Low protein high fiber

[sj96skittles]

I heard you feed low protein high fiber to dogs who eat their own poop. Do you feed that type of diet to JUST dogs who eat their own poop or should you feed it to any dog???

[DogzRule1996]

You should always feed high fiber foods to dogs because they help control weight and prevent lots of illnesses. I've never heard of low protein being good OR bad for dogs. This applies to all dogs, but here's the question. If your dog is eating poop, you should pick it up right after he drops it. Make sure you're not feeding him commercial food (like Beneful or Pedigree).

[sj96skittles]

My dogs don't eat their poop thank goodness. Both of our dogs share the foodbowl. we think One of our dogs is alittle overweight bit my dad is feeding her high protein low fiver food. I told him the other day not to do that cause when you feed them high protein food what goes in comes out so will feeding them high fiber also PREVENT my 2 dogs from starting to eaT poop??

[DogzRule1996]

I know feeding high fiber is good, but I don't think the high protein what goes in comes out is true. If your dogs are healthy, their bodies should be able to take in the protein and hopefully make good use of it, but if he's a bit overweight maybe you should restrict its diet and get it more exercise. Try to cut back on the treats. I know, that might be hard because it's like giving your kids some candy, but with that cute little puppy face, but you're going to have to try (ONLY if it's hard for you )

[Nettle]

High fibre is not necessary for dogs. It is promoted in human weight-loss regimes because it is supposed to give a feeling of fullness without calories (never worked for me!) and to stimulate sluggish bowels.

Dogs are designed to eat a whole-carcase diet and a little vegetation. They have no need for large amounts of fibre. They have a shorter gut than we have, and a much faster digestive process. In the natural way, their bowels would be kept healthy from the raw bones, greens, and hides that they ate.

So - no need to add fibre to your dog's diet. If your dog is overweight, feed it less and exercise it more.

[Mattie]

Dogs eat poo for many reasons, Merlin started it when he was on antibiotics for a long time, Bonnie and Tilly eat it because Merlin did.

I tried everything on the market I could find, nothing worked, the poo eating still went on, now I don't have Merlin it is a lot less, the only poo that is eaten is Ellie's.

I found I was really stressed and was stressing Merlin, it is normal for a dog, it isn't for us, I gave up on this, the stress went and we all relaxed.

[dontpugme]

I remember on the animal planet website, there was a video from the Untamed and Untrained episode where they talk about how Frank was feeding too much protein and that it contributed to the behavior. Also that allergens in the food caused irritability. He was feeding a food with a lot of food coloring and corn. I couldn't find it. But in this clip about Teo, the dog that ate his poop, Victoria said she thought diet influenced this. So she put teo on a low protein, high fiber diet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDp7rhXjczI

[Mattie]

It doesn't say what the dog was eating before changing his food, some foods are as high as 28% or more, if this was the case then 24% would be much lower but is still on the high side.

A lot depends on what the protein is as well, my dogs food is lamb, white rice and sugar beet, the protein level is 20%. Protein can come from many things including rubbish same as the fibre.

[Nettle]

A biiig contributor to poop eating is commercial dog food with lots of added flavourings. These pass through the dog's digestive system in almost unaltered state so the poop smells like dog food.

Once the habit is established - and as Mattie says, it IS perfectly normal for dogs to eat poop - it is very hard indeed to break it.

[josie1918]

High protien levels have been linked to aggressive behavior in some dogs, and also studies show us that dogs simply do not need as much protein as people think, around 20% of the total calories consumed by your dog should be protein, not much more. As far a poo eating there are lots of theories why they do, no one theory seems to work for all dogs. In my opinion your best bet is pick it up immediately. As far as the fiber being added to a canine diet, it does work well for many dogs with sensetive stomachs, and other G.I. ailments.