Dear Paws4Pets: I have three rescued dogs that each dig a small hole, usually with their teeth, and proceed to eat the dirt. I feed them quality food, so I don’t know what they’re after. Is this typical behavior or are they lacking a mineral that the dirt is providing? I’m also not real happy about the holes in the lawn. I’ll bet I am not the only one with this issue.
- Jeannette V., Billings MT
Dear Jeanette: You’re right, this behavior is actually fairly common and a source of distress for a lot of dog owners. Termed “pica” — defined by the Angell Memorial Hospital’s Book of Wellness and Preventive Care for Dogs as “an abnormal desire to eat things that are indigestible” — this behavior includes eating dirt and rocks. Some dogs will eat sticks, socks or whatever is handy.
A common form of pica is coprophagia, a fancy term for “eating poop,” which many dog owners also deal with.
Pica is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, although a nutritional deficiency also can be a cause. So the first thing to do is consult the dogs’ veterinarian. The vet may ask you to bring in samples of the dogs’ stool to check for worms or other problems. (Separate each dog’s sample in plastic baggies labeled with their names.) Even if the vet doesn’t find a physical cause, he or she may recommend you add a vitamin supplement to their diets.
You’ll also need to address the obsessive-compulsive component. This means going outside with the dogs (or taking them out one by one for awhile). When they start digging or chewing at the ground, distract them immediately and call them over for a short spell of basic obedience training, rewarding them with either treats or praise depending on your training style. You also must fill in and re-sod the small holes in the lawn.
Dear Paws4Pets: I have a 1-year-old golden retriever, “Hal,” and he has contracted puppy warts. I have been told there is no treatment for this, and the only recommendations I’ve received are to give him multivitamins and an occasional treat with honey on it. I’m hoping this will clear up in the next few weeks, as I usually put him in doggy day care two or three days a week, and they won’t allow him as this is extremely contagious. Do you have any tips on any other form of treatment that would clear this up?
— Sue, via e-mail
DEAR SUE: Unfortunately, because puppy warts are caused by a virus, there is no treatment that will cure Hal quickly. The infection has to clear up on its own. Multivitamins will help keep Hal physically strong so that his immune system keeps working to get rid of the virus, but other than that, time is the only cure.
Puppy warts normally clear up after about 45 days. Be sure to just let them go away on their own, and don’t try to remove them yourself.
It is inconvenient for your puppy to be banished from day care during this period, but hang in there. If you’re unable to stay with Hal all day or check in on him during your workday, ask a friend to stop in and spend some time with him so he’s not by himself in the house all day.
If there’s one bright spot of news, it’s this: Once Hal recovers from puppy warts, he won’t catch them again.
Question about your pet? Contact Sam at ask@pawscorner.com
Dear Paws4Pets: I wanted to tell you a story about the cat who adopted us. In 1930, my brother and I lived with our parents on the fourth floor of a tenement building in the Lower East Side of New York City. We had a fire escape outside the bedroom window of our four-room apartment. In the summer, Mama opened the windows wide to let the fresh air in.
It was on one of these hot summer days that a pussycat brazenly came in through the open window. It looked starved, and my brother and I begged our parents to let it stay. They agreed. We fed “Cat” bread and milk, and later, scraps from our table. Every evening when my father came home from work, Cat would take a flying leap and land on his shoulder. My father loved the greeting.
After awhile though, Cat started leaving through the window again and coming back a few hours later. She also seemed to get fatter and fatter, until we realized she was pregnant. Cat delivered four babies on towels my mother laid out on the bathroom floor. My mother gave three of the kittens to neighbors and we kept the fourth, an all-white male we named “Whitey.”
Whitey stayed with us through the winter, but by the next spring he got as restless as his mother and started leaving through the fire escape window. One day he went out and never came back again.
- Pearl M., Morse Township, NJ
Dear Pearl: Things were so different for pets and their owners back then. Pet food was an unheard-of extravagance, and veterinary care was not so common for housepets. Thank you for sharing!
Dear Paws4Pets: We adopted a 2-year-old spayed female cat. “Trudy” has a problem when she pees in her litter box. She tends to spray over the top of the box. Someone suggested a covered cat box, so I found two at garage sales. She still pees to the back, and the pee drips down the back of the box where it clips on. Why is she doing this? I use litter she likes. Is this just a habit, or should I take her to the vet and get checked out? We really don’t want to take her back just because of this. She is so sweet. Is there anything else we can do? — Linda D.
Dear Linda: It’s always worth a trip to the veterinarian just to rule out any health problems. If Trudy checks out OK, there may not be much else to do after that. I’ve seen cats before that sprayed over the top of their litter boxes. In one case it was a dominant male in a three-cat household that clearly wanted everyone to know this was his box. He refused to use a covered box and would pee outside of the one that was installed, so his owner put the old box back and built a splashguard — cardboard wrapped with foil — that drained back into the litter box. That cat loved spraying on the splash-guard all the more because of the sound of water hitting the tinfoil. Trudy does not appear to have this problem. She’s not refusing her litter box, which is very good. Don’t take her back because of this minor issue. If the veterinarian doesn’t find anything wrong, continue to rinse the litter box top after every cleaning, and perhaps rig a splash-guard system that prevents the urine from collecting in the rim.
Dear Paws4Pets: I have two 2-year-old neutered canine brothers. They have lots of forested room to roam, but “Jake”” — the dominant one — occasionally insists on peeing on the deck. I can’t catch him at it. Why does he do that, and how can I get him to stop? — Carolyn V., via e-mail
Dear Carolyn: That can be tough to stop, since the deck is often considered part of the family living area for everyone, including the dogs. You’ll need to regain control of the deck area and remind Jake who’s boss. For the next several days or weeks, the deck is going to become Training Central. Work with Jake and his brother, separately. Whenever Jake begins to sniff around or tries to mark something, firmly tell him “no” and continue giving him basic obedience commands.
