![]() Admittedly, it’s a process that happens over time, and you may need an animal behaviorist to help you train your dog. Teach your dog an alternate behavior to chewing on non-food items, such as looking at you rather than chomping down in return for a delectable treat.Keep your home as free of potential eating targets as you possibly can, putting any non-food item the dog might eat out of range.If it turns out the pica does not stem from a medical condition but is behavioral in nature (sometimes what starts out as a medical issue becomes a behavior pattern), a multi-pronged approach should be put in place. When the pica is not medical but behavioral If something is found to be amiss, appropriate treatment can take care of it - and, hopefully, cure the pica in the process. A general practitioner or a veterinary internal medicine specialist can orchestrate this series of tests. An endoscopy might also be in order to make sure he doesn’t have a condition in his GI tract such as a stomach ulcer. ![]() That’s why, she says, a dog with relentless pica, like Butch, should have a medical exam with a full panel of blood work and a rule-out of any metabolic conditions that could keep him feeling hungry all the time. “Just the way dogs might eat grass, leaves, or sticks when they don’t feel well, eating other non-food items may be a way a dog tries to relieve stomach discomfort,” says Tufts animal behaviorist Stephanie Borns-Weil, DVM. That said, pica can indicate that something is wrong in a dog’s gastrointestinal tract. It can be dangerous, of course, but it does not mean the animal is lacking vitamin or minerals. Chewing is normal canine behavior, whether it’s chewing food, a sock, or a piece of paper. They chew and eat non-food items because they’re dogs. Some people think dogs eat non-food substances to correct nutritional deficiencies, but with rare exceptions, nutrition isn’t the issue. She has been told there’s no treatment for pica - the eating of non-food items. These are just some of the non-food items that standard poodle Butch has eaten and subsequently had to have removed from his stomach or intestines, reports Your Dog reader Barbara Freeman of Los Angeles. Thin rubber gloves, the plastic bag the newspaper is delivered in, a piece of fabric, the rubber gasket on a Yeti drink holder…. Handsome Butch has had more items removed from his stomach than his “mom,” Barbara Freeman of Los Angeles, cares to count. ![]()
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