Why does my dog eat horse poop?
This is a question that we often get from sitters and owners who work with Rover. Help the community out by answering them in our forum!
5 Answers
What I have heard from my vet, your pup is lacking something in its nutrition. Your vet could tell you exactly and prescribe that certain nutrition.
The act of eating poop is called coprophagia. Many dogs just enjoy eating poop as strange as that sounds, they will eat all kinds of poop for no real reason. Some dogs create a habit of it and can be very hard to stop. The issue with this is that many parasites can be spread by eating poop, so you want to try and stop this behavior as much as possible.
Many dogs like the taste (and smell) of things we humans would find disgusting. Animals that eat plants have much longer digestive systems than meat eaters because plant material is harder to digest. Even with the longer process, some of the plant material horses eat come through in the poop. Try to think of it as dog salad!
Sometimes it's a nutrition or enzyme deficiency. But some dogs just like eating poop, rolling in poop, becoming one with the poop. Disgusting, I know.
Also, it is delicious! It smells amazing and is out there just inviting your pup to inspect it. Dogs will eat all kinds of poop if exposed to it. It's always good to ask your vet if you suspect it is for more than just a treat just to be safe.
Some dogs find horse manure particularly appealing. Mine do.Consuming poop from other animals may cause health problems if the stool is contaminated with parasites, viruses or toxins. Also, if the horse has been wormed recently you need to be concerned about the worming agent used.Such as ivermectin
Horse stool is basically "recycled grass" dogs seem to love it. The best way to stop them is to provide them with sometthing better and/or correct them before they actually eat it. Good luck!
Horse manure is like perfume to dogs so they love to roll in it and even eat it. Try to keep them from eating it because you don't know what diseases the horses have and it could make your pup sick.
Because in the wild the only way the dogs can get nutrients from from fibrous plants is after they have been processed by another animal. Usually they eat the stomach contents of a grass eating animal- called tripe and it's something dogs need and usually don't get in domesticated homes. I
I'm not sure whether or not horse poo contains the rich nutrients if tripe, but it likely has some similarities... The only concern, I guess would be medicines, illness, or parasite that could come from the horse