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Most people dread the idea of coming into contact with dog poop, but for dog owners, handling dog poop is a daily occurrence.
In fact, dog parents are so used to dealing with dog poop that we don’t have trouble spotting the slightest changes in the color, consistency, coating, and smell.
So when your pooch passes yellow dog poop instead of relatively firm and uniformly brown stool, you have every right to be concerned.
The color and consistency of a dog’s stool are always a good indicator of their overall health.
Most dogs will experience some type of change in the consistency and color of their feces at some point in their lives. But no matter how small or insignificant that change might seem, you should take note as it can be a sign of health problems.
There are many different things that can cause bright yellow dog poop, some of which are serious and others not so much. In most cases, yellow poop in dogs warrants further investigation, and I’m here to tell you what things you can’t ignore.
Keep on reading to find out what does yellow dog stool mean and when you should worry about it!
Seven Potential Causes Of Yellow Stool In Dogs
Minor and periodical stool changes, lasting only one or two bowel movements will happen to every dog during the course of its life.
In these cases, a bland diet of chicken and rice should help clear your dog’s tummy problems and get their stool back to normal.
These types of changes in bowel movements are completely normal, as long as your dog’s condition doesn’t take a turn for the worse.
However, you should call your vet if your dog has yellow poop for more than two days in a row and is experiencing any other symptoms.
To be completely honest, your dog’s yellow poop might be caused by something insignificant such as food dye or can be a symptom of a much bigger health problem such as pancreatitis.
If you think your dog’s yellow stool is caused by a medical issue, call your veterinarian and take your dog to be examined.
Let’s check out the most common causes of mustard yellow dog poop:
1. Eating Yellow Objects
Before you pick up the phone to call your vet and say, “Help! My dog’s poop is yellow,” take a second to consider whether your dog ate something they shouldn’t have, like a yellow crayon or yellow chalk.
Eating foreign objects can put your dog in a lot of trouble. Dealing with bright yellow dog poop is a simple walk in the park compared to everything you would have to go through if your pup ended up having a bowel obstruction.
Consuming heavily dyed yellow chalk, markers, or crayons can cause your dog to have yellow stool.
If your pooch consumed any of these, the yellow pigment from these objects will end up in your dog’s system and will have to leave their body through the stool.
In this case, the yellow color will be distributed randomly instead of dying the stool uniformly in yellow.
As mentioned above, ingesting inedible objects can cause many other, more serious health problems beyond yellow stool. Your pooch can get diarrhea, constipation, or vomiting as the result of intestinal obstruction.
This is a potentially life-threatening condition that might require surgery and hospitalization for a dog to survive and make a full recovery.
To prevent these issues from happening, keep all enticing inedible objects away from your dog’s reach!
2. Intestinal Parasites And Infections
Bacterial, viral, and fungal intestinal infections and intestinal worms can also cause yellow dog feces. Intestinal parasites and potentially dangerous infections can wreak havoc on your dog’s digestive system and cause more damage than simply changing the color of your dog’s stool.
When it comes to intestinal infections and parasites, you might notice more changes to your dog’s stool besides color. Depending on the severity of your dog’s condition, their stool might contain bloody streaks or the consistency can be soft, almost watery, or extremely firm.
Furthermore, upon a more thorough examination, you might notice something moving inside your dog’s poop. In severe cases of intestinal parasites, you can find worms wriggling in there.
If you believe your pooch is suffering from a bacterial or fungal intestinal infection, take them to the vet for a full checkup. On the other hand, intestinal parasites can be the most likely cause of your dog’s yellow stool if you haven’t been keeping up with your dog’s deworming treatments.
The good news here is that a simple deworming treatment can solve your dog’s yellow stool issue and also get rid of and kill all intestinal worms.
If you don’t know what type of dewormer will work best on your dog, consult your vet and ask for a recommendation.
3. Liver Disease
Dogs that are experiencing some type of liver problem usually develop jaundice that causes their eyes, skin, ears, and gums to develop a yellowish color. While jaundice won’t change your dog’s poop color in yellow, having liver problems will.
If your dog’s poop doesn’t seem quite right and they are starting to notice signs of jaundice, don’t waste any time and take your dog to the vet.
