Why Are Some Dogs Interested In Their Poop?

When you see a dog eat poop, the grossness makes you roll your eyes. But what’s the cause of this? Most dogs don’t consume this waste material, but the fact is that a good number of them do – enough to raise some questions.

A paper published in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Science recently showed just how and why this may happen. The study made use of surveys as a research tool and reached out to more than 3,000 dog owners from Canada, America, and even other countries. In the first survey, only 16% of all owners of dogs said they had seen their dog consume poop more than 6 times in their lives – the criteria needed for a coprophagy diagnosis.

Another survey focused on just these 16% of people. They were to provide information on the frequency of this behavior. 62% of them said it happens daily, while 38$ said it happens weekly.

So, why does this happen? Nutrition! There’s a lot of fiber and nutrition within feces, so malnourished or underfed dogs may feel compelled to eat something this fibrous to help them digest their daily foods. Some dogs may also be simply a little more greedy and just want to eat anything they can find!

Feature Image Source: Pixabay