Coprophagia literally means the consumption of poop. Little research has been done on why dogs eat poop, so veterinarians can only guess why they do this. Did you know that dogs aren't the only animals that eat poop? Many other animals eat poop on a regular basis including rodents, gorillas and many insects such as dung beetles and flies.

Herbivores such as rabbits and rodents eat their own poop because their diet of plants is hard to efficiently digest, so they have to make two passes at it to get as much nutrition out of their meal as possible. For these animals, eating poop is equivalent to a cow chewing its cud. However, because a cow has four stomachs, they are able to re-eat their food without having to poop it out first. Deer, moose and other four-stomached herbivores also chew their cud.

Many other animals, including dogs, eat poop because poop contains vitamins produced by the intestinal bacteria that the animal can't absorb through the intestinal wall. So, they get these vitamins by eating poop. Dogs and some other animals also eat poop is because it contains protein. Dogs are particularly fond of cat poop because cat poop is high in protein.

A female dog will eat the poop of her pups as a way to keep the den clean and to keep the scent of the poop from attracting predators. There is even a theory that some particularly dominant dogs will eat other dogs' poop in order to remove it, and therefore remove the other dogs' presence. This is because poop is one way in which dogs mark territory. And, some veterinarians believe that eating poop is just a trait passed down to dogs from their ancestors. Coyotes and wolves have been known to eat their own poop during food shortages, and have also been known to eat the poop of herbivores because it contains many of the B vitamins needed in their diets.

Why knows why dogs eat poop? They may do it simply because it tastes good to them. However, it's best not to let your dog eat poop because many parasites, including giardia, coccidia, roundworms and whipworms, can be transmitted through dog and cat poop. Additionally, clumping litter can pose a serious health threat to dogs that eat cat poop. Think of what the litter does when a cat urinates in it. Similar things can happen in a dog's stomach if it eats enough of the litter.