Why Is My Dog Always Hungry

[shane]

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Hi any advice will help my whippet is always scrounging for food, he has a small breakfast and tea with one or two treats during the day, but he tries to eat his brothers food and snacks, he will eat berries when out the bird feed try and get in rubbish bins!!! and now he has taken to eating his own and his brothers ....... POO !!!! as well as cat poo disgusting, i have to watch him like a hawk!! they have two to three walksa day and have access to hide chews any ideas or is he a billy bunter!!!!!! :angry:

 

[shane]

Hi any advice will help my whippet is always scrounging for food, he has a small breakfast and tea with one or two treats during the day, but he tries to eat his brothers food and snacks, he will eat berries when out the bird feed try and get in rubbish bins!!! and now he has taken to eating his own and his brothers ....... POO !!!! as well as cat poo disgusting, i have to watch him like a hawk!! they have two to three walksa day and have access to hide chews any ideas or is he a billy bunter!!!!!! :angry:

 

[TTT]

I have a whippet cross who sounds just the same! Luckily she has a gut like a tin bucket and nothing seems to have caused a tummy upset. All the food in my house has to be kept in closed cupboards and the kitchen door tied shut to keep her out. She is very, very greedy.

 

[k4tie-d]

Hi any advice will help my whippet is always scrounging for food, he has a small breakfast and tea with one or two treats during the day, but he tries to eat his brothers food and snacks, he will eat berries when out the bird feed try and get in rubbish bins!!! and now he has taken to eating his own and his brothers ....... POO !!!! as well as cat poo disgusting, i have to watch him like a hawk!! they have two to three walksa day and have access to hide chews any ideas or is he a billy bunter!!!!!! :angry:

out of interest what food are you feeding him?

i think you will find most whippets are bin rakers, (some more than others) or boy loves raking the bin, he eats the cats food, and is often found on the bunker licking plates in the sink. He is definatly not hungry, its more like a game to him.

Cat poop is a delicacy!! usually only in winter my 3 get it, when the snow is to thick and the cats refuse to go any further out than the back step, the dogs will often be found head deep laping it up :x :x :x :x :x

the only suggestion i have, is to try feeding his brother a little pineapple, apparently it taints the poop so not so desirable for others to eat.

 

[shane]

Hi thanks for advice will try pineapple, they are fed dried dog fod with tinned tuna or sardines in the evening (tin between them) boilded egg each for breakfast

 

[eve]

I have had the poo eating experiences with some of my whippets.

Some are fed different food from the others and this seems 'preferable' :wacko:

Some are not adverse to others dogs poo as well.

The pineapple did not seem to work with mine.

I always have to go out with my lot in the morning and pick up quickly :wacko: :x

The only thing that really works is a muzzle for about 6 months. They seem to loose the habit after the muzzle stops being used.

It may be coincidence but I find new whippets (I take in rescues) and the pack alpha are worst.

It would make an interesting study, why some do this. It is called coprophagia.

I am beginning to think that the new whippets eat poo because a vitamin or something has been lacking in their diet or that it has not been varied enough. With the Alpha it could be 'cleanning up after the puppy/ pack syndrome to avoid detection like wolves and foxes do in the wild.

Your dogs seem to have a good diet although you do not say what dry food you feed. Apart from my Daisy who needs a special diet (and is the worst for coprophagia) My dogs get a bit of variety a few times a week with a handful of some new 'novel' food added for interest or a tin shared between them in their main meal.

Both that and the pineapple are worth a try. Failing that a whippet racing muzzle should do the trick.

 

[FeeFee]

Some dogs are just greedy unfortunately - I had a lurcher once who would have just eaten and eaten until he made himself sick then gone back and eaten some more given the chance. In his case he had been a stray, so probably spent a long time not knowing when he was going to find food again, but he never improved over the 13 years I had him so that excuse wore a bit thin!

I'm afraid you will probably just have to watch your dog like a hawk and keep anything he can steal away from him. If you add pineapple to your dogs' diet that is supposed to make their poo taste bad and put them off eating it.

If he really is starving all the time it would be worth getting him checked over, there are conditions like Cushings, Diabetes and bowel inflamation that can make dogs excessively hungry - but I suspect he's just a pig!