hi everybody my dogs eat dirt all the time its good soil but why do they do it i have asked everybody i no even vets no one seems to no does not seem to hurt them but they did not do it before we moved from fla to ar and i feed them the best food i can buy thank u for any info u have and have a nice holy day and new year

-- patrick hemsley (phemsley@superiorinter.net), December 22, 2001

Answers

Sounds like a mineral deficiency to me. Perhaps your vet can do a blood work up? Try supplementing their food with kelp powder, which should be available at health food stores.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 22, 2001.

If you lived up north I'd think maybe they'd bit a yankee and were trying to get rid of the taste.

-- charlie (charliesap@pldi.net), December 23, 2001.

No doubt a mineral deficiency. I had a donkey that ate dirt until I started feeding him food (codex) grade Diatomaceous Earth. It's loaded with trace minerals. Some free feed the DE to their stock, others feed it daily by measurement.

Dogs under 35 pounds ~ 1 teaspoon/day.

Dogs over 35 pounds ~ 1 tablespoon/day.

Mix it with something the dog likes ~ corn oil, etc.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), December 23, 2001.

My 10 year old Black Lab is just now starting to eat dirt and it bothers me. Vet done a $65 blood work up and found nothing and has no clue as to why he is doing this. He looks like a back-hoe, taking a big chunk out of the ground and eats it and one bite usually does it. Our vet even called the Hills Scienc Diet labortory and they couldn't tell him a thing..I got a mineral block and busted it up and put it on his food, a little every day, know he is lacking something, but don't know how to tell what it is.

-- Julia K. Williams (jjlake@csj.net), February 15, 2002.

Dogs eat every dang thing they can -- not to worry! Think of it: they bury bones to ripen them, go back weeks later and dig'em up and eat'em. Then there is the Rolling-In-Dead-Things routine. Dirt aint' nuthin'.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), February 16, 2002.