Coprophagia

Categories: Dog health | Eating behaviors

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek copro (feces) and phagy (eat). It is instinctively practiced by several animals due to limitations of their digestive system or diets. In extremely rare cases it is practiced by humans.

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Coprophagia in non-human animals

Coprophagia is a behavior sometimes observed, with considerable disgust, by dog owners. Hofmeister, Cumming, and Dhein (2001) write that this behavior in animals has not been well-researched, and they are (as of this writing) preparing a study. In a preliminary online paper, they write that there are various theories explaining why animals consume other animals' feces. According to various theories—none proven or disproven—dogs might do this:

  • To get attention from their owners.
  • From anxiety, stress, or having been punished for bad behaviors.
  • From boredom.
  • In an attempt to clean up in crowded conditions.
  • When dogs observe their owners picking up feces, and imitate this behavior (allelomimetic behavior). This is highly improbable because the behaviour has also been observed in environments where owners never picked up the dog's (or other) feces.
  • Because puppies taste everything and discover that feces are edible and, perhaps, tasty.
  • Because dogs are, by nature, scavengers, and this is within the range of scavenger behavior.
  • To prevent the scent from attracting predators, especially mother dogs eating their offsprings' feces.
  • Because the texture and temperature of fresh feces approximates that of regurgitated food, which is how canine mothers in the wild would provide solid food.
  • Because of the protein content of the feces (particularly cat feces), or over-feeding, leading to large concentrations of undigested matter in the feces.
  • Due to assorted health problems, including:
    • Pancreatitis
    • Intestinal infections
    • Food allergies, creating mal-absorption
  • Because they are hungry, such as when eating routines are changed, food is withheld, or nutrients aren't properly absorbed.

Another theory proposes that carnivores sometimes eat the feces of their prey in order to ingest and exude scents which camouflage their own.

Young elephants eat the feces of their mother and obtain the necessary bacteria for the proper digestion of the vegetation found on the savannah. When they are born, their intestines do not contain these bacteria. Without them, these elephants would be unable to get any nutritional value from plants. Hamsters eat their own droppings; this is thought to be important as a source of vitamins B and K. Apes have been observed eating horse droppings for the salt. Monkeys have been observed to eat elephant droppings.

Rabbits, cavies (guinea pigs) and related species have a digestive system adapted for coprophagia. These herbivores do not have the complicated ruminant digestive system, so instead they extract more nutrition from grass by giving their food a second pass through the gut. Soft caecal pellets of partially digested food are excreted and generally consumed immediately. They also produce normal droppings, which are not re-eaten.

Pigs, both domesticated and wild boars, being omnivorous are known to eat feces of certain herbivores that leave a significant amount of semidigested matter. Pigs also known to eat their own feces and even human feces as well, which is among the reasons of pork tapeworm epidemies among pigs. In certain cultures it was common to collect horse feces rich in undigested grain by poor families to feed their pigs.

A number of coprophagous insects exist, the most famous probably being the scarab, sacred in ancient Egypt, and the most ubiquitous being the fly.

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Coprophagia in humans

Coprophagia is extremely uncommon in humans.

  • Medical: "... consumption of fresh, warm camel feces has been recommended by Bedouins as a remedy for bacterial dysentery; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic subtilisin from Bacillus subtilis) was confirmed by German soldiers in Africa during World War II." (Lewin, 2001)
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References

  • Hofmeister, Erik, Melinda Cumming, and Cheryl Dhein. 2001. "Owner Documentation of Coprophagia in the Canine." Online website: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/pets/study.htm. Accessed January 11, 2001.
  • Wise TN, and Goldberg RL. "Escalation of a fetish: coprophagia in a nonpsychotic adult of normal intelligence." J Sex Marital Ther. 1995 Winter;21(4):272-5.
  • Lewin, Ralph A. "More on Merde" Perspectives in Biology and Medicine - Volume 44, Number 4, Autumn 2001, pp. 594-607
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External links

eo:Koprofagio nl:Coprofagie pl:Koprofagia pt:Coprofagia sv:Koprofag