Coprophagia Cure: Dietary Adjustments to Stop Your Dog Eating Poop

Before you can fix the problem, you have to understand the mechanism. When a dog eats feces, it’s often a desperate attempt at nutritional recycling. The modern canine diet, dominated by highly processed kibble, is a primary culprit. Here’s a breakdown of the nutritional voids and dietary failures that fuel this behavior.

The Poor Digestibility Problem

The core issue is often poor protein digestion. Many commercial dog foods are packed with low-cost protein sources and fillers that a dog’s digestive system is not designed to handle efficiently. Ingredients like corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, soy protein concentrate, and generic ‘meat by-products’ are difficult for a dog to break down. When these ingredients pass through the digestive tract undigested, they are expelled in the stool. To your dog, this undigested protein smells like a potential food source, making the feces attractive. Essentially, their current diet is creating a ‘secondhand meal’ that still contains the nutrients they failed to absorb the first time.

Insider Secret

If your dog’s stool volume is excessively large relative to its food intake, it’s a red flag for poor digestibility. A nutrient-dense, high-quality food should result in smaller, firmer, and less frequent stools because more of the food is being absorbed and utilized by the body.

Enzyme and Nutrient Starvation

Highly processed kibble is subjected to extreme heat during manufacturing, a process called extrusion. This heat destroys or severely denatures the naturally occurring digestive enzymes found in raw food ingredients. These enzymes—protease (for protein), amylase (for carbs), and lipase (for fats)—are critical for breaking down food and absorbing nutrients. Without them, digestion is inefficient. Your dog may be instinctually driven to eat the stool of other animals (or their own) in an attempt to ingest these missing enzymes and unlock the nutrients in their food. Furthermore, crucial vitamins, particularly B-complex vitamins, are often degraded by processing. A deficiency in Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), for example, has been anecdotally linked to coprophagia.

Malabsorption and Chronic Underfeeding

Sometimes the issue isn’t the quality of the food but an underlying medical condition preventing nutrient absorption. Conditions like Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), or intestinal parasites can lead to malabsorption. The dog eats, but its body can’t pull the nutrients from the food, leading to a state of constant hunger and a search for any available source of nutrition—including stool. On a simpler note, some owners may inadvertently be underfeeding their dogs, especially highly active or working breeds. A perpetually hungry dog will scavenge, and feces are a readily available option. It’s crucial to ensure your dog’s caloric intake matches their energy expenditure, a factor often miscalculated by generic feeding guides on the bag.

Now that we’ve identified the enemy, let’s build your defense. Curing coprophagia from the inside out requires a strategic deployment of highly digestible foods and targeted supplements. This is about upgrading your dog’s nutritional intake so their body is fully satiated and no longer needs to scavenge.

Hero Ingredient #1: Highly Digestible, Named Animal Proteins

Ditch the mystery meats. The foundation of an anti-coprophagia diet is high-quality, easily digestible protein. When you read the label, you want to see specific, named sources at the top of the list. Look for terms like ‘Deboned Chicken,’ ‘Lamb Meal,’ ‘Beef,’ or ‘Salmon.’ ‘Meal’ (e.g., ‘Chicken Meal’) is a concentrated protein source and is an excellent ingredient. Avoid vague terms like ‘Meat and Bone Meal’ or ‘Animal By-Product Meal,’ which can be a mix of low-quality, less digestible sources.

Hero Ingredient #2: Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics

This is your primary weapon against poor digestion. Since processed foods are enzyme-deficient, you must add them back in. A high-quality digestive enzyme supplement for dogs will contain a blend of protease, amylase, lipase, and cellulase. This supercharges their digestive system, ensuring they break down and absorb the maximum amount of nutrients from their food. Pair this with a potent probiotic. Probiotics populate the gut with beneficial bacteria, which aids digestion, improves nutrient absorption, and supports overall immune health. A healthy gut microbiome is directly linked to better health and can even influence behavior.

Hacker Tip

You don’t always need a separate supplement. Fermented foods like plain kefir or goat’s milk can be a great source of natural probiotics. Start with a small amount (e.g., a teaspoon for a small dog) to ensure they tolerate it well.

