Answer

Hi XXXXXXXXXX~

 

Unfortunately, as many dog owners have learned, it's a dog eat poop world. Mine tends to favor the treats left in the litterbox as opposed to eating his own, but regardless of who made the deposit, the fact our dogs eat it is gross.

 

No one really knows why dogs do this. Some schools of thought think it's because they have a dietary deficiency that they're trying to rectify by eating feces. Then there's another school that thinks it's linked to medical disorders (starvation disorders, pancreas/intestine disorders, parasite infections) that lead to malnutrition. However, both schools are right because no one really, REALLY knows why they do it.

 

The trick to getting this behavior to stop is to make the feces taste bad (I know...sounds weird because we assume it already tastes bad!) enough that your dog won't want to eat it. At our clinic, we recommend ForBid. It's a flavorless supplement that you add to the food that when it leaves the body makes the feces taste exceptionally bad. The only problem is that you have to let your dog eat feces so that he'll eat the droppings that taste the worst. I personally had really good results by sprinkling the ForBid on the cat's food and then letting my dog snack to his heart's content in the litterbox. Once he got to the feces with the ForBid on it, he never tried to eat out of it again.

 

You can find ForBid (or other supplements like it) at your local vet office. It's pretty inexpensive and seems to work really well....just don't let your dog kiss you on the face until she's broke this habit!

 

As for the vomiting/diarrhea...I'm more likely to suspect the ham that he was given, rather than the feces that she ate. Products like ham are famous for giving a dog vomiting and diarrhea (as well as causing Pancreatitis if given in large amounts) because of the grease in them. As long as she's acting normally today, I think I would just write the episode off to having a sour stomach from that.

 

You can ABSOLUTELY give her a bath to help clean her up. Poms have all that thick fur that is infamous for getting all sorts of stuff caught in it, so giving her a bath will probably help her feel a little better and will absolutely help her smell better.

 

I hope this helps!!!!