrent with any other facet of the solution plan, it is imperative that you prevent the continuation of the behavior.  Therefore, until the behavior is permanently modified you need to accompany your dogs during their outdoor toileting excursions.  Furthermore, keep the offending dog on leash during these excursions and promptly dispose of any fecal matter.

   

  

If you believe your dog may be bored or understimulated, provide productive proactive stimulation in the form of more frequent and longer walks, rigorous physical exercise, energetic interactive play, and obedience practice. Also, provide stimulating chew toys (bones, kongs, et al.) and play toys (balls, rope toys) that will occupy his focus when he is unsupervised.

 

If you believe that your dog’s coprophagy stems fully or partially from attention seeking motivation, then remain calm whenever he/she performs the behavior.  Avoid verbally reprimanding or chasing your dog if he/she obtains access to feces.

 

If your dog is generally anxious and/or prone to obsessive-compulsive behavior, then speak to a local behaviorist about scheduling an in-home private lesson that covers methodologies that reduce or eliminate the anxiety.  If your dog’s anxiety is especially severe, then you may need to administer anti-anxiety medication prescribed by your veterinarian in combination with any behavior modification program.

 

If the onset of your dog’s coprophagy is correlated to an identifiable trigger that is causing your dog emotional or environmental stress, then if possible remove the trigger stimulus or remove your dog from the trigger stimulus.  If it is not possible to eliminate the stimulus or to insulate your dog from the stimulus, then consult a local behaviorist about designing a counterconditioning/desensitization program that will prompt your dog to become more comfortable amidst the stimulus. 

 

Similarly, if your dog’s stress stems primarily from relationship or status issues with animals residing within the household, schedule an in-home private lesson with a local behaviorist to design a behavior modification plan that resolves your dog’s anxiety amidst the other dog(s).

 

In the interim, when you observe your dog investigating stools, before he ingests the feces, divert his focus by calling his name, taking out a toy, running, or making a sudden noise that will attract his attention. Alternatively to simply diverting your dog, you may punish him/her by providing a sharp leash correction and/or shouting “No,” “Drop” or “Leave it” in a deep high-volume voice.  We recommend diversion if your dog is highly anxious or likely to become afraid of you if you punish.  We recommend punishment in lieu of diversion if the behavior is very frequent and habitual, your dog is less anxious, and your dog will not remain afraid of you after receiving a leash or verbal reprimand.

 

Another option is passive aversive conditioning. There are several methods of passive aversive conditioning, including putting garlic or meat tenderizer in your dog’s food or applying veterinary products called Forbid or Deter in your dog’s food.  In theory, the garlic, tenderizer, Forbid, or Deter will alter the taste of the stools so that your dog will find them unrewarding.  However, in application the products rarely work.

 

Another passive method often recommended is to put Tabasco sauce or hot pepper sauce or paste on the stools. However, most dogs can differentiate the smell of peppered stools versus non-peppered stools.  Thus, they learn to smell stools before swallowing and still ingest feces that don’t smell from pepper.

 

Active aversive conditioning is often an excellent alternative or addition to prevention, diversion, punishment, or passive aversive conditioning. Active aversives include a shake can (a soda or hard plastic bottle filled with coins), an air horn, clanging pots, a squirt gun, or an electronic collar.  When using an active aversive you prepare yourself by hiding proximal to your dog and stools that are in a known location.  Then, conduct a “stake out.”  When you observe your dog investigating the stools, before your dog attempts to eat the feces, shake the can, blow the horn, clang the pots, squirt the gun, or activate the collar.  Optimally, to modify behavior, the aversive should cause a “fear-startle” response that immediately interrupts your dog’s behavior.  After several repetitions, we wish your dog to associate the act of approaching the stools with a consistently unpleasant outcome, regardless of whether you are present.  Consequently, your dog should modify his behavior long-term by intrinsically avoiding contact with stools due to the expectation of receiving a negative outcome.

 

However, in your case there are some contraindications to aversive conditioning.  Noise aversion via a shake can, air horn, or pots will concurrently startle your other three dogs who are innocent of any infraction.  Similarly, pulling out a squirt gun may frighten more than just the guilty dog.  And we do not recommend using an electronic collar when the stimulated dog is proximal to other dogs.  Therefore, in your situation, we only recommend using active aversives when the offending dog is isolated from your other three dogs.

 

Lastly, positive reinforcement works well in combination with diversion, punishment, or aversive conditioning. After diverting, punishing, or applying the aversive, when your dog ceases to investigate the stools, encourage an acceptable oral behavior, such as interactively playing with you in combination with a tug rope, ball, or other orally stimulating toy or by having him independently chew/play with an appropriate non-interactive item (sterilized bone, nylabone, gumabone, antler, et al.).  Show or wave the interactive or non-interactive object in a manner that will attract your dog’s attention and have him move toward you and/or the item.  Then, as he/she approaches, play interactively and praise if you integrate an interactive toy or just lightly praise if you encourage use of a non-interactive chew object.  By including positive reinforcement, we are allowing your dog to achieve the same benefits he seeks from stool eating, but he/she instead will receive those benefits from a behavior that is mutually satisfying.

 

In summary, coprophagy is usually just an annoying behavior that doesn’t cause anything more serious than “doody breath.” However, at its worst, coprophagy can cause diarrhea, gastroenteritis, periodontal disease, viral illness, parasitic illness, and bacterial infection.  Fortunately, by properly diagnosing the origin of the condition and appropriately selecting from amongst the list of available treatment options, we generally can quickly modify the behavior.  Nevertheless, since accurately diagnosing and treating some of the underlying causes can be complex, you may require the inclusion of a veterinarian and/or behaviorist when resolving coprophagy problems.

 

© Copyright Mark Spivak and Comprehensive Pet Therapy, Inc., July 2010, All rights reserved.

 

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If you wish a more detailed description of how to resolve this problem, please read the long version of this article on the author’s website http://cpt-training.com.

 

Please note that the above article is written principally for informational purposes. 

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