Do Cats Eat Their Poop Like Dogs? - Yes, They Do

Eating one’s own stool, a behavior also known as coprophagia, is common in dogs but very rare in cats. Dogs are notorious for eating things that humans find extremely distasteful, stool included. However cats do not normally eat their own stool, and when they do this type of behavior could be a sign of an underlying mental problem.

Cats that have been severely abused or kept in extremely unsanitary conditions with little food or water may have picked up the practice of coprophagia as a survival mechanism. Even though the cat is now in a safe place, it may still feel like it is necessary to eat its own stool.

Young cats and kittens may also develop coprophagia from a type of mental disorder. Cats are prone to developing mental disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, and coprophagia in cats could be a manifestation of some type of mental disorder. Kittens may also confuse their own stool with food, and it may take them awhile to realize that their stool is not food.

If our cat is eating its own stool, have your cat examined by a veterinarian to ensure first that no medical conditions are causing the behavior. Keeping the litter boxes clean, and making sure that your cat feels safe and secure in its environment, may help to reduce further incidences of coprophagia.

Did you know that mother cats eat kittens feces while kittens are suckling on the mother?

It's perfectly normal and quite safe in that a mother cat licks her kittens' bottoms while and just after a kitten has nursed on her. They do this to stimulate the kitten to wee and poop as kittens don't have an automatic nerve self stimulus to do so until they are about 3 - 4 weeks old. If the mother cat does not do this the kitten will stop feeding, get very poorly, get blood poisoning and die. The mother cat swallows her kittens' defecation at this time to keep her nursing nest clean. The kittens' wee and poop at this age are so small that it's almost undetectable.

FOLLOW US!

Does Your Dog Eat Poop?

Yes, it’s disgusting. Yes, it’s potentially unhealthy. And, yes, it’s fairly common in the animal world.

Only one of my dogs did this, and at the most inappropriate time...when we were eating or had company!

My little Sugar, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in 2008, would eat her poop.

One day I noticed Sugar eating her poop. My first reaction was to run over and make her stop.

The next time that I noticed it was when my husband let them in, and she came running pass me with it hanging out of her mouth.

Finally, I found some in her bed and decided that she need to go to the vet.

Their visit to the vet was in a couple of days, so I waited and asked him when I got there.

He told me, that a dog will eat their own poop for a number of reasons:

• They think it smells and tastes good. Dogs are notoriously poor arbiters of taste.
• They are hungry.
• They may be missing key nutrients in their diet or suffer malabsorption.
• They like to keep their territory or bedding clean.
• They have fun playing with it. This is especially true for dogs that are mouthy.
• They are bored.
• They know that removing the evidence means no punishment for inappropriate elimination.
• They know that fewer predators will give him grief if there is no physical evidence of his having been around.

In Sugar's case, she was lacking nutrients. She was put on medication and finally stopped.

There may be other reasons for routine coprophagy, as the condition is known. It can be hard to figure out why a dog chooses to eat poop, but if the problem persists, ask your veterinarian about a remedy for this habit. What veterinarians do know is that it is normal behavior for a wide variety of species, even if humans are revolted by the very idea.

The American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) says, The act of dogs consuming their own or other animals’ feces is known as coprophagia . Although it’s not known exactly why it occurs, coprophagia is a normal behavior in many species, including dogs. Ingesting one’s own or other dogs’ feces is particularly prevalent in puppies.


FOLLOW US!