I'm a little worried, yesterday, I caught my female, hetty, having a nibble on some dried out dog pooh, it wasn't fresh thou. I haven't a clue how it got in the enclosure, plus, I not sure how much she had ate but I got it of her quicker than lightening. I'm guessing I may have scooped it up when I was picking up handfuls of dead leaves to put in the day before and obviously didn't notice it. Is it a problem she got to it??
Dog pooh??
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Probably not. It's kind of gross, but most tortoises will eat dog poo if given the chance. The only problem would be if the dog had been treated with certain ivermectin based wormers. Then the poo could actually be toxic to them.
Tom said:
Which I guess is just another good reason I don't use an ivermectin based heartworm preventative
I'll ask my partner, she's a small animal vet but better than that, a much older Dr/friend she works with personally owns a few torts of his own and has a lot more experience with torts & small animal to tort transfer of anything including medications in the stool - would probably be able to not only tell ya but recount personal experiences with it, ha.
Just out of curiosity, what meds have you given to your dogs? You mentioned worming.
Just out of curiosity, what meds have you given to your dogs? You mentioned worming.
Do you use heartworm preventative? Depending on where you live it's almost a requirement anymore with how terrible the mosquitoes have been. We use one that doesn't contain ivermectin because we have Border Collies and they can occasionally have an allergic reaction to it. It's called Interceptor. Keeps your dogs safe, as well as the torts, I guess :0)
As long as your dog isn't using worm medicine, he is fine
Tortoises have a radar for poop and will often even follow a dog or cat around just hoping they will give them a special "gift". Gross to us, but no doubt in the wild eating such findings would give them an untold amount of nutrients, minerals, and such from the food the other animals ate. Waste not, want not.
Hey there, sorry it took a bit of time to get back.
My partner asked when you de-wormed your dog last? She said that if it was one of the first poo's after being treated, then yea it could be a concern, but if you treated him a month ago then it SHOULD be no worry but did say there are obviously parasites and bacteria in dogs stool in general that can be of concern when ingested, she suggested watching your torts stool for a few days and if they go abnormal and get runny then to go ahead and get him in for a fecal to be on the safe side.
She also said that it too is the dog food in the stool that poses the concern on it's own and same thing, watch his stool and make sure it's average for him and obviously his temperament in general.
I'm sure in the wild stool eating, like Jacqui said is beneficial in some regards, but we're so loaded with meds and synthetics etc that it's scary.
Hope it helps!
My partner asked when you de-wormed your dog last? She said that if it was one of the first poo's after being treated, then yea it could be a concern, but if you treated him a month ago then it SHOULD be no worry but did say there are obviously parasites and bacteria in dogs stool in general that can be of concern when ingested, she suggested watching your torts stool for a few days and if they go abnormal and get runny then to go ahead and get him in for a fecal to be on the safe side.
She also said that it too is the dog food in the stool that poses the concern on it's own and same thing, watch his stool and make sure it's average for him and obviously his temperament in general.
I'm sure in the wild stool eating, like Jacqui said is beneficial in some regards, but we're so loaded with meds and synthetics etc that it's scary.
Hope it helps!
I have a small, old dog and can usually find the poop in the yard before the tortoise gets to it, but there is no way to get to the bird droppings that are out there. My tort seems to go for them as much as dog poop. Of course the dog poop is still the big prize when he does find it. I have seen the tortoise eat at the concrete patio to get a taste of bird poop. At least with the dog I know what she has been eating and her general health and medications.
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