Many pet owners at one time or another must deal with the unfortunate issue of having a pet, whether it be a cat or dog, who enjoys snacking on feces. This rather unpleasant sounding practice is otherwise known as coprophagy. There have been many theories put forth as to why a pet might choose to eat stool, such as dietary deficiencies, anxiety, an inherited trait or maybe because they just enjoy the taste. The truth however is that no one really knows why this occurs. What we do know is that it tends to be more common than what we might like to think it is.
It would be nice if we could just say to our pets, "Listen, this is just not a very socially acceptable practice and frankly I'm not interested in your poopy kisses anymore so you just need to stop!" But, that conversation probably won't have much of an impact on your pet so instead you must take matters into your own hands. Here are a couple of things that you can try:
1. For pets who eat their own feces, there is an all-natural product available called Prozyme which can be added to your pets regular meals. Although the product was not intended to combat the problem of feces eating, it has been reported to help with the issue and in addition is a great food supplement for your pet
The other solution involves a bit of trickery on your part. Use cayenne pepper or hot sauce and generously sprinkle either one on the feces in your cat's litter box or out in the back yard. Most pets are deterred from eating feces again after chomping once or twice on a spicy piece of poop. You should however know going into it that on occasion some pet owners have reported that the animal as a result developed a strange taste bud for the spicy treats!
