Re: Stool eating

In Reply to: Stool eating
Category:   Medical
Posted by:  Josie
Posted on:  October 27, 2002 at 01:00:10

: Dear Sir/Madam

: My husband and I adopted a 5 1/2 year old, 20 pounds Jack Russell Terrier who has been abused. This little dog scavenging for food everywhere, indoor and outdoor. He even scavenging for other dog's feces. He has been to the vet twice because of this habit. We have been spending quite a bit of money to bring him back to health. Do I buy the pineapple fresh or from a can? When he we take him to the vet, they prescribe deworm medicine? Can we buy it over the counter at a pet store? We are feeding him Iams(Lam and Rice) 2x a day. Treats only when training.(about 5-10 a day size grain of corn.) Is this from the missed treated he received from his previous home or the food? Please help!

Response:

Hi Josie,

We all thank you for adopting a terrier in need!

Eating feces can be correctable if a dog is eating his own feces. That is when you would use the unsweetened pineapple (you can use canned) if you also own the other dogs that your JRT is using their feces as a snack, you can also give the pineapple to them. If this feces is from dogs you do not own then you are going to have a problem.

It's imperative, especially for a stool-eating dog to make sure he is wormed. Personally I would have the vet worm your terrier as over the counter wormers I don't believe to be as effective. You might also want to consider putting this dog on heartworm preventative all year long. Not only does heartworm meds work for heartworm but will also prevent other worms like round-worm, whip-worms, etc. I have a terrier that loves to eat the deer, wild rabbit and feral cat poop on our property and when you have a few acres of land, it's impossible to police they area, so we keep our terriers on heartworm preventative all year long. Usually it runs just as much as if you were to only have them on it for 6 months and then have the required blood work done to put them back on.

If this terrier is eating feces from your yard, and your yard is small, the best way to keep him from eating feces is to keep your yard clean. If you are out walking him, keep him on a short leash so he doesn't have the chance to sample stuff.

Some people believe feces eating is caused by a lack of something in a dog's diet. I personally don't believe this to be true. You have him on a high quality kibble which should be sufficient, my terrier is on high quality kibble. I just think there are some dogs more prone to this habit than others. Once it's established it's very hard to break, especially if he's eating feces other than his own.

Then you have to just make sure he is on heartworm meds all year long and keep him from giving you kisses ;)