Eating dirt.

[Libby]

Zora has been eating dirt for the last few days, whenever we go outside. I thought it was just a strange behaviour at first, but then I started reading on it and I'm a little worried. I'm feeding them a pretty high quality food, as far as ingredients go, so I don't think its lack of vitamins and nutrients.

From what I've read, it can either be that I'm not feeding enough (I don't think this is it, I feed them several times a day and Zora always has food left in her bowl), she craves attention (possible, but she gets several hours of one on one time a day, lots of cuddles and loves, play time, and petting), or she could have some type of gastrointestinal disorder, or something else going on with her digestive system that isn't allowing her to absorb the necessary vitamins and nutrients from the food.

She HAS been sick with kennel cough, and she is on antibiotics, so I'm thinking that the meds might be whats causing it? I've been giving her a half a tablespoon of organic yogurt with probiotics with her morning and evening meals.

Her poop has been soft since I brought her home, but again, I just associated that with her being sick, and then to the antibiotics. Its not diarrhea, not cow patty, but just softer than it should be.

Otherwise she's fine. Good weight, active, playful, good appetite. No poop eating, thank goodness!

[PaigeJ]

Sorry I don't have any advice for you There's this one dirt spot at the kennel I work at where the dirt seems to attract dogs. They're always munching on it and drift back after I've told them to knock it off. I heard there may be a nutrient in the dirt/mud they're missing but the dogs are all healthy as far as we know. They just seem to really enjoy eating dirt. I know SoCal soil is very heavy in clay and they may like the clay content...maybe. I hope someone can help you!

[Misskiwi67]

I can't even list all the wierd, stupid, idiotic things I see well cared for dogs eat on a regular basis.

Socks, rocks, rubber, belts, underwear, pantyhose, metal chains, fish hooks, sticks, razors, a pacifier, a remote control (ALL of it)...

It wouldn't bother me at all that the puppy was eating dirt, I would just do my best to distract and redirect like you would with any other inappropriate behavior.

[Boss*sMom]

I wouldnt worry about it too much, I was in lowes the other day and there was a pregnant lady eating dirt out of a bag with a spoon, I am not kidding at all. So apparently if pregerrs ladys can eat it, it wont hurt the dogs?

[jamielvsaustin]

I wouldnt worry about it too much, I was in lowes the other day and there was a pregnant lady eating dirt out of a bag with a spoon, I am not kidding at all. So apparently if pregerrs ladys can eat it, it wont hurt the dogs?

NFW! What a weirdo...hopefully it was a brownie mix or crunched up oreos or something a little more normal.

[Libby]

Ah, pregnant women are scary. But eating dirt? Huh!

I've been told by several people who have dirt eating dogs not to stress about it. I've just found myself stressing out about anything and everything in regards to these puppies. Parvo, distemper, joint issues, digestive problems....I'm hoping that when they get their second vaccinations I will calm down at least a little.

I swear I don't think I'm normally this paranoid about the things puppies and dogs do.

[Chasesmom]

I wouldnt worry about it too much, I was in lowes the other day and there was a pregnant lady eating dirt out of a bag with a spoon, I am not kidding at all. So apparently if pregerrs ladys can eat it, it wont hurt the dogs?

NFW! What a weirdo...hopefully it was a brownie mix or crunched up oreos or something a little more normal.

[Boss*sMom]

I wouldnt worry about it too much, I was in lowes the other day and there was a pregnant lady eating dirt out of a bag with a spoon, I am not kidding at all. So apparently if pregerrs ladys can eat it, it wont hurt the dogs?

NFW! What a weirdo...hopefully it was a brownie mix or crunched up oreos or something a little more normal.

It was dirt, no doubt, this was in Lowes and she was leaving the garden section, with an open bag of dirt in her buggy, and a spoon. It wasnt black soil either, it was red, clay type, dirt!!

I have also seen pregnant ladies slide their finger down the side of a dirty car and lick it, apparently some pregnant women crave DIRT??

[dogs4jen]

That's true, it's pretty common, especially in the south. I copied this from Wikipedia:

According to "Dixie's Forgotten People: the South's Poor Whites", by J. Wayne Flynt, geophagy was quite common among poor whites in the South-eastern United States. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, this was often ridiculed in popular literature. The literature also states that "Many men believed that eating clay increased sexual prowess, and some females claimed that eating clay helped pregnant women to have an easy delivery."[9] Geophagy being a common practice among southerners may have been caused by the high prevalence of hookworm disease, in which the desire to consume soil is a symptom.[10] Geophagy was common among slaves who were nicknamed "clay-eaters" because they had been known to consume clay, as well as spices, ash, chalk, grass, plaster, paint, and starch.[11] The author cites a recent survey by Obstetrics-Gynecology Clinic at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina, according to which one quarter of patients were clay-eaters.

Edible clay is still available for sale in the American rural South.[12][13] Clays like activated attapulgite and diosmectite have been used in the active ingredient in over-the-counter antidiarrheal medications. The US version of Kaopectate, for example, contained kaolinite clay until a reformulation in 2003.[14]

The Western view of dirt as impure and contaminated [15] may also explain negative connotation and repulsion with geophagy. Geophagy also has a stigma of being an eating habit of African slaves and poor African-Americans. The Victorian ethic is also amongst the reasons that geophagy became stigmatized in American culture. An ability to control appetite coupled with eating seldom was the appropriate measure of behaviour in a "civilized" Victorian culture, so acting upon a craving for dirt was considered uncivilized because it was seen as having a lack of self-control.[16]
[edit] Future

In the past, women who wanted to become pregnant followed the eating patterns of successful mothers instead of changing their diet according to medical studies and recommendations. As a result, geophagy has continued to pass from generation to generation. Cooked, baked, and processed dirt and clay are sold in health food stores and rural flea markets in the South. Researchers have noticed that geophagy is not as prevalent as it once was as rural Americans assimilate into urban culture. In order for geophagy to remain a part of American culture, more effective marketing strategies need to be implemented that fit into modern American culture

[PaigeJ]

dogs4jen that is so interesting!