Eating dirt?

[RottiMomCT]

I got a note from a friend of mine recently - her dogs are eating dirt. they are fed Innova (or Canidae, I think) and all UTD on vaccinations, very healthy dogs, except for the dirt eating.

Any ideas on how to curb this behavior or any ideas on what could cause the dogs to do this?

Thanks!!

[sophie's-mom]

Ian and Sophie will do this in the summer........they'll dig down to the cooler dirt and nibble. Ian usually comes in with a "got dirt" moustache on.

I figured they did it because it helped keep them cool.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

I've read that when feeding a very good food like you have mentioned there is less sodium they may be trying to get sodium from the soil. It's really common when taking a dog of a lesser food that may have had a lot of sodium infact, when I was using NRG the dehydrated raw it said on the bucket that dogs may begin to eat dirt for this reason.

[Patty1231]

Rocco has always eaten dirt and now Perle is doing it - I posted a thread called Worm Holes about it. So, if this could be a sodium deficiency, would you recommend adding some salt to their meals to see if it stops the dirt eating?

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

No, I personally wouldn't recommend adding salt or sugar to a dogs diet for the same reasons its best for us not to eat salt and sugar. I would contact a vet or a holistic pet center in your area and see what types of supplements they may recommend that you could safely add to your dogs diet.

[rottiluver]

Originally Posted by Diane Heller

I've read that when feeding a very good food like you have mentioned there is less sodium they may be trying to get sodium from the soil. It's really common when taking a dog of a lesser food that may have had a lot of sodium infact, when I was using NRG the dehydrated raw it said on the bucket that dogs may begin to eat dirt for this reason.

This is what I thought also. Dogs tend to eat things they need, like gravel for instance- they don't chew their food properly and the gravel helps them digest it, believe it or not!! LOL, I always wondered these things also, and that's the answer I got!

[pbach]

Our dogs have been on Canidae for over a year. Nikki loves to eat dirt, can't keep her out of it. Claus eats it's once in a while. They were eating the dirt in an area of our yard that didn't have any grass (just plants), so we rocked it in. I think there were plenty of slugs that were deep down in this area. However JBACH has recently plugged the yard and we have all these little dirt turds everywhere - Nikki thinks she's died and gone to heaven Silly girl.