OT Question: Can human feces desintigrate on their
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From: Rancho Palos Verdes, Ca.
I swear I went back to the same spot cause my foot tracks were still there, and still positioned in the same direction they were when I dropped the bomb 
You guys want me to take a pic for evidence?
You guys want me to take a pic for evidence?
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From: SJC
Originally Posted by Mr. Eryozgatliyan,Jun 11 2009, 03:09 PM
I swear I went back to the same spot cause my foot tracks were still there, and still positioned in the same direction they were when I dropped the bomb
You guys want me to take a pic for evidence?
You guys want me to take a pic for evidence?
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From: USSA
COPROPHAGIA IN THE CANINE
Erik Hofmeister; Melinda Cumming, DVM PhD; Cheryl Dhein, DVM, MS, DACVIM
Overview
Coprophagia is defined as the consumption of feces by an animal and is a common complaint of owners to their veterinarians. Since there has been little research done on this particular behavior, the veterinarian is usually poorly equipped to give a recommendation to the owner. This study is intended to provide epidemiological information about the incidence of the behavior in the canine population, the age of onset, age of disappearance, and various other pieces of information crucial to form a basis from which to study this very important behavior.
Proposed Causes
Coprophagia may result due to various medical problems. Primary among them are exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, pancreatitis, intestinal infections, malabsorptive syndromes, and over-feeding (especially high fat content diets). However, with the majority of these conditions, many other signs beside the coprophagia will be prominent, particularly diarrhea. Coprophagia is usually only a small aspect of these medical conditions.
There have been a variety of behavioral theories put forth as to why canines engage in coprophagia. It is important at this time to define different kinds of coprophagia. Autocoprophagia deals with an animal eating its own feces. Intraspecific coprophagia deals with an animal eating feces from another animal within its own species. Interspecific coprophagia deals with an animal eating feces from another species (dog eating cat, deer, rabbit, etc feces). Several behavioral explanations of coprophagia are discussed below.
Attention-seeking behavior: When the dog engages in coprophagia, their owner tends to reprimand them and, therefore, pay attention to the animal. This may be a sequellae to a medical condition which brought about the coprophagia initially and, now that the medical condition has cleared, the animal continues to engage in coprophagia in order to get attention from the owner. This is unlikely in well-treated animals, however, because they will likely get all the attention they need without having to draw negative attention to themselves. This is being examined in our study.
Allelomimetic behavior: The dog observes the owner picking up the feces and learns from them to do so as well.
Learned behavior: The dog observes other dogs engaging in coprophagia and mimics their activity, thus 'learning' it from other dogs within the household or those living nearby. This begs the question as to what started the first dog to engage in coprophagia. This is being examined in our study.
Maternal behavior: A bitch with puppies will often engage in coprophagia, and this behavior is normal. There are many theories as to why the bitch does this, including keeping the den clean and preventing the scent of the feces from attracting predators. This is being examined in our study.
Dominance behavior: There have been reports of a submissive dog consuming the feces of one or more dominant dogs in the same household. There are other examples in nature where the submissive members of a group participate in apparently bizarre behaviors. This is being examined in our study.
Reinforcement: Something about eating the feces itself reinforces the behavior. Things such as taste may be a factor in this. It's simply appealing to the dog to eat the feces, so it does so. This is the likely mechanism in interspecific coprophagia such as eating cat feces.
Feeding behavior: Many people feed their dogs only once per day. Some postulate that dogs naturally want to have multiple meals throughout the day, hence they use coprophagia to supplement their feeding schedule and fulfill this need. This is being examined in our study.
Treatment Options
These treatments are all the opinions of the authors of this study. We make no claims about the efficacy of these treatments, nor do we endorse using any specific products herein. This is provided merely to inform interested individuals of what has been used in the past, and the authors' opinions of these treatments. Our study will provide more objective data regarding the efficacy of some of these treatments.
Meat tenderizer: Some people theorize that adding various enzymes to the diet of a coprophagic animal may help. The suspicion is that these enzymes break down more of the nutrients in a dog's diet so that it gets adequate nutrition and need not ingest its feces to get a proper influx of nutrients. There are some reports of this treatment working.
Forbid ™
Erik Hofmeister; Melinda Cumming, DVM PhD; Cheryl Dhein, DVM, MS, DACVIM
Overview
Coprophagia is defined as the consumption of feces by an animal and is a common complaint of owners to their veterinarians. Since there has been little research done on this particular behavior, the veterinarian is usually poorly equipped to give a recommendation to the owner. This study is intended to provide epidemiological information about the incidence of the behavior in the canine population, the age of onset, age of disappearance, and various other pieces of information crucial to form a basis from which to study this very important behavior.
Proposed Causes
Coprophagia may result due to various medical problems. Primary among them are exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, pancreatitis, intestinal infections, malabsorptive syndromes, and over-feeding (especially high fat content diets). However, with the majority of these conditions, many other signs beside the coprophagia will be prominent, particularly diarrhea. Coprophagia is usually only a small aspect of these medical conditions.
There have been a variety of behavioral theories put forth as to why canines engage in coprophagia. It is important at this time to define different kinds of coprophagia. Autocoprophagia deals with an animal eating its own feces. Intraspecific coprophagia deals with an animal eating feces from another animal within its own species. Interspecific coprophagia deals with an animal eating feces from another species (dog eating cat, deer, rabbit, etc feces). Several behavioral explanations of coprophagia are discussed below.
Attention-seeking behavior: When the dog engages in coprophagia, their owner tends to reprimand them and, therefore, pay attention to the animal. This may be a sequellae to a medical condition which brought about the coprophagia initially and, now that the medical condition has cleared, the animal continues to engage in coprophagia in order to get attention from the owner. This is unlikely in well-treated animals, however, because they will likely get all the attention they need without having to draw negative attention to themselves. This is being examined in our study.
Allelomimetic behavior: The dog observes the owner picking up the feces and learns from them to do so as well.
Learned behavior: The dog observes other dogs engaging in coprophagia and mimics their activity, thus 'learning' it from other dogs within the household or those living nearby. This begs the question as to what started the first dog to engage in coprophagia. This is being examined in our study.
Maternal behavior: A bitch with puppies will often engage in coprophagia, and this behavior is normal. There are many theories as to why the bitch does this, including keeping the den clean and preventing the scent of the feces from attracting predators. This is being examined in our study.
Dominance behavior: There have been reports of a submissive dog consuming the feces of one or more dominant dogs in the same household. There are other examples in nature where the submissive members of a group participate in apparently bizarre behaviors. This is being examined in our study.
Reinforcement: Something about eating the feces itself reinforces the behavior. Things such as taste may be a factor in this. It's simply appealing to the dog to eat the feces, so it does so. This is the likely mechanism in interspecific coprophagia such as eating cat feces.
Feeding behavior: Many people feed their dogs only once per day. Some postulate that dogs naturally want to have multiple meals throughout the day, hence they use coprophagia to supplement their feeding schedule and fulfill this need. This is being examined in our study.
Treatment Options
These treatments are all the opinions of the authors of this study. We make no claims about the efficacy of these treatments, nor do we endorse using any specific products herein. This is provided merely to inform interested individuals of what has been used in the past, and the authors' opinions of these treatments. Our study will provide more objective data regarding the efficacy of some of these treatments.
Meat tenderizer: Some people theorize that adding various enzymes to the diet of a coprophagic animal may help. The suspicion is that these enzymes break down more of the nutrients in a dog's diet so that it gets adequate nutrition and need not ingest its feces to get a proper influx of nutrients. There are some reports of this treatment working.
Forbid ™