foster pup

[Henry]

Hi everyone,

We are fostering a bulldog mix pup (approximately 10 weeks old) and discovered he eats his poop at night. We have had him for a week and he has done very well with potty training. He knows to go outside, does his business and runs right back in the house. The issue is at night. I noticed for the last few mornings, there would be poop smears on the newspapers, but never any physical poop present, so I set the video camera on him to see what was going on. When he has to poop at night, he will go to the corner of his crate, poop, spin around, and lightning fast he will eat it! He never does this during the day, when he poops outside. Is he trying to hide that he soiled his crate?

I am concerned because when we got him, he was infested with round worms. The vet gave us panacur for three days and we will repeat the round of panacur treatment in two weeks. But, if he is eating his poops, I am worried he will get sick or continuously infected with worms. Any advice?

We don't feed him late at night and before putting him to his crate for the evening, we let him out to potty. I know he is super hungry all the time, and we have upped the amount of food to half a cup more than what it says on the bag. I don't want to over feed him either. Do you think he is eating it because he is hungry? Any help would be appreciated.

This is Henry
View attachment 36878

 

[Tracy T]

What kind of food are you feeding him? There is a great article here on EBN that lists the various foods available commercially, and then rates them on a scale of 1-6. More than likely the food is the culprit for the poop eating problem and the fact that he is hungry all the time. He may not be getting the best nutrition his growing body needs.

I know that Fromm's Beef Frittata is the #1 recommended commercial food here at EBN, but we feed our Winston the Blue Buffalo Wilderness that is grain-free.

The true #1 food recommended here is RAW feeding! I haven't tackled that one yet, but it has my interest. Please read through this article, and see where his food falls on the charts.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/content.php?r=219-Dog-Food-Ratings

 

[kazzy220]

I feel your pain ... Daddy used to do that too!!! Do you know his background ... was he a puppy mill bully??

Also, I agree with [MENTION=7307]Tracy T[/MENTION] ... what is he eating for his food? I've heard, but never tried it, that adding pumpkin to his food, and somebody said pineapple can stop this happening. It apparently makes the poop taste horrible. And you'd think it would taste horrible already!!

Daddy seemed to just grow out of the habit .... but it's not uncommon!! I'll tag [MENTION=2014]JeannieCO[/MENTION] who has the most famous poop-eater on the forum

I too would be worried with the next round of Panacur about to start ... maybe speak to your vet for some ideas and to find out if it could be harmful??

 

[Henry]

What kind of food are you feeding him? There is a great article here on EBN that lists the various foods available commercially, and then rates them on a scale of 1-6. More than likely the food is the culprit for the poop eating problem and the fact that he is hungry all the time. He may not be getting the best nutrition his growing body needs.

I know that Fromm's Beef Frittata is the #1 recommended commercial food here at EBN, but we feed our Winston the Blue Buffalo Wilderness that is grain-free.

The true #1 food recommended here is RAW feeding! I haven't tackled that one yet, but it has my interest. Please read through this article, and see where his food falls on the charts.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/content.php?r=219-Dog-Food-Ratings

Hi, and thanks for replying so quickly! We are feeding him Wellness super5mix Just for Puppy. He has nice solid poops on it too. Are you suggesting to switch him to dog food instead of a puppy food, because Fromm's beef frittata is not puppy, its dog. I thought the Wellness was a good brand, but will switch if needed.
[h=3][/h]

 

[Henry]

I feel your pain ... Daddy used to do that too!!! Do you know his background ... was he a puppy mill bully??

Also, I agree with @Tracy T ... what is he eating for his food? I've heard, but never tried it, that adding pumpkin to his food, and somebody said pineapple can stop this happening. It apparently makes the poop taste horrible. And you'd think it would taste horrible already!!

Daddy seemed to just grow out of the habit .... but it's not uncommon!! I'll tag @JeannieCO who has the most famous poop-eater on the forum

I too would be worried with the next round of Panacur about to start ... maybe speak to your vet for some ideas and to find out if it could be harmful??

He came from a hoarding situation. He only eats the poop at night, if he soils his crate. He has no interest in it when outside. But yeah, I am very concerned when he starts the next treatment of panacur. I will definitely call the vet on Monday to inquire about it. We also have an OEM, and he walks by her giant pile in the morning and has no interest in hers. Seems to be just his own and only at night, lol! He is a character!

 

[kazzy220]

He came from a hoarding situation. He only eats the poop at night, if he soils his crate. He has no interest in it when outside. But yeah, I am very concerned when he starts the next treatment of panacur. I will definitely call the vet on Monday to inquire about it. We also have an OEM, and he walks by her giant pile in the morning and has no interest in hers. Seems to be just his own and only at night, lol! He is a character!

I have seen some connection between babies that have spent a lot of their life in a crate and so in the same space as their own poop .. and eating it! I'm sure there is a whole batch of reasons why this must be. But Daddy was a puppy mill pup too, and maybe that is what his Mum taught her pups to do. Who knows!

As for the Beef Frittata ... the Fromm 4* range is an all-stages food which means you can feed it from puppy stage to senior. I switched all of mine to the Fromm 4* when they were only young and all of mine I big strong muscualr bullies. I would just feed more than what they say on the bag for a bully of his size.

