Why does my dog eat poopy diapers?
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!
2 Answers
As disgusting as it may seem, dogs just love the smell and taste of human poo, just like they love cat poo and horse poo. It could be for the left over nutrients in the poo, the actual taste of the poo, who really knows. So poopy diapers are a tasty treat, nasty to us but tasty to them. There is no real side effects for the dog who eats poo, other than being down right disgusting, the real issue is with the diaper filling. Diapers are now filled with some sort of gel that can be deadly to dogs so it is very important that dogs do not have access to the poop filled diapers. Make sure you dispose of them in a way that dogs cannot get to them. If the dog does get to it and eats the diaper filling, call your animal poison control agency and follow their instruction.
Unfortunately what smells good to us, and what smells good to a dog are not often the same! To a dog that poopy diaper is just an interesting smelling item that must be investigated with his mouth. And if it's as good as it smells (to them!) then it's going to get eaten! It's best to keep them in a sealed container so your pup isn't even tempted!