How to stop dog eating cow poo!

angeldaisy

Elly,my 5 month old collie pup has taken to eating cow poo. Unfortunately the runnier the better:eek: it also has the ability to make me want to vomit as soon as I see her!

Avoiding it is not an option, as the fields behind us, where we walk the dogs, currently have cows grazing in them (family farm).

She prefers the taste of the poo to any treats I have to offer, and she ignores me totally when I call her.

Could she be seeking it out as she's missing nutrients in her diet, or does she just love the taste.

We are working on her recall, but its a slow process!

keno-daytrader

What are you feeding her?

DBB

I know very few dogs that won't tuck in to ungulate poop at some point in their lives... It's not an indicator of a health issue nor nutrition problems as long as it's not happening to an excessive degree. In fact, it's likely that it's kinda good for them, as long as it's not full of antibiotics which is not as likely in cows kept outside.
But, that doesn't mean it's pleasant!
Instead of waiting til she's tucking into it before offering her treats, in the house and garden teach her a strong "leave it" cue, working on it for several weeks to get it good and strong, working your way up to ever more tempting things she might like to eat or poke at.
In the meantime, you need to stop her access to the poop altogether for those few weeks. You may find it useful to muzzle her or use a lampshade for times she may get access, but obviously you want to try to avoid this extreme.
You could, at the same time, set her up for a bit of a fall, and sprinkle something unpleasant-tasting on a few piles of poop that she can have supervised access to. However, this has limited success tbh, for various reasons.

Gran Hermano

I don't suppose we could make the cows eat pineapple....

angeldaisy

Found out today it's calf scour which is even smellier but apparently full of nutrients.

She's currently fed on markus muhle and raw food, so she's getting enough nutrients.

It's hard to avoid it at the minute, but might try walking her on the lead instead of letting her run around. Working on her recall is tough, she's a typical collie, very intelligent but bolshy with it!!

TopTec

I'm in the same boat as you with my 2 8 year old Shih Tzu's. Surrounded by fields which we walk through several times a day and they all contain livestock. Sheep dung and cow pats are a favourite for them both and calf crap is a luxury bar of Galaxy to them. They will leave it if I shout them to but a good few mouthfuls have usually been eaten.

It doesn't seem to do any harm although one has periodic colitis problems which is connected with too much milk I think. Awful looking dungy brown beards on them afterwards though.. Yuk.

Got to this one in time.......

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TT

aonb

^^^^^ that looks like a "before" picture (with poop) - can we have the "after" picture (without poop?!?!) please

Dogs shouldnt be given (cows) milk due to lactose intolerance

TopTec

aonb wrote: »

Dogs shouldnt be given (cows) milk due to lactose intolerance

Not given..... they skulk out to the Dairy when I am visiting the farm and lap up the puddles left after the milk is collected... despite my vigilence...

TT

sillysmiles

I read somewhere recently the the problem with milk and cats and dogs is that lactase is destroyed in pastuerisation and that's what causes the problem as in pasteurised milk the lactose is still present but not the lactase.
If this is the case the milk on the farm shouldn't be a problem.
This would also stand by any dog I've ever seen on a farm that drinks farm milk and doesn't have the scuts.

DBB

sillysmiles wrote: »

I read somewhere recently the the problem with milk and cats and dogs is that lactase is destroyed in pastuerisation and that's what causes the problem as in pasteurised milk the lactose is still present but not the lactase.
If this is the case the milk on the farm shouldn't be a problem.
This would also stand by any dog I've ever seen on a farm that drinks farm milk and doesn't have the scuts.

I don't know where the belief that pasteurised milk contains no lactase came from, but it is a myth!
Fresh milk, whether pasteurised or not, contains no lactase. The lactase is the enzyme within the recipient's digestive tract which breaks the milk sugar, lactose, down.
There may be some lactase present in some dairy products after they've gone through a process of fermentation, like hard cheese and yoghurt, and as a result these products are lower in lactose than milk or cream and may be tolerable for lactose-sensitive humans and animals.
But any milk, or non-fermented milk-products, or milk that has not been specifically treated with the lactase enzyme, contains a lot of lactose. As most mammals become lactose-intolerant after weaning, they should not be given milk... Unless it has been treated first with lactase.
For the record, I'm lactose intolerant, but drinking fresh milk does not give me "the scuts", so would not necessarily give a dog a dose either It does, however, cause really uncomfortable cramps, but unless I tell people I'm in pain, they'd never know!

Fluorescence

Just to note, if your dog is eating cow poop you need to ensure it is being wormed regularly with a good, broad spectrum wormer. They are prone to all sorts of nasty parasites if they're around livestock!