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When you bring your new puppy home, you’ve got to be so careful what you leave lying around. Everything is new to a puppy.
Just like human babies, they are pretty clueless about what they put in their mouths. Why does my dog eat my pads?
Well, that’s just it, really – dogs generally do eat some dangerous, harmful, disgusting stuff if it’s within their reach.
Bringing a new dog into your life is going to change things around your home for sure. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a puppy or a rescue dog.
It will be your responsibility to ensure you provide him with a safe, healthy environment.
They’re Just Plain Disgusting
No matter what their dogs get up to, dog lovers still adore their pets. They do realize, however, that their 4-legged friends can be pretty gross. In fact, a thing that your dog does is eat your pads.
Where did he get this disgusting but common habit from?
Dogs are naturally curious, and they explore everything through their noses and mouths. They’re cleverer than you give them credit for.
By sniffing, they can know things about your diet, your health, and your menstrual cycle. If your dog licks your period blood off your pad, it can be a sign of curiosity and wanting to know more about you.
Dogs eat a lot of strange things. They won’t hesitate to consume all sorts of things out of the garbage bin, and that includes sanitary pads.
If you can afford it, invest in one of those robust, vandal-resistant sanitary disposal bins. No dog can work out how to access it. Better still, have it wall mounted.
They’re Scavengers
Dogs are scavengers by nature. Discarded pads are just like decay material. Dogs are automatically lured to pungent odors associated with decay.
The scent of bodily fluids of any kind enters the nostrils of a dog. It wants to get to the root of it. Menstrual blood left to decay in a bin is like a protein meal to a dog.
This scent of decaying blood attracts a dog, and he wants to eat the entire pad.
It’s why it is so important to dispose of your sanitary napkins properly. Never flush pads away in a toilet. That will just block the toilet and give you new problems.
To solve the problem, make sure to always dispose of your pads in a vandal-resistant disposal bin indoors. At the end of the day, remove all used pads to the outside municipal bin.
It’s Stress
Just like humans, animals experience stress, and dogs are no different. When your dog is bored, stressed, or anxious, they find things to do that distract them.
You’ll find some dogs yawning; some dogs will lick themselves, while others become destructive.
Eating sanitary pads is a comfort behavior that dogs indulge in to calm themselves. Sometimes your dog will appear not to be interested in eating your pads.
He may want to shred them, but it can turn out to be messy.
Make sure that all your trash cans in the bathroom and kitchen are types that have heavy lids. You want to be sure your dog can’t lift the lid.
If your dog is an indoor pet, make sure to keep the door to the loo closed during this time.
A Medical Disorder
People do all kinds of odd things when they’re stressed. Your dog as well. He might lick and eat your used sanitary pad because he has an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Obsessive dog behaviors can become as harmful as human addictions. It’s a zone in which your dog is blind to everything else but this odd behavior.
The point is, a dog has to understand that there are limits to a particular behavior. You determine those limits.
Having obsessive behavior can cause your dog to develop unusual, repetitive behaviors such as eating the wrong things. Sometimes this behavior can be caused by anxiety and get totally out of control.
As a dog owner, the solution is to recognize the changing behavior of your pet. The idea is to stop particular behavior early before it escalates.
A change in routine can bring about changes in your pet’s behavior. You can rope in the services of a professional dog expert, but this can be costly. There are natural remedies that can work too.
Loneliness, lack of exercise, and lack of mental stimulation can all contribute to OCD. Many dogs develop weird behaviors out of sheer boredom, but these things can be avoided by simply having fun.
You can also talk to your vet about products that will help calm your dog.
They’re Gleaning Knowledge
For dogs, intimate knowledge about you is gained by licking, tasting, and sniffing. Dogs have a powerful sense of smell. They use this scent to glean and transmit information.
Did you know that while humans have about 5 million scent receptors in their noses, some dogs have more than 100 million?
Dogs use smells to provide them with information, and this information is transmitted by means of their noses.
Dogs collect a lot of information from scent and human odors are a means of communication for a dog.
Dogs lick menstrual blood as they’re attracted to its scent, detecting pheromones and needing to know more about you.
Don’t ever leave your pads or tampons lying around for your dog to get hold of. Pads are designed to absorb liquids.
If he swallows one, it can swell and put him at risk of intestinal blockage. Dispose of them immediately into a vandal-resistant sanitary bin where your dog can’t access them.
It’s Instinct – Even with Well-fed Dogs
You know your dog loves to lie close to you or lie on an item of your clothing. To your dog, you have a unique aroma that is the best aroma there is.
Nothing bears your aroma better than bodily fluids. Even domestic dogs have this desire to sniff and smell. It’s been passed down from their wolf ancestors to track scents and lick and ingest anything available.
Even well-fed dogs will take a chance with a used pad out of instinct. They’re opportunistic feeders, and it’s common for dogs to lick menstrual blood, semen, pee, and poop.
After all, they like body fluids and aren’t turned off by their decaying stench.
They’re ready to put things in their mouth to explore new things. Dogs are predators and hunters. Once the smell of bodily fluids or blood enters their nostrils, they will naturally want to pursue it.
Conclusion
There are so many reasons as to why your dog wants to eat your pads. There are also simple things you can do to change this behavior.
Why does my dog eat my pads? It’s because of the way you behave. Most times, the pet owner needs to look at changed behavior and not the pet.
Don’t leave your sanitary pads lying around. It’s just common decency to get rid of them immediately. It’s plain unhygienic to leave them lying around and plain dangerous for your dog.
It’s no point getting angry with your dog – he’s just doing what dogs do. Change your behavior, and your dog won’t be able to continue with this gross habit.
A passionate content creator on pet behavior, nutrition choices, and health, Mike is an experienced pet expert. He has been writing on multiple websites to compensate for his passion for cats. Mike grieves around plenty of pets in his parents’ house. At the start of his career, he had a sturdy intention to be a part of pet care by any means.
With his affiliation to Purrfect n’ Pawesome, he found a way to satiate his craving to participate in pet health, wellness, and behavior analysis. He has been a significant part of our team and a major contributor in equipping our site with useful, authentic, and research-backed articles.
“I love pets as much as I love to travel to explore multiple places and lifestyles. I have been attached to this pawsome platform for many years, and my experience regarding pets has enhanced significantly by using various devices to write articles. I believe in writing my thoughts and experiences, so I try to write down the experience and learnings for my readers no matter where I am and what my mood is.”
