If you’re a new puppy parent embarking on your first dog journey, one thing you might not have considered is how much dog owners love to talk about poo! It might sound strange, but your dog’s poo can tell you a lot about their overall health, and since they poo every day, it’s something you should regularly monitor.
With new research by Butternut Box revealing that 53% of pet parents report that their dog has a sensitive stomach, dog digestibility has never been more important. Luckily, one of the nation’s favourite on-screen vets, Dr Bolu Eso, has teamed up with Butternut Box to ensure the health and happiness of the nation’s dogs are top priority.
In their new ‘Embarrassing Doggies’ video, Dr Bolu is tasked with asking the public the all-important question, what does your dog’s poo look like, to help educate the nation on the unhealthy signs to look out for.
To expand on this further and help dog owners understand what to look out for in their pets’ poop, Dr Bolu has shared his top tips to make sure your dog’s gut health is up to scratch.
Frequency
It may sound obvious, but poo is the waste that remains after food has been digested and the body has absorbed any nutrients. Therefore, the more poo, the more waste that the body can’t fully digest. Whilst puppies can poo up to five times per day, adult dogs are usually between one and three. If you find your dog is pooing more than normal, it is likely that their body can’t fully breakdown the food they’re eating, causing them to excrete more waste. Equally, pooing less regularly may mean your dog’s food doesn’t contain enough fibre, or they’re not drinking enough water to allow poos to easily pass.
2. Colour
The colour of your dog’s poo is a great indicator of their overall gut health and how easily they’re digesting their food. Ideally, their poo should be a chocolate/mahogany brown, meaning they’re able to fully digest their food and absorb key nutrients that are important to their health. A poo that is yellow or grey can be a sign of your dog not being able to digest their fats properly, or even Pancreatitis, so it’s important to always look at your dog’s poo to make sure the colour is a healthy brown.
2. Consistency
When looking at the consistency of your dog’s poo, it’s best to think of it like a scale, starting from a rock-solid poo, moving along to entirely liquid diarrhoea. A healthy, well digested poo should be somewhat firm, with some cracks and moisture on the surface. Separate and hard lumps usually indicate that your dog is dehydrated, whilst a very runny poo can indicate an illness. Therefore, something in-between shows that your dog is well hydrated. and that their gut is healthy, allowing them to easily digest their food.
3. Content
Put simply, a healthy poo shouldn’t contain anything beyond faecal matter. Whilst it is common to find small pieces of food or fur in poo, they should only be tiny as anything bigger could be the sign of poor digestion and other health issues. Larger chunks of food in their poo can indicate that they’re unable to fully digest the diet they’re currently on, whilst excessive fur and any other objects should be directed to your vet. To examine the contents of your dog’s poo, you don’t have to dissect it each time – any issues should be visible from the surface of the poo.
4. Coating
Just like with the content of your pooch’s poo, there also shouldn’t be a coating. The easiest way to tell if there is a coating is seeing if any residue is left when picking up the poo. A healthy poo should be easy to pick up, leaving as little residue on the pavement or grass as possible. If there are a considerable amount of watery or sticky remnants left, this indicates their poo has a coating.
A dog’s poo can be surprisingly insightful into the overall health of our four-legged friends, so however off-putting it may be, it’s important to monitor and observe their poo. By making sure they’re able to fully digest their food, your pet pooch will be able to benefit from all of the key nutrients that will help them to live a long and happy life.
To make sure that your dog’s poos are as brown and healthy as possible, Butternut Box provides dogs with freshly prepared meals created with human-grade, high-quality meat and veggies, with all meals free of any grains and nasties, providing them with all of the key nutrients to make sure their poos are as healthy as can be.
