# Will this food hurt?



## girlygirls (Oct 31, 2010)

I'm trying to figure out a solution to Skittle eating her poop. I have figured out that it's boredom that is causing it. I did some reading and found that dogs that are penned up all day can get bored. Unfortunately this is the way it has go be since I have to work. Skittle is not in a create though. It's a pen so she has room to play and move. However since she's in the pen and I'm not home, I can't stop her from eating it. When I'm home, I watch and tell her to leave it and she does. (This is a skill I've been training her to do with "bad" things she is not to have). 

Anyway I found some foods that are supposed to make the poop taste bad and wondered if they are ok to give to a maltese.

Add two to four tablespoons of canned pumpkin to the food bowl each day. Pumpkin apparently tastes good in food, but repugnant when expelled in excrement. 
Add a spoon (teaspoon or tablespoon depending on the dog's size) of canned pineapple, pineapple juice or spinach to the dog's food.


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## girlygirls (Oct 31, 2010)

Why isn't anyone answering?


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I'm sorry, I somehow missed your post. I think there are WAY too many "Stickies" in each topic so the new threads get pushed so far down the page a lot of people miss them! 

I have heard of using pineapple for this reason, but I don't think it worked in most cases. The pumpkin I would worry would constipate her...I think people give canned pumpkin (100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix) when their Malts have diarrhea, but I could be mistaken. Pumpkin is very healthy for them, though, so it wouldn't hurt her in small quantities.

Is she in her pen all day long? I was just wondering because you may be able to adjust her mealtimes to where she poops in the AM and then again in the PM. I'm home all day with my two so really they can poop whenever they want (they are outdoor trained so I do go out with them), but generally they poop first thing in the morning, and around dinner time or before bed. They eat 2x per day, around 6-8am and again at 5pm.

How old is she now? If she's still a puppy, she will probably poop less as she gets older, at least mine do. I have heard you can use meat tenderizer in their meal also to deter them, but I don't know how comfortable I would be using it. There are also little pills you give them that you can buy at Petsmart, Petco, etc, but I honestly don't think anything really helps...my London eats her poop, and Preston doesn't. London is 3 and has never grown out of it. Some people's Maltese on here used to do it but grew out of it.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

I would try the pumpkin since it safe to give ( 1tsp. in food)
What type of food is she on? I heard that dogs who eat their poop may be lacking in nutrients and also if they are eating a low quality food their system is not digesting the food so it comes out through their poop and that may be why she is eating it. Just a thought.


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