Dog Eating Dirt

Why Is My Dog Eating Dirt? Easy Ways To Prevent This

Dog Eating Dirt:

If you are a pet owner, then you might wonder why my dog is eating dirt?

There are several reasons why this is happening to your dog. Sometimes it is considered as a common behavior of them. Your dog can eat many non-food items such as grass, dirt, rocks, clothes or even garbage; This is called Pica, which means eating non-food items.

Dog Eating Dirt

I have experienced the same situation and now sharing this with you.

There are few reasons I talked about in this article that you should read. You should know when not to worry about your pooch and know when to take your pooch to the vet.

Mud Smells Or Dirt Sometimes Attract Your Dogs

Dirt Sometimes Attract Your Dogs

We as pet owners must have experienced this that our dogs like to play on muds or dirt because it smells and tastes good to dogs. It may be a reason for your dog eating dirt or mud sometimes. Make sure that it happens occasionally.

Your Dog Might Get Bored 

Dog Might Get Bored

Sometimes your dog might need extra activities to pass the time. Dogs are such a kind of animal that they require additional activities, especially for larger dogs. In our daily life, instead of giving tasks or playing with them, we are often busy with our schedule and when we come back to them, we just give them a free meal. It might sound good for some couch potato dogs, but many of our dogs are left with lots of excess energy. So with those saved energies, he might do some destructive works such as digging the soil or mud or even eating them.

Low-quality Food Intakes

Low-quality Food Intakes

Dogs need many kinds of vital nutrients to keep going on with their daily routine—the nutrients such as water, fat, protein, vitamins, etc. Maybe your pup is lacking in some of these vital nutrients. If this happens, your pooch might face nutritional imbalances, especially if your dog is in the puppy stage. At the puppy stage, your dog requires this vital nutrition to grow faster and healthier. So if your pooch is facing a nutritional imbalance on their body, they might have behavioural changes. These are the changes you could see if nutritional imbalance happens to your dog.

Change in faeces

Depression

Skin or coat disorders

Lack of energy

Medical Issues That Causes Him To Eat Dirt

The above conditions are excellent with your dog, but there are some reasons too when you should get worried. Some medical issues I have mentioned in below:

Anemia: 

Anemia is a condition where there are low blood cell count or low haemoglobin levels in your pooch’s body. Nutritional imbalance could be why this is happening because of natural instinct your dog is trying to balance the nutritional levels by eating the non-food items.

Gastrointestinal Disturbance: 

Sometimes your dog might have inflammation on his stomach and intestines. It could be caused by various reasons such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or new foods etc. If this happens, your dog might get into stress which causes him to eat dirt or mud.

Danger Of Eating Dirt 

Danger Of Eating Dirt

As you may expect, there are tons of risks of eating dirt. The main problem could happen to the intestines of your dog if he ate a lot at once. Dirt or mud contains pesticides, toxin and other fertilizers that could directly cause many types of stomach disease. Along with stomach disease, there are some other problems too. For example, depending on the dirt, there might be dental damages too. If there are any sharp objects present on the soil, that could create a severe cut on the mouth, throat, or stomach. Lots of parasites are also could be there, which can cause various types of health issues.

How To Prevent Dirt eating In Dogs

How To Prevent Dirt eating In Dogs

Now you know why your dog is eating dirt and the dangerous effects that could happen to him.It is the time to do the essential steps to stop your dog from eating dirt.

Here are some tips to prevent dirt-eating:

You can leash your pooch wherever you go outside with him to keep him away from exposed soil or mud.

Watch closely to your dog when he is playing on the ground, and when he is about to eat the dirt, you can give a verbal command or use a loud noise. By doing this, you can create a distraction to prevent eating dirt.

Pay attention to your pooch’s daily diet. Provide a well balanced nutritional food to keep your pup healthy and growing. Give them some safe fruit treats in summer. Quality food can prevent nutritional imbalance, and thus your puppy will stop doing destructive behaviours.

Ensure your dog is getting enough exercise or activities to relieve his stress throughout the day, so he might quit eating dirt.

Remove all the indoor potted plants and keep them out of your pooch’s reach so that it will not stimulate his brain to eat dirt or mud.

Some intestinal parasites like hookworm, roundworm and whipworm might absorb all the nutrients your dog is getting from food. It may be the reason causing anaemia and intestinal distress and which lead your dog to eat dirt. So should check your deworming schedule correctly, and if you found your dog is not dewormed as per the schedule, you need to deworm your dog as soon as possible.

When To Visit A Vet

If you have already done the above steps and still not getting any results now, it is time to see a vet as soon as possible.

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