Less tragic, but still serious, consequences of pica include:įortunately, pica is one medical condition that is fairly easy to diagnose by pet parents! However, it’s not always easy to tell if the cause is medical or behavioral. Some objects, like plastic bags, can also cause blockages in the respiratory tract, leading to suffocation and death. If items are toxic, they can cause poisoning. Swallowed objects not only pose a choking hazard, they can become lodged in the esophagus, stomach, or intestine, causing life-threatening blockages that require surgery to remove. Pica can be extremely dangerous for pets. Labrador Retrievers and Siamese and Birman cats seem to experience pica more frequently than other breeds. There may even be a genetic predisposition for pica in some breeds of dogs and cats. Psychological causes of pica can include: Nutritional deficiencies can sometimes lead to pica in dogs and cats. Side effects of corticosteroids or anti-seizure medication.Endocrine disorders, such as Cushing’s Disease.Inflammatory Bowel Disease and other gastrointestinal disorders.Pica can be caused by many different things, but there are usually 2 main categories: medical and behavioral. Poop-eating even has its own medical term, “coprophagia” – and it can be a very hard habit to break.Īnything else deemed “non-edible” that is sought out and eaten more than once by a pet is considered to fall into the pica category. These delicacies, which are mostly popular with dogs, are attractive to them because they often simply just enjoy the taste. Two items that don’t fall into the pica category? Trash and poop. Items that carry their human’s scent, like socks, underwear, and hosiery, tend to be particular favorites. Some develop a fondness for one particular item, while others will swallow a wide variety of objects. Pets with pica develop an appetite for some pretty bizarre things, including rocks, dirt, clothing, cat litter, plastic bags, rubber bands, hair ties, even electrical cords and drywall! Pica is a surprisingly common type of eating disorder that causes pets to compulsively crave and eat non-food items, and it can affect both dogs and cats. But what if that “anything” included things that didn’t actually qualify as food? We all seem to have that one friend who can eat anything. only shares products that we strongly believe in and feel would be beneficial for our readers.
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