Why Do Dogs Eat Horse Poo? Please, WHY?

Whether one ponders Existentialism, Solipsism, Confucianism, Dadaism, Objectivism, Futurism, Surrealism, Nihilism, Epicureanism, Utilitarianism or any of the other profound isms, there is one question that brings all students of the deeper philosophical mindset to a screeching halt. That question is this...

Why Do Dogs Eat Horse Poo?

For eons, humans and animals alike have ingested herbs and botanicals naturally in our everyday meals. Before the advent of fast food and GMOs, we all ate one step away from the farm…literally. 

Even the most pampered pooches will nibble a bit of grass while on a walk or playing in the yard. Dogs naturally seek out certain grasses or herbs to aid their discomfort. Rough grasses with ragged edges lump together in the intestine to scrape worms out, sweet grasses can calm a wobbly tummy, and bitter grass cleanses the stomach when “urped.” 

Many dogs will eat grass if they are feeling a bit off. They don’t know WHY Nature is urging them to seek help as best they can. Before 1.800.VET.MEDS your dog had to go with inner urges to seek relief.

Eating dirt and manure are also two ways to self-medicate. Wild animals will travel miles to specific clay deposits to cleanse their systems. 

It seems more and more people are looking to the wisdom of decades or centuries past. Old wives’ tales” myths, and lore often have roots in scientific reason. One caveat - Please, oh please, do not look to the 80s for philosophical wisdom; it’s not there.

If virtually every single dog on earth would eat horse or cow poo if allowed to, there must be a reason! Is it possible Nature is urging dogs to seek an organic - VERY organic - source of relief?

Possible Answer to the Age Old Question...Why, Oh, Why Do Dogs Eat Horse Poo?

The manure of herbivores (such as horses, cows, anything that eats, well, herbs or grasses) is full of enzymes and partially digested protein, which can be beneficial for a meat eater’s (your dog) digestive system. So, Nature may be urging your dog to soothe their frazzled digestive system...with a dose of equine probiotics.

Of course, if the horse or cow had just been wormed or had worms (etc. etc.) or was ill, then it would be a concern, and I am NOT advocating a horse poo-supplemented diet, merely sharing why dogs seem to love horse poo. 

New Pony Poo Eating Ponderings

Revised May 28, 2018 - We were doing some construction, adding on to The Blissful Dog offices, which involved moving some fences. The Floofers, Ska∂i and Tili, our ¾ Leonberger and ¼ Great Pyrenees girls, got a sweet new addition to their play yard that gives them an acre or so of fenced fun. I stood there with iPhone in hand, ready to video them as they frolicked in their new pen. And, of course, ALL they wanted to do was eat the fresh pony-poo that Nyker and Bliss had deposited. Needless to say, I deleted that video. 

If your dogs proceeded to snack on pony poo and then roll in it...check out our Blissfully Clean Dogs shampoo collection.

I will never get all the images erased from my retinas that I stumbled upon when I Googled “dog eats horse poo.” I suppose I got what I deserved. 

As I conducted my extremely scientific research into this subject, aka Googling, I found some head-scratching “answers” (I use the term "answers" loosely here) as to why dogs eat horse poo. My favorite was “to mask the scent of humans on their breath.” So, this person must have human-eating dogs covering up the scent of consumed people by devouring horse poo? Not sure about that one...

Why does your dog eat horse manure? Below are a few random answers (if we want to dignify the words strung together with being called ANSWERS) from Quora, Tumblr, Yahoo! Answers, and other such bastions of the evidence of human genius.

Why Dogs Eat Horse Manure - Responses (I refuse to call these answers) gleaned from various websites

A: Horse manure, cow manure, even kitty poop...They love ’em all. It is not bad for them unless there are fly eggs in the poop; then the larvae can hatch in your dog & he too will have worms.

A: Dogs eat horse manure to mask the scent of humans on their breath. If you want your dog to stop eating horse manure, you need to provide the dog with an alternative scent.

A: Dogs may eat horse manure because the horse’s poop may contain undigested corn, which may appeal to dogs.

A: Dogs may also eat horse manure because it has proteins or simply because they like the taste of feces.

Once again, we are NOT suggesting you allow your dog to eat barnyard animal poo, as there have been cases of illness when the horses had just been wormed with Ivermectin, and the dogs ingested fresh, drug-packed poo.

HORSE POO ART

To cleanse your eye palette of all the horse poo images, here is a website dedicated to art created from...yep, horse poo. The Venus de Milo sold for over $40,000. Ponder that!

FOR MAXIMUM CULTURAL EXPOSURE VISIT HORSE POO ART

This post was first presented to the Nobel Prize Committee July 17, 2017. Sadly, a bunch of very distinguished men won all the Nobel Prizes for science and literature, not a one went to horse poo artists.