Quote:
Yes, they can get coccidia (spelling??) which has similiar symptoms as parvo in puppies, most adult dogs can live with it. If you find the trick at breaking the habit let me know, 2 of my 3 dogs LOVE chicken poo and they know the leave it command but that only works when I see them going for the poo.
The next time you take the dog to the vet have a poop test done for worms & make sure they look for coccicidia!!
Actually, dogs can't get coccidia from eating chicken (or any other non-canid species) poop. Coccidia is species-specific, so the kind that infects chickens won't infect dogs, or people, or cats, or any other non-avian species. It might show up in a stool sample as a pass-through, but it won't cause illness. I work for a vet and one year we had several different dogs drop off fecal samples that tested positive for coccidia, except that they looked "weird." We sent them out to another lab with more experience doing fecals and they informed us that what we were seeing was rabbit coccidia, dogs were eating rabbit poop and the coccidia was passing through their digestive system, and that it did not require treatment.
Dogs can get some other kinds of worms from chickens, but only if the chickens have the worms themselves. Also, if your dog is on heartworm preventative many of the heartworm pills out there also get the most common species of worms that a dog would come into contact with. So you are essentially deworming your dog every month when you give them their heartworm pill. If you are concerned, have the dog's poop (and the chicken poop too if your vet will do it) checked once or twice a year and deworm them if necessary.
As for how to stop it, I agree on working harder on the leave it command. But don't expect it to work when you aren't around. Dogs are just gross. Both of mine eat chicken poop and cat poop whenever they think we're not around to see it and stop them. One of them even eats dog poop if he thinks he can get away with it (he's much better about not doing it than he used to be, but every time I start to think I've gotten him over that disgusting habit he goes and proves me wrong).
Agreed.
I don't worry about our GSDs eating chicken poo or many of the other gross things dogs do. I can stop the poo eating if I'm right there with the "leave it!" command, but if they eat some out of my sight I don't worry. They are both fully-vetted - on heartworm and flea preventive. I am much more concerned and strict about them eating from the kitty litter box or sniffing cat butts.
They are trained to stay out of the bathroom (where the box is located) and they know kitty butt sniffing is a big no-no. Thankfully GSDs are some of the easiest dogs to train.
Yes, they can get coccidia (spelling??) which has similiar symptoms as parvo in puppies, most adult dogs can live with it. If you find the trick at breaking the habit let me know, 2 of my 3 dogs LOVE chicken poo and they know the leave it command but that only works when I see them going for the poo.
The next time you take the dog to the vet have a poop test done for worms & make sure they look for coccicidia!!
Actually, dogs can't get coccidia from eating chicken (or any other non-canid species) poop. Coccidia is species-specific, so the kind that infects chickens won't infect dogs, or people, or cats, or any other non-avian species. It might show up in a stool sample as a pass-through, but it won't cause illness. I work for a vet and one year we had several different dogs drop off fecal samples that tested positive for coccidia, except that they looked "weird." We sent them out to another lab with more experience doing fecals and they informed us that what we were seeing was rabbit coccidia, dogs were eating rabbit poop and the coccidia was passing through their digestive system, and that it did not require treatment.
Dogs can get some other kinds of worms from chickens, but only if the chickens have the worms themselves. Also, if your dog is on heartworm preventative many of the heartworm pills out there also get the most common species of worms that a dog would come into contact with. So you are essentially deworming your dog every month when you give them their heartworm pill. If you are concerned, have the dog's poop (and the chicken poop too if your vet will do it) checked once or twice a year and deworm them if necessary.
As for how to stop it, I agree on working harder on the leave it command. But don't expect it to work when you aren't around. Dogs are just gross. Both of mine eat chicken poop and cat poop whenever they think we're not around to see it and stop them. One of them even eats dog poop if he thinks he can get away with it (he's much better about not doing it than he used to be, but every time I start to think I've gotten him over that disgusting habit he goes and proves me wrong).
Agreed.
I don't worry about our GSDs eating chicken poo or many of the other gross things dogs do. I can stop the poo eating if I'm right there with the "leave it!" command, but if they eat some out of my sight I don't worry. They are both fully-vetted - on heartworm and flea preventive. I am much more concerned and strict about them eating from the kitty litter box or sniffing cat butts.
