Observing our dog’s faeces is probably one of the simplest and most economical ways to monitor your health and anticipate any changes.When we go to the vet, the first question on a control exam is probably “how are your stools?”And the variation in color compared to the usual pattern of our dog usually causes us a lot of apprehension.
This Animal Expert article on the most common causes of white stools in dogs aims to shed light on this more or less atypical color of stool and encourage you to check daily the consistency and appearance of your dog’s stools.
- Moving on a diet of raw meat and bones can result in hard.
- White stools that break like chalk in your hands when we try to catch them.
- The reason for this color and hardness is the presence of calcium found in the bones that our dog Sometimes the amount of bone is excessive and we can find that our dog has trouble defecating.
- Even if he tries several times.
- This constant desire to defecate is called an emergency.
- And if we opt for these diets it is advisable to consult a specialist who advises us on its follow-up to facilitate intestinal transit and not cause cracks or blockages.
Does that mean I should quit this diet?
In principle, if we allow ourselves to be guided by specialists and the dog responds appropriately to the new diet, we only have to manage this specific inconvenience.To avoid the disturbing presence of these hard and white feces in dogs, we can choose to:
The use of other medicines that we usually have on hand for these situations is not adequate, although it may seem that it will be good for our dog, because before stimulating intestinal motility, we must make sure that these too hard stools have not been compacted.forming a fecalito or fecaloma (literally, excrement like stones) and has caused a bowel obstruction.
The color of the faeces is always a reflection of what the dog eats, it is not always the decision of the owner, so, in country dogs, with free access to farms and other territories, we can find these hard and white faeces without waiting Even though we feed it regularly, many dogs with free time and enough territory steal eggs or eat carrion , including bones and feathers, so stools sometimes, to our chagrin, tell us their customs as long as we do not control them.of the eggshell and the skeletons of its prey, can cause white and hard faeces in dogs.
In dogs that tend to defecate in places that we do not see, or that are never sure what they do or eat, it is essential to check the faeces and observe any anomaly, if it is necessary to force it to spend three days.at home or in the garage to check, this information can prevent intestinal obstructions before it is too late, for example.
The color of the faeces of dogs that feed on home-home diets depends on the amount of food they eat and the day they eat and you can see small variations of color and consistency during the week, usually the white color will remain, with variations, and the hardness will be corrected according to what is most suitable for the dog with all the advice given to us by specialists , but we will almost always expect fewer depositions, more compact and lighter than in food-fed animals.
Sercobiline is the brown pigment that forms bilirubin and gives color to the stool, if for some reason the formation and transport of bilirubin is altered, it is inevitable that the faeces will appear a whitish gray color, called acoustic faeces.
And what can cause the lack of sterling?
There may be a liver disorder, in which case the liver cannot perform its functions, including the formation of bilirubin from the breakdown products of erythrocytes, so this pigment does not accumulate in the gallbladder and will not be evacuated . into the duodenum with the rest of the bile substances after each meal, so that stercobilin cannot be formed from it and the stool acquires its usual color.Some causes of liver failure that can be found in dogs are:
Also, any change in the transport of bilirubin can result in a deficit of biliirrubin in the gallbladder (rare in dogs), a blockage of the bile duct by a certain abdominal mass that compresses and prevents the evacuation of bile …in these cases of failure or failure to drain bile to the duodenum, stool often has steatorrhea (the presence of fat in the stool, which causes a pasty appearance) because bile acids are needed to absorb fat and once acids are missing, fats are completely removed in soft and white stools in dogs in dogs , such as fat, are often a sign of liver or pancreatic disease.
And how do we detect these problems?
Generally, the liver takes a long time to warn of its condition, unless it is a hyper-acute disease, thanks to its aforementioned reserve capacity, it can guarantee functions even when a significant percentage of its extension is affected, but if our dog has any or all of the following symptoms, it may be time to go to the appointment:
A series of laboratory tests, including blood count, biochemistry and total proteins, in principle, and possibly coagulation panel, as well as a detailed medical history performed by the specialist with our help, is the key to detecting the exact origin of white stool in our dog, however, as liver enzymes are not always modified as expected by symptoms , image tests (plates, ultrasounds …) are almost always necessary.
Sometimes the stools are normal in color, but they seem to be wrapped in a white, gelatinous cloth, which leads us to believe that it is their color, but if we try to undo them, we can see that it is actually a kind of bag that covers them completely or only in an area.
To avoid this specific irritation of the intestine, it is necessary to evolve the diet gradually, help with probiotics if necessary and deworm it on a regular basis or with the appropriate products, according to the advice of our veterinarian.
Sometimes dogs are so parasitized at the intestinal level that at the beginning of their deworming plan established by our veterinarian, we are alarmed to see that their faeces are practically white, usually this is due to the appearance of countless nematodes (worms) already dead.and sometimes fragmented, connected to the faecal surface, and can even be found alive and mobile, it all depends on how the product we use for the deworming works, because some force the parasite to leave the intestinal wall, others kill it directly when absorbing it by blood or by its fur, etc.
If our dog has several tapeworms, usually of the dipylidium caninum type, the mass elimination of proglottis gravid outwards can make us observe excrement filled with a kind of grain of white rice.They can become so numerous in a relatively small fecal matter, that we confuse this presence with really white faeces if we do not get close enough and collect them to see the color to which this color is due.For more information on this type of parasite, don’t miss our article “Intestinal parasites in dogs – symptoms and types”.
Don’t you think it’s important to look at the appearance of stool and pick them up almost without looking at them?The saying “we are what we eat” is quite true, and faeces can tell us about our dog’s health., appearances are sometimes misleading, reason to check that everything is in order when they do their needs on their daily walks.
This article is for informational purposes only, in Animal Expert.com.br we cannot prescribe veterinary treatments or make any type of diagnosis, we suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any condition or discomfort.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you go to our Intestinal Problems section.