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"Yes, I tore open your cushion. What are you going to do about it." [OC]
(lemmy.stad.social)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.stad.social/post/21952
From last year sometime, I think.
Domestic ones will not lay on their own shit.. it sounds like that fox was pretty sick anyway? They also don't eat dog poo.
The smell you're dealing with is just a strong musk. It's not pleasant, but it's not faeces.
Pet dogs also eat poo on occasion, also without any underlying problem, so I really don't think there's any reason to think that far less domesticated species where it is well established would just stop. I'm sure you can reduce it, especially if it has a nicer food source, but still, an animal with far less history of domestication seems like a recipe for amplification of all the potential issues you don't want to deal with.
Pica is an issue that you can work on. No animal should have it.
Pica is eating things that are not food, but as pointed out in the article I linked, eating dog poo is providing a significant source of nutrition for foxes. In those circumstances, it by definition is not pica.
Poo is not food, I'm extremely concerned that you've got to adulthood without anyone telling you this. Do not eat poo.
No need to make personal attacks. Cecotrophy is a common phenomenon in certain animals. I don't know specifically about foxes but it wouldn't be a stretch if it was common behavior for them. Do you have any sources that suggest otherwise?
Herbivores taking more time to digest greenery is really not related to eating the poo of another animal due to nutritional deficiency. It's a silly comparison.
Fair enough. How about this:
"Domesticated and wild mammals are sometimes coprophagic, and in some species, this forms an essential part of their method of digesting tough plant material.
Some dogs may lack critical digestive enzymes when they are only eating processed dried foods, so they gain these from consuming fecal matter. They only consume fecal matter that is less than two days old which supports this theory."