Dog Eating Toilet Paper

This may not be the right place to post this but I don't have access to the Pet Forum and I figure there are enough fellow crazy dog people to possibly give me some advice. My 10 (almost 11) year-old dog has in the last week eaten the entire roll of toilet paper, cardboard roll and all, off the dispenser in the bathroom, 3 times. I am baffled as to why he would do this. He has not chewed on anything other than toys or bones since he was 5 months old. I understand that to fix this problem all I have to do is close the door but I am more concerned about the WHY then anything else. Is he getting senile? Is he missing something in his diet? Is he just crazy bored? My dogs have not been getting walked every day like they should be lately, more like every other day, but he's had a limited walking schedule before and never done this. Does anyone have any ideas??? I'm just curious, I have pretty much always understood his motivations for things and I just do not get this!

[Michele]

You should probably bring him in for a check up. If he hasn't had bloodwork done in a while, your vet may want to run some. Sometimes atypical behavior can be a sign of disease.


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[weeniegeniewife]

Pica?

He just had a full blood panel done in September and everything was fine. The only thing that could be a concern healthwise are his teeth, he had them cleaned when he was 8 but they are still old dog teeth and I have to admit I don't brush them. Chewing on rawhide has always kept them in decent shape and the vet said they looked fine when I took them in for boosters last month. I don't mind taking him back into the vet, but since he so recently received a clean bill of health I'm kinda stumped!

[Michele]

Hmm. I think it's still worth a trip to the vet, but it's great that he has no apparent health issues! It'll make figuring out this behavior more tricky.

Your vet might be able to pick up on a subtle change or may ask you the right questions to trigger you noticing a pattern. Boredom is usually something I attribute to younger dogs. Behavior changes that are psychological and not based in physical disease are challenging.

Definitely keep the door closed until you figure this out. Check the door daily though to look for signs that he's been trying to get in to get to the paper. That will be another sign to tell your vet about.


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[Thirteen]

Something is bothering him for sure: one of my dogs had too much stomach acid as she got older, due to her diet. Can't really remember a lot about it, as I was a child. However, once they figured it out, we switched diets and they had her on some antacid med for a short amount of time. Everything resolved itself. (Tissue eater)

This may not be the right place to post this but I don't have access to the Pet Forums

PM Kris, Angie, Kelly, or Luanne to get access. You've got 189 posts -- you can get in the Pet Forum. We just protect that to help protect our "in-house" vet who is very generous with her advice.

PM Kris, Angie, Kelly, or Luanne to get access. You've got 189 posts -- you can get in the Pet Forum. We just protect that to help protect our "in-house" vet who is very generous with her advice.

Will do. And Michele, thanks for the advice, I will try and get him in before we go home for the holidays and he goes to the kennel. I'm really lucky how healthy he's been, besides wearing ACL braces he acts like he is 3! He's a big dog and I'm really thankful he has done so well so far. He still manages to give the 5 yr-old lab a run for his money. I thought it was mildly amusing the first time he did it but not the 2nd and 3rd time. I'm worried he is just doing it for attention as my husband may have encouraged the behaviour because he thought it was funny at first. I will let you know if I find anything out. Once again, Thanks!