One
day I got to wondering if poopy-eating was all that bad for them. What if those
sun-dried poopies that they eat like potato chips are actually giving them some
nutrients that their adorable itty-bitty little bodies need? Could poopy be
good for them? I was in a quandary, let me tell you. So, I brought out my old
chemistry set, put it together on the kitchen table and stared stupidly at it
for a while. Then, I called a veterinarian to see what someone with actual
knowledge had to say about Max and Jack’s poopy prowess.
Of Course, Poopy is Bad
Dr.
Debbie White of Lone Mountain Animal Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev., had the
answers I was looking for, and then some. It turns out, poopy is not all that
great for dogs, but not exactly like eating a dead, maggot-encased bird (Max
ate one of those once.). Often animals do it to ingest more vitamins and
nutrients. Some do it because they’re just gross.
“There
are some other diseases that are shed in stool … Toxoplasmosis which is
dangerous for pregnant woman, otherwise, just gastric upset,” White said.
Coprophagy, The Final Frontier
The
act of eating non-food items for dogs is called pica. And, it turns out there
is an actual word for poopy-eating -- Coprophagy.
“This
behavior comes from when the mother dog cleans the (poopy) from the litter of
dogs birth to 4 weeks,” White said.
Many
dogs will begin the practice of coprophagy during the time that their mother is
cleaning their poop. The mother will usually continue this practice until the
puppy is weaning. Often, the puppy will then begin to imitate its mother, and a
new poopy-eater has been created.