I have a 5 month old Japanese Akita puppy. I got him at 15 weeks old, imported from Serbia. He’s been almost a dream come true in terms of adjusting to his new home, house training, personality, etc. However there is one huge problem; He compulsively eats sand, dirt, and acorns. sometimes even pebbles!. It’s gotten to the point where it’s nearly impossible to take him for walks, let alone run freely in the yard. I still get him out for 3 walks a day, but each one is a struggle. If he’s on leash then I’m constantly pulling on it every time he bends over to lick up dirt, and if he’s off leash I’m frequently running over just to pick him up and carry him away from whatever he’s eating. He is super obedient with everything, except when it involves his pica. This leads me to believe the impulse is so strong he just can’t help it. I understand that part of being a puppy is putting everything in your mouth, especially during the teething faze, but this is beyond that. If I were to fill his food bowl with sand, he would literally eat it all. I’ve taken him to the vet, he doesn’t have worms. There were no signs of any sort of vitamin or mineral deficiency, but the vet gave him a pill to take each day just in case. He’s been taking them for about 3 weeks. No progress. Another common factor is boredom, but as I said prior, I take him on 3 walks a day, as well as play with him, he has tons of chew toys which he loves, and he isn’t ever showing bored, or manic behavior. I keep him both mentally and physically stimulated. I’ve taken him to 3 different vets, but I get the same response each time “you’d be surprised how many people come in and say their dog is eating strange things”. Which I get, but I’m also aware that ingesting this many non edible items is dangerous. I do my absolute best to stop him every time I even see him looking at the ground, but the rate as which he does it is getting overwhelming. He’s been at for almost 2 months now, and I’m clueless as to what could cause. Any ideas? Speculations? Anybody been through something similar with their dog?
-sorry in advance for any typos.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/aqppue/compulsive_pica/
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