What happened to white dog poo?

White dog poo is something people who grew up in the 70s, 80s and a little bit in the 90s will remember on the pavement and garden as something completely normal. Nowadays it’s nowhere to be seen and even though it sounds really absurd to ask, what happened to white dog poo?

Only people of a certain age would ever ask this question as it did suddenly disappear overnight, at least that’s how it felt like. Well, what happened was that we got more about a dog’s nutrition needs.

White dog poo was a result of indigested calcium back in the day. A dog’s diet has improved dramatically over the years, back in the 70s and 90s a generic dog’s dinner consisted mostly of meat and crushed bones which are rich in calcium. Fruits and vegetables were pretty nonexistent at the time.

This constitution meant that dogs were ingesting too much calcium which would come out the other end undigested. The white calcium still left in the poo would be revealed once the water and organic matter goes away and that is why dog poop was white during the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Why are dog poops no longer white?

This is a really simple question to answer. Dog food has come along dramatically since the 70s to the point where the ingredients are unrecognisable. No doubt you can get the old recipes full of crushed bones on some backwater market somewhere but for the vast majority, it’s now a much more balanced diet with a lot more fibre packed in.

This creates a healthy dog with healthy stools which will eventually decompose completely – exactly the way it should be.

Read More: Yellow Dog Poo After Chicken and Rice

Is white dog poo bad?

Pale dog poo is a sign of ingesting too much calcium recently, which is not necessarily bad unless it’s their normal diet and it happens regularly. Too much calcium over a period of time can lead to some serious medical complications such as calcium deposits in the lungs which is called Pulmonary Mineralizations and calcium build up in the urinary tract called Urolithiasis.

These are pretty nasty and can require surgery as calcium solidifies and becomes hard. Getting to this stage is quite hard and will take a lot more than the odd bone here and there, it will come from a poor diet which is bad or too many supplements which includes calcium.

Can you still get white dog poo?

Yes. Dogs can still ingest too much calcium from bones, and a poor choice of food and supplementation. Dog poo should be light brown, solid but firm and not runny. Their diet should be rich in fibre and include more than just meat – it should have vegetables, herbs and carbohydrates. Bones (see also ‘Pros And Cons Of Dogs Chewing Cow Hooves‘) should be given sparingly and not left to chew for hours and hours.