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OJVRTM
Online Journal of
Veterinary Research©
Volume 7:17-25, 2003, Redacted 2018.
Owner Documentation of Coprophagy in the Dog
Hofmeister
EH1, Cumming MS2, Dhein CR3
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences1,3and Department of Veterinary
Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology2, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99163. USA.
SUMMARY
Hofmeister EH, Cumming MS, Dhein CR,
Owner Documentation of Coprophagy in the Dog, Onl J Vet Res., 7: 17-25, 2003. The purpose of this study was to
characterize coprophagous dogs by age, sex, breed,
weight, diet, housing, social standing, habitualness, and age of onset of coprophagy and to determine owner perceptions of coprophagy and treatment effectiveness. Internet
communications and World Wide Web pages were used for solicitation and
collection of data. Results showed that dogs which engaged in allocoprophagy had different access to feces than other
dogs and weighed less than dogs which did not engage in autocoprophagy.
53 percent of coprophagous dogs were habitual in the
behavior. 63 percent of coprophagous dogs began
engaging in coprophagy prior to 12 months of
age. Treatments owners considered most effective were picking up feces,
muzzling or distracting the dog, and removing access to feces.
KEYWORDS: Coprophagy,
feces, dog, survey