Hero Ingredient #3: Fiber and Micronutrients

Sometimes, the texture and nutrient profile of the stool itself can be altered. Adding a source of healthy fiber can support digestive regularity. Pure canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling) is an excellent choice. For a micronutrient boost to address potential deficiencies, consider adding a small amount of nutritional yeast for B-vitamins or a dash of kelp powder for essential trace minerals.

Commercial Stool-Eating Deterrents

While fixing the diet is the primary goal, some owners need an immediate intervention. Products containing ingredients like Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), yucca schidigera, or chamomile are designed to be fed to the dog, passing through their system and making the resulting stool taste extremely bitter and unpleasant. These are not a long-term cure but can be an effective tool to break the cycle while you implement the necessary dietary changes. Think of them as a behavioral bridge to a permanent nutritional solution.

Navigating the pet food aisle is a masterclass in deciphering marketing jargon. To truly solve coprophagia, you must become a forensic label analyst. The truth of a food’s quality is not on the front of the bag with pictures of happy dogs and fresh vegetables; it’s in the fine print of the ingredient panel and guaranteed analysis.

The ‘First 5 Ingredients’ Truth

The first five ingredients make up the bulk of the food. This is where your focus should be. Let’s compare a low-quality formula with a high-quality one:

• Low-Quality Example: Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols.
• Forensic Analysis: This is a nutritional nightmare. The first ingredient is a cheap filler. The protein comes from an unnamed, low-grade by-product meal, followed by two more filler ingredients. This is a recipe for poor digestibility and a prime trigger for coprophagia.
• High-Quality Example: Deboned Salmon, Menhaden Fish Meal, Peas, Lentils, Canola Oil.
• Forensic Analysis: This is what you want to see. Two specific, high-quality animal protein sources lead the list. They are followed by digestible carbohydrates. This formula is built for nutrient absorption.

Your mission is to find a food where the first two or three ingredients are named animal proteins. This is the single most effective change you can make.

Comparing Food Philosophies for Digestive Health

Instead of recommending specific brands, which can vary, let’s analyze the types of food best suited to combat this issue. Your choice will depend on your dog’s specific needs and your budget.

While diet is the foundation of a coprophagia cure, you must also manage your dog’s environment and behavior to fully break the habit. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in this case, that means immediate and consistent management.

The Most Important Command: ‘Leave It’

A rock-solid ‘leave it’ command is non-negotiable. This command teaches your dog to disengage from a forbidden object (in this case, stool) on cue. Practice this daily in low-stakes situations with treats or toys, gradually increasing the difficulty. When you’re in the yard, you can then use this command the moment you see your dog showing interest in feces. A successful ‘leave it’ should be rewarded with a very high-value treat—something far more appealing than the poop.

Immediate Yard Hygiene

This is the simplest yet most effective management technique: remove the temptation. Supervise all potty breaks and pick up stool the second it hits the ground. If there is nothing there to eat, the behavior cannot be reinforced. For owners with large yards or multiple dogs, this can be a chore, but it is the most critical step in breaking the physical habit while the dietary changes take effect. A clean environment prevents the cycle of self-reinforcement.

Enrichment and Stress Reduction

Sometimes, coprophagia can be a displaced behavior stemming from boredom, anxiety, or stress. A dog left alone in a yard for hours with nothing to do may resort to this behavior out of sheer lack of stimulation. Increase their mental and physical exercise.

• Mental Stimulation: Use puzzle toys, snuffle mats, and food-dispensing toys to feed them their meals. This forces them to work for their food and engages their brain.
• Physical Exercise: Ensure they are getting enough structured exercise like walks, runs, or games of fetch. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.
• Training: Short, positive training sessions throughout the day can build confidence and reduce anxiety.

Rule Out Underlying Medical Conditions

Finally, and most importantly, you must work with your veterinarian. Before you assume the problem is purely dietary or behavioral, your vet needs to run tests to rule out serious underlying conditions. Parasites like giardia or coccidia, and metabolic conditions like Cushing’s disease or EPI, can all cause malabsorption and lead to coprophagia. A fecal test and a senior blood panel can provide crucial information and ensure you’re treating the correct problem.