Bloodlust

[Genecks]

I've been told by a couple of farmers that some dogs will have bloodlust if they kill and eat the flesh of certain animals. I think one of the animals described was a collie eating some lamb (or maybe it was sheep). I was told that if it kills and tastes the blood of one of them, it gets the temptation to kill and eat the others.

 

Does anyone know about bloodlust within animals? I tried finding something on Wikipedia, but not much information was there.

[Mr Skeptic]

I think that if it kills and eats a sheep it learns that the fluffy white things that go "baaa!" taste good. It possibly also activates the hunter's instinct that has mostly been bread out of them.

[carol]

I agree. it's just a matter of learning that some things they don't normally do would actually give them some satisfaction, and would therefore do that thing again. i had a dog once, which ate chickens from our poultry.

[Phi for All]

Anecdotal, but a friend's cat used to pounce on mice and hold them down with her teeth and paws until they died, then bring them to her owner. My friend always thought it was cute whenever she witnessed it.

 

One time the cat bit a little too deeply and got a taste of blood. The cat messily devoured the whole mouse and my friend stopped getting presents from her cat from that day forward.