Next, limit their access at all times to the items they love to swallow! This may involve using a crate for your dog whenever you’re away from home. If your dog or cat suffers from pica, first make sure they are on a nutritious, high-quality diet. Once a pet has been diagnosed and treated for pica and is out of danger, there are many options pet parents have to prevent future problems. Herbal remedies like Rescue Remedy can be helpful for dogs, while cats may benefit from plug-in feline pheromone diffusers. If the suspected cause is behavioral, reducing stress and anxiety and providing a more enriching environment is key.
If parasites are found, they are easily treated with medication. If the pica is caused by a nutritional deficiency, switching to a different food, adding probiotics to the pet’s diet, or using a digestive enzyme supplement may help. Immediate treatment of pica depends on the cause. If the veterinarian suspects a nutritional deficiency or problems with the pet’s gastrointestinal tract not properly absorbing nutrients, more specific blood tests can be done that check folate and Vitamin B-12 levels.Īnd if the pet has a history of pica, it’s always a good idea to grab a quick x-ray to make sure there’s nothing in the GI tract that shouldn’t be there! This x-ray shows a dog with a steel bread knife lodged in his esophagus. Testing can include a fecal exam to check for parasites, blood work to rule out diabetes, anemia, liver disease, or disease of the pancreas, and a urinalysis. To rule out medical causes, a thorough exam and testing should be done by a veterinarian. Less tragic, but still serious, consequences of pica include:įortunately, pica is one medical condition that is fairly easy to diagnose by pet parents! However, it’s not always easy to tell if the cause is medical or behavioral. Some objects, like plastic bags, can also cause blockages in the respiratory tract, leading to suffocation and death. If items are toxic, they can cause poisoning. Swallowed objects not only pose a choking hazard, they can become lodged in the esophagus, stomach, or intestine, causing life-threatening blockages that require surgery to remove. Pica can be extremely dangerous for pets. Labrador Retrievers and Siamese and Birman cats seem to experience pica more frequently than other breeds. There may even be a genetic predisposition for pica in some breeds of dogs and cats. Psychological causes of pica can include: Nutritional deficiencies can sometimes lead to pica in dogs and cats. Side effects of corticosteroids or anti-seizure medication.Endocrine disorders, such as Cushing’s Disease.Inflammatory Bowel Disease and other gastrointestinal disorders.Pica can be caused by many different things, but there are usually 2 main categories: medical and behavioral. Poop-eating even has its own medical term, “coprophagia” – and it can be a very hard habit to break.Īnything else deemed “non-edible” that is sought out and eaten more than once by a pet is considered to fall into the pica category. These delicacies, which are mostly popular with dogs, are attractive to them because they often simply just enjoy the taste. Two items that don’t fall into the pica category? Trash and poop. Items that carry their human’s scent, like socks, underwear, and hosiery, tend to be particular favorites. Some develop a fondness for one particular item, while others will swallow a wide variety of objects. Pets with pica develop an appetite for some pretty bizarre things, including rocks, dirt, clothing, cat litter, plastic bags, rubber bands, hair ties, even electrical cords and drywall! Pica is a surprisingly common type of eating disorder that causes pets to compulsively crave and eat non-food items, and it can affect both dogs and cats. But what if that “anything” included things that didn’t actually qualify as food? We all seem to have that one friend who can eat anything. only shares products that we strongly believe in and feel would be beneficial for our readers. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)ĭisclosure: This post contains affiliate links, and if you click on them and purchase a product, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window).Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window).Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window).Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window).Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window).Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window).Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window).
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