Saturday, July 21, 2012

Why do dogs love to eat paper

By Jerry Welsh


Eating paper is one of the less acceptable habits of our canine friends. What makes a dog eat paper? Dogs are known for their great appetites as well as for their very sensitive scenting abilities. Papers with bits of food and appetizing smell will be very fascinating to a dog.

A dog will certainly not pass up the chance to eat a hamburger wrapper or a pizza box because it would have the mouth watering aroma of food. But a toilet paper - .a newspaper or a book? Gosh! When it comes to weird behaviors, dogs would really take a big slice of the cake. Dogs are very curious animals and the sound of tearing paper would be very interesting to these animals. A pet owner cannot be blamed for relegating the dog to the kennel outdoors if the pet has decided to have for breakfast the report the master has been working on the whole night.

What will happen to a dog that is left alone at home all day? Bored dogs will find something to while the time and because dogs would not know right from wrong, the boredom will result to destroyed belongings. Newspapers, books, toilet paper, the telephone books or anything lying around will become interesting"toys" for the dog. Chewing is a natural behavior of dogs and the texture of the paper - not too hard and not too soft, as well as the exciting tearing sound would certainly be very exciting for a bored dog. Chewing paper is most common in puppies. Eating paper and other things will be noticed in teething puppies as chewing is believed to soothe sore gums.

Although uncommon, the paper eating habit of the dog can be associated with a medical problem. The habit to eat paper is commonly associated with behavioral problems. The pet's tendency to eat papers may not be an outcome of a behavioral concern as it can be a symptom of anemia or a gastrointestinal disease. Malabsorptive and maldigestive disorders prevent the body from absorbing the nutrients found in the intestinal tracts.

Eating paper similar to the ingestion of other non-food items will be dangerous for the health of the dog. Eaten paper is hoped to be excreted by the pet the normal way. Eaten papers that get stuck inside the intestines will have to be removed through surgery and the pet owner would certainly need to absorb the large medical bills.




About the Author:



No comments: