What to do if dog eats cat poop?

If you find your dog sampling cat litter or eating cat feces, it’s upsetting in the moment and worth addressing quickly. This behavior affects the dog’s health, creates a sanitation headache for the household, and often sparks anxiety between dog and cat owners. I typically see it happen when cats use open boxes in shared rooms, when a hungry or bored dog gets unsupervised access, or when a curious puppy explores new textures and smells. Your immediate goals are simple: protect the dog from parasites or bacterial exposure, prevent further access, and restore a clean, calm routine for everyone in the home.

If It Just Happened: First Actions to Take When Your Dog Eats Cat Poop

In the first few minutes after you notice your dog has eaten cat feces, act to limit further exposure and gather information you’ll need if you call a veterinarian. Quickly assess what and how much was eaten, secure the area so the dog can’t reach more, and watch for any immediate signs of distress. If the dog seems fine, you can monitor closely at home; if they show certain worrying symptoms, contact your vet or emergency clinic right away.

1. Estimate how recent and how much was eaten—this helps the vet gauge risk.
2. Remove the dog from the litter box area and safely dispose of remaining feces.
3. Keep the dog calm and observe for vomiting, drooling, weakness, or unusual behavior for the next few hours.
4. Call your veterinarian if you notice severe or persistent symptoms (see Health Risks and Red Flags below).

Why Dogs Eat Cat Poop: Biological Drives, Dietary Needs, and Curious Behavior

Understanding the reasons helps you respond without blame. Dogs are scavengers by nature; feces carry concentrated smells and partially digested proteins that can be attractive. In some cases, a dog’s interest is driven by a nutritional need—low-quality diets or certain malabsorption issues may make feces seem appealing because they still contain undigested nutrients. Behaviourally, if a dog once received attention or a reward after finding feces, that pairing can reinforce the habit. Medical reasons such as pica, pancreatic insufficiency, or parasites may also play a role, so persistent or sudden-onset coprophagia should prompt a health check.

When It Most Often Happens — Where and Why the Incidents Occur

This behavior is more likely in specific situations. Multi-pet homes with litter boxes in accessible places provide opportunity, especially if the litter is scooped infrequently. Dogs that are hungry because of inconsistent feeding, an inappropriate diet, or competition at mealtimes may broaden their search for calories. Boredom, anxiety, and lack of mental or physical enrichment commonly push dogs to explore atypical items, including feces. Puppies often investigate the world with their mouths, and seniors with cognitive changes or digestive inefficiencies can also develop the habit.

Health Risks and Red Flags: What Symptoms Mean You Should Worry

Cat feces can carry parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii and certain intestinal worms, and it may contain bacteria like E. coli or Salmonella that could cause gastrointestinal upset in dogs or pose a zoonotic risk to humans. Mild outcomes are common—short-lived diarrhea or an upset stomach—yet some dogs may develop more serious signs if they ingest a large amount or if the feces contain infectious organisms.

Watch for these red flags: repeated vomiting, bloody or persistent diarrhea, severe lethargy, a fever, or signs of abdominal pain. Urgent signs include dehydration (dry gums, decreased skin elasticity), collapse, or continuous vomiting that prevents water intake. Those signs warrant immediate veterinary attention; milder, short-lived vomiting or soft stool can often be managed with your regular vet’s guidance.

Owner Checklist: Practical Steps to Take Immediately

Once the immediate minutes have passed and the dog is calm, follow a clear sequence to reduce risk and give your veterinarian useful information.

1. Safely retrieve and discard any remaining feces. Use gloves or a scooper and put waste in a sealed bag to limit environmental contamination.
2. If the dog has feces on its mouth or paws, wipe gently with a pet-safe moist wipe or a damp cloth. Avoid forcing the dog to rinse if they resist; a gentle clean will remove most surface contaminants.
3. Record the timing and estimate the amount eaten. Note whether the feces looked fresh or old and if the cat shows signs of illness. Take photos if you can—these can help the vet assess risk remotely.
4. Call your veterinarian with these details. They will advise whether home monitoring is appropriate or if testing and treatment—such as deworming, stool testing, or supportive care—is needed. Follow their instructions about withholding food briefly, providing fluids, or bringing the dog in for evaluation.

Training and Management Strategies to Prevent Recurrence

Stopping coprophagia long-term combines management changes with targeted training. Move litter boxes to places your dog can’t reach: high shelves, bathrooms with closed doors, laundry rooms, or top-entry litter boxes. In multi-pet households, having multiple litter boxes spread out reduces the chance of a dog finding a lone box.

Training builds clear behavior alternatives. Teach a reliable “leave it” cue and pair it with a substitute reward—offer a high-value treat or a favorite toy when the dog ignores the litter area. Practice this in low-distraction settings and gradually increase difficulty. Structure feeding with consistent meal times so the dog isn’t scavenging from hunger, and consider measured meals rather than free-feeding if competition or over-eating is part of the problem.

Environmental enrichment prevents boredom-driven scavenging. Daily walks, puzzle feeders, scent games, and short training sessions occupy the dog’s mind and reduce the impulse to explore feces. If anxiety seems to drive the behavior, work with a behaviorist to build a tailored plan; sometimes medical treatment for underlying anxiety improves outcomes.

Helpful Gear and Tools to Keep Your Dog Away from Cat Waste

There are practical products that make prevention easier and cleaner. Elevated or top-entry litter boxes reduce a dog’s access while remaining acceptable to many cats; litter box furniture or enclosures hide the box behind a door or flap. A baby gate with a small cat door can create a barrier that allows cats through but keeps most dogs out. For cleaning, use pet-safe enzymatic cleaners to remove odors and reduce the chance of re-attraction.

When supervising behavior change, temporary management items such as a short leash indoors, a properly sized muzzle (used responsibly and trained in positive contexts), or a crate for supervised confinement can prevent incidents while you retrain the dog. Always introduce tools in a calm, reward-based way so they don’t add stress.

If It Keeps Happening: When to Adjust Your Approach or Seek Professional Help

If the dog continues to seek out cat feces despite management and training, escalate the response. Revisit the diet with your veterinarian—nutritional gaps or digestive disorders may need correction. Ask for stool testing and parasite screening for both the dog and the cat, because untreated infections can perpetuate the cycle. A veterinary behaviorist or certified trainer can evaluate if learned reinforcement or anxiety is sustaining the behavior and will suggest a stepwise behavior modification plan tailored to your dog.

In some cases, medication for an underlying medical problem or for severe anxiety, prescribed and supervised by a veterinarian, may be part of the solution. Persistent coprophagia sometimes reflects multiple interacting factors—environmental access, diet, medical status, and reinforcement history—and addressing each systematically tends to produce the best results.

Sources and Further Reading

• Merck Veterinary Manual: Coprophagy (coprophagia) in Dogs and Cats — Merck Veterinary Manual, section on abnormal behavior and pica.
• American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA): Zoonotic Parasites of Concern in Cat Feces — guidance on parasite risks and prevention.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Toxoplasmosis and Cat Owners — information on transmission and human health considerations.
• American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) 2020 Canine Life Stage Nutritional Assessment Guidelines — for evaluating dietary causes of abnormal eating.
• Overall, K.L., Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals, 2nd Edition — practical approaches to behavior modification for coprophagia and related problems.