Feeding question

[GypsySoul22]

Originally Posted by APBT_Samara

I would say you did make her that way. Dogs won't starve themselves. You should stop giving her that food mixed in and only offer her kibble if thats what you want her to eat. Dogs in wild eat a variety of meat, not the same thing for days, months and years to do this without feeding homecooked/raw you can rotate kibble with different protein sources. If you still want to add in the fresh food you can blend it up and mix together with the kibble to see if that works. Sometimes even still a dog can eat around it and even pick up the coated kibble and spit them out just trying to eat off the other food.

Yes, she does spit out some of the kibble.
My main concern is the poop eating my husband has mentioned. I wonder why she is doing this.

(I have been cutting down on meat, giving her more of the kibble and juices to stretch the meat--we're on a budget and I don't always have it around for her).

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions--why do you guys think she is trying to eat other dogs' poop?

[leorah]

People will tell you that coprophagia is due to any number of things, but in reality, no one really knows why dogs (and other animals) do it. It appears to be a natural behavior that can also be learned.

I can tell you that I have a formerly feral foster dog who came to me as a feces-eater, and two of my other dogs--who never ate poop--learned to do so from him. I've successfully discouraged one, and am working on the other. The foster dog is incorrigible so I follow them all around with my scoop to pick up the poop before it can become a snack.

Here's an article by a vet on the subject: Douglas Island Veterinary Service - Coprophagia (http://home.gci.net/~divs/behavior/coprophagia.html - broken link)

[mominbristow]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

Yes, she does spit out some of the kibble.
My main concern is the poop eating my husband has mentioned. I wonder why she is doing this.

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions--why do you guys think she is trying to eat other dogs' poop?

Our old Brittany only ate poop in the winter, when it was frozen (we called them her poopsicles ). She ate Innova, a good-quality food, lived to the ripe old age of 15-1/2, in perfect health until her last week, and never ate poop any other time of the year. Sometimes dogs just do incredibly nasty things for no reason!