As a dog owner, you may have noticed your furry friend\u2019s insatiable appetite for everything in sight, from leftover food scraps, dead animals, to random objects lying around the house. While this behavior might seem amusing or even endearing at times, it can actually be a cause for concern at other times.<\/p>\n
Dogs that eat everything can face potential health risks and may be trying to communicate an underlying issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By understanding the motivations behind your puppy or adult dog\u2019s eating habits, you can help create a healthier and happier environment for your beloved pet. So, let\u2019s embark on this journey to discover why dogs eat everything and how you can address this issue effectively.<\/p>\n
Dog owners have reported that the most common things their dogs eat, are:<\/p>\n
Dogs do have innate scavenging tendencies, it\u2019s just a survival tool, but that gets confusing when you see your dog earing large amounts of dirt, right? Well, there\u2019s a variety of reasons why your dog might be eating foreign objects.<\/p>\n
Strange eating habit can be a real health concern! And whilst it\u2019s not always going to be a worst case scenario, it\u2019 also good to know what the problem\u00a0might\u00a0<\/em>be so you can fine the cause of your dog and their strange eating habits. There are some physical reasons that dogs eat things they shouldn\u2019t and some medical reasons, that said, if you want an accurate diagnosis of your pet and their problems, it might be best to double check with a good trainer or a vet.<\/p>\n If you have a teething puppy, this can be a really big reason that your pup is eating everything or trying to chew thing. It\u2019 a really good idea to redirect your pup elsewhere to lots of fun chew toys, and show them that this appropriate\u00a0<\/p>\n A common reason for your dog eating fibrous things, like grass, or shed fur, or similar can be because your dog is feeling unwell, and can be one of the signs of illness, so, if you see this one, and it\u2019s an alarming amount of grass, or they don\u2019t end up vomiting or showing other symptoms, make sure to seek medical advice!\u00a0<\/p>\n I find Indie (my german shepherd) gets this when he gets the gulps as part of GERD? And when he\u2019s struggling with this, he\u2019ll try and eat a lot of his own floor that\u2019s shed on the floor in order to either vomit or settle it. After discussion with a Vet, we did decide that it was best for me to treat the occasional symptoms of this medical condition with Pepto bisomol. But I say this for informational purposes only, and would strongly suggest chatting with a vet.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dogs aren\u2019t dissimilar to babies in this way, they put things in their mouth to explore it, to chew it, to see if it\u2019s alive, and to see if it\u2019s edible\u2026 because dogs are inquisitive! They may put non-edible items or non-digestible items in their mouth, but most of them time they realise that it\u2019s notgoing to be good for them, and spit it out \u2013 however \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s a very serious hazard. In those instances it\u2019s a better idea to redirect or to teach your dog to be comfortable in a muzzle.<\/p>\n This can be leftover genetics from parents, from time as a street dog, or dozens of other reasons, but in essence, dogs are opportunistic eaters, if a meal presents itself \u2013 they tend to take it, whether that comes in the trash, or in the form of a hamburger found in the neighbours hedge. All are edible, and all are a gift! Why not?<\/p>\n You might be surprised, but sometimes if we\u2019re not feeding our dogs sufficiently, they will be hungrier than they should be. Remember that guidelines on a package or similar are only so useful, and I\u2019d thoroughly recommend adjusting your feeding up and down from those suggestions per your dog\u2019s body shape! Guidelines are great for meeting the average dog\u2019s caloric requirements, but we do have to tailor the advice given per our dog, so we make sure we satiate out dog\u2019s appetite (healthily!).<\/p>\n So if your dog is trying to eat everything in sight, this may be why!<\/p>\n Eating can be a symptom of boredom. Dogs absolutely do chew what we\u2019d call inedible objects if they\u2019re bored too, it\u2019s a stress relief, it\u2019s fun, and particularly if they\u2019re not\u00a0consuming\u00a0<\/em>the item in question, you may find that your dog\u2019s bored.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tap into their predatory motor pattern, and what they\u2019re bred for, and pick a suitable enrichment activity for them!\u00a0<\/p>\n Resource guarding is where your dog feels the need to protect or gobble a thing, in this instance we\u2019d be talking about food (though it can extend to locations, water, or toys!). If this is why your dog is eating everything? This is a more severe behavioral issue that you might want to involve a trainer or behaviorist to help you resolve.<\/p>\n Particularly if this is when you\u2019re out of the house, and you find that your dog is eating odd things, or just shredding them when you\u2019re out of the house, this may be an anxious response \u2013 something often referred to as \u201cSeperation Anxiety\u201d. Generally though, chewing is a soothing thing for your dog, so if they\u2019re anxious for whatever reason, they may start excessively chewing on things \u2013 or themselves!\u00a0<\/p>\n If your pup never quite learned that not everything is edible. If that\u2019s the case, you may be struggling with your pup eating everything, it might be that as a pup they never really got that guidance on \u201cEat this, not that\u201d. Pica is an obsessive eating disorder that\u2019s pretty scary. It\u2019s a condition where dogs eat things that are not food, but rather inedible, non-food items like rocks or plastic. It\u2019s thought that this is an attempt to self-soothe or cope with stress, and it can be hard to break the habit once it\u2019s formed. The biggest issue with Pica is that non food items in your dog\u2019s digestive tract do tend to mean you\u2019re going to be heading to the vet.<\/p>\n Again, I\u2019d seek a vet or a behaviorist to help you resolve this if you think their consumption pattern is a sign of pica.<\/p>\nTeething<\/h3>\n
Stomach Settling<\/h3>\n
Exploring<\/h3>\n
Scavenging<\/h3>\n
Not Feeding Enough<\/h3>\n
Boredom<\/h3>\n
Resource Guarding<\/h3>\n
Anxiety<\/h3>\n
Habits Left Over From Puppyhood<\/h3>\n
Or, they may also still be a puppy who needs your guidance! Remember, if they pick something inappropriate? Replace the thing they\u2019re chewing with a safe puppy chew or toy!<\/p>\nPica<\/h3>\n
Faulty Genetics<\/h3>\n