Puppy faecal matters

Premature weaning of pups and kittens can precipitate conditions such as pica and ingestion of faeces. This is one of the reasons why behaviourists and vets disapprove of pups being homed too early – the bitch has not completed the instinctive education programme. One renowned veterinary ethologist believes that puppies instinctively ingest faeces to obtain a certain substance which stimulates nervous system development.

The moment this behaviour is detected immediate veterinary and animal behaviour attention should be sought to prevent it from becoming obsessive compulsive. Some pet owners are not aware that their pets are exhibiting coprophagy. People cannot be vigilant all day, every day, to control the behaviour. Sometimes dogs will eat the faeces as it is excreted, faster than anyone can move to block the intention. It is normal canine etiquette to sniff faeces for identification purposes and the line between olfactory stimulation and gastronomic craving can be very thin and very quick.

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The first approach to the problem is to ensure that the puppy receives regular deworming with a high quality veterinary-recommended product. Because intestinal parasites compete for space, nutrition and food absorption is important for an intestinal work-up to be done to ensure that there are no other underlying factors invisible to the human eye which can cause a pup to eat faeces. This includes the presence of Giardia and Coccidia protozoa parasites as well as pancreas enzyme efficiency which can individually or in combination result in a malabsorption problem inciting coprophagy.

If the dog happens to be suffering from EPI, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, the prognosis is very poor. In these cases coprophagy is understandable and justifiable and the only remedy which may help such a serious condition is the acquisition of pig or cattle pancreas from butchers or abattoirs and feed them in the raw state to the afflicted dog. These dogs are usually emaciated and pass voluminous stools similar to pale cow patties.

Keeping such a dog alive is open to serious debate. Borderline pancreatic insufficiency cases have occasionally reached a stage where the pancreas eventually kicks in and resorts to its normal functionality. Simultaneously, the owner has to be counselled about responding to this behaviour for fear of worsening it by getting angry with the poor dog. Never rub a dog’s nose in faeces. It will learn only one thing from this ignorant human behaviour – the owner is aggressive, threatening, negative and will instil fears which can be then exhibited by ingesting more faeces when the owner is not looking. Some dogs will become confused by the owner meting out love and punishment and may become, in itself, unpredictable and defend itself against the aggressive owner by attacking. The same goes for hitting the dog with a newspaper or spanking it. The dog has no clue why the person is behaving in this manner and can only cause other trust issues.

If these tests are clear then the diet has to be altered, for about six weeks, to a scientifically formulated high quality, high fibre diet, including vitamin and mineral supplements, or a specific veterinary intestinal diet. This is only on the advice of a veterinarian. As a rule all dogs and cats should have set meals and never be fed ad lib. If this is applied then the dogs or cats will toilet at more regular intervals soon after eating. Once this timing can be physiologically predicted then immediate cleaning becomes easy and the faeces not left on the lawn until the dog decides to recycle it out of want for nothing better to do. Often vitamins and minerals are relished by pet dogs and cats that really need it. In cases of malnutrition in neglected or rescued puppies there may be a malabsorption disorder from starvation and an infrequent poor quality diet. Vitamins, minerals and good food can rapidly restore the imbalance in a matter of weeks.