My four month old puppy broke out of his kennel this morning. I must not have had the door latched properly. Anyways, he proceeded to eat the contents of the cat's litter box. His appetite is fine and his energy is great. Is this something I should be worried about?
Yes, refill it before the cat needs it. Seriously, feces eating is all too common in puppies and even older dogs. It usually doesn't cause problems, but can result in worms. It may be more common in healthy, lean dogs than over fed ones.
There are some more things I need to say, but need to get ready to go to a meeting now. I will post more later. For now, relax, be more careful about latching the crate, and think about moving the litter box where the cat can reach it, but not the puppy.
I have a dog and two cat, our dog Miss piggy loves to go Tootsie roll hunting in the litter box, I find it revolting, not to mention what her breath smell like and the thought of her licking you is ugg, well lets just say something had to be done.
I tried every remedy on the market for coprophagy or eating of feces, they all say they work, let me clarify this for you they do not work, at least the ones I bought.
In the end we simply turned the litter box around so only the cats could weasel their way in and fat head Missy Piggy could not. I wish you all the best, when Labman comes back on he will be beyond helpful with advice to. Good luck, Donna
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As far as what else to do about it, Lilly brought up one of the best, move the box to where the cat can get to it, but not the puppy. Having found the lunch box, he may return to it any time he is loose. The additives she says don't work are meant to add to the dog's food to keep it from eating its own. I have no idea if they are safe for cats, nor the home remedies, grapefruit juice or canned pumpkin.
I sometimes have the problem about the time I switch my 4 month olds to adult chow as is best for large breeds. There is some evidence it is due to diet. I would stick with what you are feeding or switch to an adult chow that may make the problem worse. As disgusting as feces eating is, as I said, usually it doesn't hurt the dog, and it may outgrow it. The dangers of excessive amounts of an overly rich diet for a puppy are far greater. The fast growth can lead to joint problems and overweight, both leading to shorter, less active lives and more pain.
I have usually tried to control it by keeping things cleaned up. My last 2 puppies wanted to clean up after my older dog. In turn, she wants to clean up after the deer and rabbits when we go to the woods.
Thanks for all the great advice! I am feeding him Purina One for Large Breed Puppies. Do you think that this is okay, or that I should switch to an adult food? I wouldn't want to mess around with feeding my cats anything different because one of them has a medical condition and has to eat specific food. And the puppy doesn't eat any of his own feces. I clean them up every day.
With the large breed puppy chow, it isn't near as important to switch to adult so early. The manufacturers are moving away from the rich, fast growth formulas for the larger breeds. Still it would be a good idea maybe when you run low, start mixing in a little adult until by the end of a week it is all adult and the puppy chow is gone.
My Nita will be 4 months old the 29'th. I think the 40 pound bag she started on will run out just about then.
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