Sophie's red blood cell count went up to 33!!

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Her weight is down, but her RBC count is up; I am so happy. We have to continue her medications, but with this good news, I'm hoping we won't have to keep her on the medications as long as we originally thought. The vet said to up her food intake by 2/3. She's still eating her own....ew, you know. I don't know how to stop that other than to go out after she's 'gone' and throw it into the woods!!

Anyway, this is great news~!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Eating her own feces could be just another side effect of her illness, or a result of medication.

Glad the numbers went up! Hope she continues to improve.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I found this article on coprohagia and some vets will tell you to put meat tenderizer on the piles - after they potty. BUT with Sophie you may not want to increase her sodium intake at all.

Also wondering - could you ask your vet if you can feed her raw liver? Very high in iron - would that increase her red blood count?

Glad to hear our girl is well.


Why Dogs Eat Poop: Definition of Coprophagia

Coprophagia is the ingestion of poop that is neither accidental nor incidental. It is deliberate and habitual.
Other abnormal canine eating issues include pica (eating of nonfood material), psychogenic water drinking (consuming more water than necessary for regular daily use), anorexia (starvation to the point of extreme, and deadly weight loss), and gorging (serious, unhealthy overeating).
The focus here is on coprophagia and why dogs eat poop. But, you’ll see that dogs can have a variety of other eating problems. Interestingly, you’ll probably also notice that several of these eating problems are also found in humans, such as anorexia and gorging. We’re kind of like our canine friends sometimes, aren’t we.
Below there are 20 reasons listed why dogs eat poop. In addition, at the end of this article you’ll see a summarization of the reasons. Hopefully you will understand exactly why dogs eat poop so that you can solve the problem or take some action to improve the situation.

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Why Dogs Eat Poop: 20 Reasons


1. Your dog might be hungry. If your dog doesn't have access to food, he might eat poop.
2. Some dogs will eat poop to clean up an area like a housekeeper. This is most likely if your dog is confined to a crate or kennel, or when he's chained up or otherwise restricted. He's taking care of his space.
3. If your dog likes to carry poop, and then eat it, it could be genetics. Some dogs have instincts to carry stuff in their mouths.
4. Your dog might be eating poop because of parasites or worms. They can **** nutrients out of your dog, driving him to eat poop. It might also leave him extra hungry because of the lack of proper fuel.
5. Your dog might be eating cat poop or other animal poop to get key nutrients and minerals not available in his own food.
6. Some dogs will simply eat poop to pass the time. Dogs will eat poop because they are bored or lonely. It can be a sign of neglect.
7. Your dog might eat poop because he's anxious, nervous or otherwise upset. Stress will drive animals to do odd things.
8. Some dogs will eat poop to hide the evidence. If you punish your dog for pooping, he might eat it to stop you from getting angry.
9. If your dog has puppies, she might eat puppy poop. This is an instinct to hide the poop from predators. Poop is evidence. Getting ride of it keeps her puppies safe.
10. Some young dogs and puppies will eat poop as a novelty. That is, they'll eat poop as an experiment. They don't know better.
11. If your dog watches you pick up poop, he might learn to do the same. This is called allelomimetic behavior. Your dog observes you and learns from you, by putting the poop in his mouth you put poop in a bag.
12. Your dog might see others dogs eating poop. From this, they learn to eat poop too.
13. Many dogs simply like the taste of poop. This obviously doesn't make sense to dog owners but that's irrelevant. Some dog like to eat it and that's that. It's warm, moist, and very much like what your dog was given as a very young puppy.



