Although a good many things have been phased out by technology, white dog poop isn’t one of them. Chalky, white dog poop was everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s, but now it’s practically nonexistent. Dogs are still doing their business, so why has the white dog poop vanished? It turns out that the culprit behind the white dog waste of the past was a surplus of calcium. Dog food used to contain an overabundance of meat and bone meal, both of which are high in mineral. Whatever the dog couldn’t process ended up in its feces, and as the wet matter dried out in the sun, the hard calcium stuck around. This led to crumbly, mummified turds littering our sidewalks and green spaces. Today, commercial dog food brands are less likely to rely on bone meal for cheap filler. They’ve added more fiber to their products and lowered the calcium content. The result is a higher, more natural-looking waste from the general dog population. Because it’s rare to see white dog poop these days, you should notify your vet if you see discoloration in your pet’s stool. White specks in dog poop could be a sign of a more serious problem like worms.