 

[Tracy T]

Wellness is a good food. That doesn't eliminate the food as the culprit, because each dog is just plain different. There are as many great discussions on food as there are bulldogs on this forum!

It may be that he's having to go potty during the night, and is embarrassed by it, so he's trying to hide it the only way he knows how, or since you said he was a foster, his previous family might have punished him for it and taught him to hide it.

If he's ten weeks old then he might just need to be taken out more frequently over the night. As he grows, he'll be able to hold it longer and longer until night trips won't be necessary any more. Each week, stretch the time you ask him to hold it just a little longer, and the next week longer, and eventually you'll be training him to wait until morning time to go Poop.

Did I explain that right? Sometimes my communication skills take a vacation, and Sunday mornings are one of those times. >.>

 

[Henry]

Thank you both so much for the advice and help. Tracy, you made an excellent point that he may not be able to hold it, and is embarrassed for soiling his crate so he is eating it. I will set my alarm clock to get up in the middle of the night to let him out, and see if this helps. I think I will keep him on the same food for now. He has such good solid poops with it, I hate to mess that all up by switching.

 

[Tracy T]

I would hate to mess it up too. Changing foods on a Bulldog can be a messy business, their digestive systems can be very delicate. I usually just start by asking what food it is, because it is amazing some of the foods people actually feed their precious little babies. I am guilty of it too!

I would leave him on the Wellness brand, too. It's a good one.


Good luck to little Henry! I forgot to say so earlier, but he's adorable! He is going to make some family very happy. Thank you for rescuing him and fostering him. Bulldogs can be difficult, and are very different from the average pet dog in personality and needs. I am very happy to welcome you to our forum! This is hands down the best place I've found to ask questions about bulldogs, when I have questions of my own. :D

 

[bulldogs4me]

to EBN and the wonderful world of bulldogs and fostering! I have heard about giving them pineapple to keep them from eating their own poop by dog trainer Victoria Stillwell, it is suppose to make the poop taste really bad?!? Thank you for fostering and I'm looking forward to hearing how things go and seeing lots of pictures

 

[Alice Kable]

Welcome to EBN. Your foster baby is adorable!

 

[Henry]

Thanks for the warm welcome. We are hoping our OEM warms up to him because we would love for Henry to be a part of our family. She is not too fond of him atm, I think mainly because he is so hyper and it freaks her out. She is more accustomed to polite, well mannered older dogs and Henry is definitely none of that, lol! Here are a couple more pictures of him.
View attachment 36941View attachment 36942
His nose cracks me up! Do you think it will turn all black in time, or is he going to keep those spots? I don't know much about this breed. I am learning every day. All I know is, he is a real fire cracker! Full of energy, so polar opposite our mastiff

 

[Ashleym]

Welcome! Your foster baby is too cute! My baby Fergus doesnt eat his poop but he does leave little piles of in the house and is not embarrassed about it at all .

 

[Tracy T]

His nose will get blacker with time. Most bulldogs noses turn completely black, but ours still has a pink spot even after 2 1/2 years. He should keep some of the spots around his nose, though, but no guarantees!

Good heavens he is a cutie! That puppy energy can be hard to handle and hard to redirect. He will go through phases, but if you want to keep him as a part of your family there isn't anything that the people here can't help you get through.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Hi, my name is Monica and I have 2 EB siblings, they are almost a year old, and their names are Bulldozer and Blossom. I had to switch my guys food 4 times before I found a food that both of them tolerated. We went from Royal Canin from the breeder to Go Natural, but it turned out the food was too good, so too rich for their systems, they got soft serve poops, and it turns out that Blossom is allergic to chicken, salmon, and sensitive to grains, and maybe corn? After they were on the Go, Dozer started to eat his poops, and the vet said it was because the food was too rich, and maybe going right through him, so he wasn't digesting it properly, and because it had so many fruits in it, it made it tasty to him. YUK. Lol, I switched them back to the Royal Canin, because they did well on it, I just knew it wasn't the best food, then I researched some more, and switched to Fromms Puppy Gold, and Dozer was okay on this, and stopped eating his poops, Whew, but Blossom being allergic to chicken didn't tolerate it, so we switched to the Fromms Beef Frittata, when they were 7 months old. Both have been on this food for 5 months and are doing extremely well on it, regular, firm but soft poops, and No reactions for Blossom. The other thing is that maybe he needs to go out in the middle of the night , when I was potty training my guys, I had them on a schedule of every hour in the beginning, then every two hours, and then increased the time every week or so, so they would learn to hold, their last walk in the evening was at 11 or 11:30pm, and their first walk was at 6:00 am, so the time between the evening to the morning was too long to hold. I would set my cell phone alarm for 2 am, and take them out, and then my regular alarm clock for 6 am to go out in the morning. I only had to do this until they were 5 months old, and then they were fully trained and able to hold all night, and could hold 5 or 6 hours during the day. It is a little tiring having to wake up in the middle of the night, but just like a baby it is a temporary thing and only lasted for 5 months for us. I also heard the same thing about the pineapple in the food to make the poops taste bad to the dog, but have no experience with this, but always worth a try to see if it works for you. Good luck , and I hope Henry stops eating poop burgers soon. Lol. Keep us posted on how he's doing and if you find something that works.