Stools Guide
Dog poop is an important indicator of your dog’s health. Dogs on a raw food diet produce much less excrement, and what little there is of it biodegrades quickly.
Dog poop is an important indicator of your dog’s health. Dogs on a raw food diet produce much less excrement, and what little there is of it biodegrades quickly.
A normal stool should be soft, yet firm. Its colour will be determined by the dog’s diet: anything from a mid-brown to nearly black is usual. The more meat in the diet, the softer and darker it tends to be. If you want to firm your dog’s stools up, the simplest way is to add bone. It is normal to find a greyish bag of slime around your dog’s stool from time to time. This is the old mucous membrane, which the intestine sheds every few months. It is also normal to see the remains of vegetables in the stool. This is vegetable matter the dog hasn’t digested and it helps to stimulate the mechanical function of the intestine.
Very hard – If your dog is on processed food diet then the cause is probably one of the ingredients included to keep the stools firm: it is not unknown for dog food companies to use sawdust for this purpose! If your dog is on a raw food diet, a hard stool is usually the result of a healthy meal of bone.
Greyish – Usually the result of eating grain and/or processed food.
A soft, runny or watery stool is not necessarily anything to worry about unless it lasts for several days or is combined with other symptoms (such as blood in the stool or vomiting). It is normal for stools to be soft, runny or watery when a dog changes diet or eats something that it doesn’t want to digest.Raw food produces so much less waste. Mogens Eliasen, a raw feeding expert, has published information about the volume of stools compared to the volume of food being eaten.
Meat, offal and animal fat are almost completely digested. The amount of excrement produced will represent between 2 and 7% of the food being eaten.
Fruit and vegetables produce around 30 to 60% waste. Kibble, on the other hand, produces 60 to 80% waste. This is because dogs are able to take a great deal of nutrition from meat, organs and animal fat but not from processed food.
Greasy – When dogs have a pancreatic problem, they are unable to digest fat efficiently. A greasy, sour-smelling stool may be an indication of an underlying pancreatic issue. Discuss with your vet.
Foamy – Could be an infection in the intestine or colon as a result of undigested fat. Again, you should probably discuss with your vet.
A normal stool should be soft, yet firm. Its colour will be determined by the dog’s diet: anything from a mid-brown to nearly black is usual. The more meat in the diet, the softer and darker it tends to be. If you want to firm your dog’s stools up, the simplest way is to add bone. It is normal to find a greyish bag of slime around your dog’s stool from time to time. This is the old mucous membrane, which the intestine sheds every few months. It is also normal to see the remains of vegetables in the stool. This is vegetable matter the dog hasn’t digested and it helps to stimulate the mechanical function of the intestine.
Blood in the stool – This may be caused by anything from a parasite (such as a worm) to a stool that is too firm. You should keep a sample (sorry!) to show to your vet. Bear in mind that the blood may not be red. If it is not fresh, it may appear almost black.
Light-coloured – Especially if greyish may be caused by a liver or pancreatic problem, so worth consulting your vet.
