Pet Poo Facts: Things to Know About Poo.

It’s not one of the most enjoyable things about being a pet parent but cleaning up poo – also known as ‘stools’ or ‘faeces’ – is unavoidable.

While unpleasant and a bit smelly, it’s a task that can give you an insight into the health of your beloved pet.

The following information will help you understand what changes to look out for, allowing you to recognise some problems early on to give your pet the best chance of a quick diagnosis and treatment.

It’s important to check out your pet’s poo

As a pet parent, you’ll be up close and personal with your pet’s poo on a daily basis – when cleaning out their litter box, picking up mess in the garden or scooping up poo when out for a walk with your dog.

This is the perfect time to give your pet’s poo a quick check – looking for clues as to your pet’s state of health.

Get familiar with what is normal for your pet – their normal poo frequency, consistency, colour and volume – as well as how easy or difficult it is for them to defaecate (or pass a stool).

By knowing what’s normal for your pet, you’ll quickly be able to notice if anything is out of the ordinary.

How often is normal?

Most pets will defaecate once or twice a day but each individual is different, so going more or less often could be normal for them. You should talk to your vet if:

• Your pet is pooing more or less often than usual
• Their stool is runny or contains blood or mucous
• They’re continually trying to poo without success

Consistency and colour

Changes in consistency from day to day can be completely normal for your pet, depending on their diet.

The colour of your pet’s poo will probably be a shade of brown but it can also be lighter or darker, or even flecked with different colours, depending on the food they’ve eaten. Talk to your vet if your pet’s stools are:

• Black or red – this may be a sign that there’s bleeding within their gastrointestinal tract
• Green or very pale in colour – this may mean that there’s a problem with the liver or pancreas

Intestinal Parasites

A bit about intestinal parasites and poo

If you’ve never seen worms in your pet’s poo it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have parasites.

The following intestinal parasites can infect dogs and cats:

• Intestinal parasites can sometimes cause changes such as diarrhoea or bloody poo but there are many other causes of these symptoms as well
• Protozoa are the most common intestinal parasites in dogs and cats – they live inside and damage the intestines causing diarrhoea, releasing microscopic cysts in the poo and contaminating the environment
• Healthy, adult worms remain in the intestines and typically only appear in poo if they’re dying or dead or if there are so many inside that it’s overcrowded and they ‘abandon ship’
• Adult worms release their eggs into your pet’s faeces but these are microscopic and can’t be seen by just looking at their poo – vets can process a faecal sample to concentrate worm eggs or Protozoan cysts and identify them with a microscope
• The exceptions are tapeworms which have a segmented body and regularly shed whole, visible, egg-filled body segments in the poo – these body segments can still be wriggling when they’re passed and look like a moving cucumber seed or grain of rice either in the poo or stuck to the hair around your pet’s rear end, causing irritation
• It’s important to note that some worm eggs and Protozoan cysts can be dangerous to people if accidentally swallowed

Protect your pets from parasites

We understand you want to keep your pet and your family safe from intestinal worms, so protect your pets with Advocate, Drontal Allwormer, or Profender for Cats.