14. If your dog food lacks key nutrients, he might eat poop. Your dog is trying to get "food" with nutrients any way possible, even from his own poop.
15. Sometimes dog poop seems like dog food. This can happen when dog food is low quality and includes materials that are easily passed and not absorbed by your dog. When the dog poops, it seems to be very much like the food he just consumed!
16. In some cases, dogs will eat poop if they are given too much food. This is especially true if your dog's diet is high in fat.
17. Some dogs will eat poop to gain attention. Many dog owners get very upset when their dog eats poop, which means the dog gets attention. This is a wonderful opportunity for your dog to interact with you, although it is because of negative attention.
18. It is possible that some dogs will eat the poop of other, more dominant dogs. Your dog might be more submissive than other dogs, resulting in strange poop eating behavior. This seems to occur more in households with multiple dogs where dominance and submission is a factor. Obviously this doesn't explain much about dogs eating cat poop or other animal poop.
19. It is possible that your dog wants to eat more than one time per day. If you only feed your dog once per day, and your dog eats poop, it could be an indication they want to eat more frequently.
20. In some cases, your dog will eat poop by accident. Dogs are curious and will try to eat almost anything, including poop. Dogs explore the world through taste and smell, much more than humans.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Wow. Starbie.....I never knew there could be so many reasons for a dog to eat poop! :rofl:

BUT as for the "eating disorders", yeah I've seen that. We had a basset years ago, Baby was her name.......she'd go for days without eating, even when tempted by people food. (I tried everything) Kept having the vet check her out from stem to stern......nothing wrong. She just wouldn't eat. Ate barely enough to keep going.

Betsy has a thing for the litter box that drives me nuts. :faint: So we keep a child gate up at the bathroom door so Bruce can get to his box but Betsy can't. Molly's never shown an interest.

I know something else they forgot to add to the list though.........

Dogs will eat people poop. Well, more specifically, baby poop. If Nichole forgets to bag a diaper and get it outside, Betsy will dig it out of the trash and clean the poop out of it before shredding it all over the house. Ewwwwwww!! Fortunately this has only been a very rare event. That stuffing in the diapers scares me. I don't want her injesting it.

Glad Sophia's rbc count is up. I was also wondering if you fed her some liver if the iron would help her. Hope she continues to improve.

Hugs
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Even though her iron levels are normal, she is still anemic - they are not related, actually, which is strange to me too. And since whenever I give her the iron supplement the vet provided, poor Sophie pukes it all up along with her meal, I don't do that anymore. Instead, I've been supplementing her diet with raw chicken livers and using dehydrated liver for treats. She loves them and the vet approved this.

Also, as a 20lb dog her diet was 2/3 Cup in the morning and two chicken necks at night. Since she dropped all her weight and is now at 15lbs, we've upped her intake to 3/4 Cup in the morning, 1/2 Cup at noon, and the two chicken necks at night, with lots of liver sides/treats. And when I give her the medications, I make a little peanut butter and bread ball for the added protein.

Her food is very well and scientifically balanced raw food, meat and bones. I've decided to go back to feeding her as you would a puppy, where you're trying to make sure they gain approrpriate weight and getting all their nutrients. So, tonight I'm picking up some raw oats and plain whole fat yogurt. I will mix some of that into her morning and noon mixture of meat and veggies for some added bulk.

I'm hoping that with the added nutrients and fats, this will help with the poop eating. She only eats her own poop and I'm pretty sure it's due to the prednisone...it's making her ravenous, which is not unusual. Also, it's very likely that with the anemia, she may not be getting enough nutrients, hence my drive to bulk up her meals.

Thanks, Star, for that illuminating description of the many reasons dogs eat their own poop. I almost puked. Several times. So, yeah, thanks for that, lol. Our other dog Nala doesn't eat cat feces, she just likes to roll around in it. Mmmmmm, bath time!
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
That's good news Jo! I'm glad your Sophie is doing better.

Ew...about the eating poo. Ick. My dog loves the deer droppings in the woods. I keep reminding my husband about that when she starts licking him to death......ICKY, ICKY, SKEEVY!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Good news, Jo!

You can buy something to sprinkle on her food that will make her poop taste bad. It doesn't taste bad while she's eating it, but once it's digested and has gone through all the acids and enzymes etc. it changes the flavor and tastes awful once it's out of the body. I don't know if it requires a scrip or not.
 
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