dogs

[beckiboo18]

why do dogs eat their own poo....and why do monkeys do it aswell...their ment to be smart aswell

[Booldawg]

This is known as coprophagia. I've been told that dogs do it to a) conceal their den from predators and b) they can also gain alot of goodness from their food 'second time round'

[RATTER15]

I think all hippies should try it!!! at least once, shame to let a warm meal slip away!!

[horsestache1]

Ha ha Ratter think your right, well they drink their wee dont they!!!!!!

[Marvelman]

It could be a vitamin deficiency in their diet,

[drgnrdr]

Sometimes we don't know why a particular dog starts eating poop, but certain conditions can trigger the behavior. Since some of these indicate a dog who needs help, you'll want to consider them as possibilities for what is going on with your dog.
1. A dog with a physical problem that causes excessive hunger, pain, or other sensations may resort to eating feces. If your adult dog who has not previously had this habit suddenly develops it, take the dog to your veterinarian for a check-up.
2. A dog who is not getting enough to eat or is going too long between meals may eat feces. Your veterinarian can help you evaluate the dog's weight and can suggest a feeding schedule and amount. Sometimes it takes experimentation to see what works best for a particular dog.
3. A dog with intestinal parasites or other condition that creates blood or other fecal changes may eat feces. One dog may eat the feces of another dog who is shedding something like this in the stools. A fresh fecal specimen to your veterinarian for evaluation can detect some of these problems.
4. Sometimes a change of diet helps. There doesn't seem to be any one food that is right for all dogs, and your dog may need something different than you're currently feeding. Be sure to make any changes of diet gradual, mixing the new food in with the old over a period of several days or weeks, to give the dog's intestines time to adjust and avoid diarrhea from the change.
5. Some dogs develop a mental connection that they will be punished if their humans find them in the same room with feces. Dogs react to this fearful situation in various ways, and one way is to eat the feces so it will not be there to make the human angry. This is one of many reasons not to use punishment when housetraining a dog.

(con't)

[drgnrdr]

6. Boredom can cause dogs to do all sorts of things, including eat feces. Interesting toys that have treats inside them for the dog to get out can help with lots of boredom-based problems.
7. Dogs may do just about any wild thing when suffering from separation anxiety. If that is the problem, this won't be the only symptom, and you'll want to help your dog work through the separation anxiety.
Sanitation
The number-one thing you can do to help overcome feces eating is to keep your dog's area clean of feces. This means housetraining, and supervising the dog whenever the dog is in the designated relief area. It's obviously not healthy for dogs to eat feces, and preventing the dog from carrying out the habit is also basic to getting the habit to fade.
It's not healthy for humans or dogs to have the feces lying around, either. Until a dog is fully housetrained and the feces-eating habit has died out, picking up after each bowel movement is an important tactic. After the dog's habits are steady, you may be able to pick up just once a day if you have a private place for the dog to use.
Can't say why monkeys do it..sorry. Only know the research about dogs.

[imsoright]

this is usualy caused by lack of calcium in the dogs diet, try giving your dog a raw egg a day and this should stop

[CrazyWolfman]

Besides the other possibilities a somewhat overlooked cause is that said dog is trying to change it's smell to that of a lower ranking animal to avoid conflict or confusion. Wolves diets vary depending upon what rank they are in the pack, Alphas eating the best bits of prey such as the heart and liver, Betas getting the next best bits and working down towards the lower ranking individuals who tend to get a greater percentage of things like stomach content. Most people's dogs don't want the really good diet that Alphas get as that is not the rank they percieve themselves as having. If a submissive dog which smells like an alpha goes out and meets another, dominant dog then there's probably going to be a conflict as the dominant one is a bit peed off and confused that the other smells like another dominant animal. Also any dog which has been subjected to any groundwork and training won't want to smell like an alpha as they know that's your rank as their owner (the groundwork would mean they percieve themselves as being lower ranking than yourself). Thus, assuming it's not one of the more serious causes mentioned above it can be solved by adding a few spoonfulls of mashed up vegetables to the dog's diet which means they get the same nutrients from their high quality food, as well as the lower ranking smell they're after (it simulates stomach content). Incidentally, the aforementioned reason is often the cause of rolling in poo or other similar behaviours as well.

As for monkeys I'd assume it's a similar reason, but I don't know so much about them so I can't really pass any valid comments.