Why is my puppy eating its poop? Is this normal? Can it get sick?

Question

My puppy is about 3 months old and I am puppy pad training him. When he poops only on the puppy pad he tends to eat his own feces. When I notice him eating it I say no bad dog but I'm scared when i am not around he will eat all his poop and I wont know ...is this normal? can he get sick? Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Male | unneutered | 2 months and 5 days old | 5 lbs

Elva Ma DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello, and thank you for your question. It is quite common for puppies to eat their own poop! While disgusting, it is not toxic. I would try to discourage him from eating it, by cleaning it up right away. You can also try out a product called For-Bid, which is a powder you mix with his food, which is supposed to make his poop taste bad when it comes out the other end. It doesn't always work, but it is worth a shot. Petco should sell this or some variant of it. The time that eating feces can get problematic is when the puppy has intestinal worms. This can make treatment of the worms difficult, as the dogs "autoinfect" themselves when they eat their own poop. I would advise getting a stool sample checked for parasites, if you haven't done so yet, and also deworm him at monthly intervals as recommended by your vet. And of course, make sure you are feeding him a well-balanced, nutritional complete diet appropriate for young growing pups. I hope this helps, and that Milo is otherwise happy and healthy!

Why is my puppy eating its poop? Is this normal? Can it get sick?

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