Also, be on the lookout for the other symptoms of liver disease in dogs, including vomiting, excessive thirst, weight loss, excessive urination, confusion, and seizures.
Dogs can develop liver problems as the result of many different diseases, toxins, or medication. In some cases, liver disease is just a symptom of a much bigger problem like cancer, or it can also be caused by a bacterial or fungal infection.
Either way, if your dog has a yellow stool and is also experiencing symptoms of liver disease, call your vet and have them run necessary tests.
In this case, resolving the issue of your dog’s yellow stool will depend solely on your dog’s diagnosis and the necessary course of action.
4. Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is an extremely painful and serious condition that happens when digestive enzymes are leaking into pancreatic tissue. The exact cause of pancreatitis in dogs is still unknown, although many veterinarians believe it is, in some cases, triggered by fatty food.
The most common symptoms of pancreatitis are nausea, vomiting, fever, yellow diarrhea, abdominal pain, lethargy, and lack of appetite. If your dog shows any other of these symptoms, besides yellow poop, you should call your vet right away.
If left untreated, chronic pancreatitis can sometimes lead to diabetes in dogs, in which case you’ll need to transition your pooch to the best food for a diabetic dog. Luckily, when properly diagnosed and treated in time, pancreatitis is successfully managed with dietary and lifestyle changes.
And once your dog’s pancreatitis is under control, you won’t longer have to deal with yellow stools and diarrhea.
5. Gallbladder Problems
Your dog’s gallbladder is the place where they produce the bile that is necessary for proper digestion. Gallbladder problems occur when bile is no longer flowing freely from the gallbladder to your dog’s intestines.
If your dog’s gallbladder becomes blocked by a stone, hardened bile, or a tumor, the bile might end up being mixed with your dog’s feces, giving it a distinctive yellow color.
If your pooch starts producing mustard yellow dog poop or if their stool is covered in yellow slime, chances are your pooch is experiencing gallbladder problems.
If you suspect that the presence of bile is coloring your dog’s poop yellow, take them to your vet for a full exam. In most cases, gallbladder problems are treated with surgery to remove gallbladder stones, tumors, or other blockages.
After successful surgery, your dog should make a full recovery and their poop should go back to its regular brown color.
6. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Dogs suffering from irritable bowel syndrome often experience bouts of yellow stool or have yellow mucus coating their feces. This syndrome is caused by a specific reaction to the chronic irritation of the intestinal tracts.
Most dogs that are diagnosed with this syndrome have a history of chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and may even have decreased appetite. In some cases, the affected dog will also lose weight during periods of vomiting and diarrhea, but they appear fine and normal otherwise.
The exact cause of this condition isn’t completely understood, and it’s believed that there are several different causes. Regardless of the exact cause, the end result is the same, meaning that the intestinal lining is invaded by inflammatory cells.
This causes an allergy type of reaction to happen in the dog’s intestines. Additionally, the inflammation interferes with the dog’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients, which results in weight loss and can lead to nutrient deficiencies in the long run.
Although the exact cause of the inflammation is never discovered for most dogs, the most likely culprits can be a parasitic or bacterial infection and a reaction to a specific protein in a dog’s diet.
While the exact cause of this syndrome is still unknown, most dogs diagnosed with it showed signs of improvement with a change of diet and stress reduction.
If you believe your dog’s yellow stool might be caused by irritable bowel syndrome, take your dog to the vet and have them run the necessary tests. Initial testing for this condition includes fecal examination, blood tests, an X-ray, or ultrasound imaging of the intestines.
7. Food Intolerance
Just like people, dogs can also suffer from an upset stomach or indigestion. Mustard yellow poop or yellow mucus in your dog’s stool are usually associated with food intolerance. If your pooch ate something that didn’t sit well with their tummy, the proof will be in their stool.
Most dogs show signs of food intolerance when their owners decide to change their regular food for a new formula. The new food might have ingredients that your dog has trouble digesting, or they might end up being allergic to the new ingredients.
If this happens, your pooch might experience severe stomach pain, indigestion, and end up having loose stool. Depending on the severity of your dog’s condition, their stool might be extremely soft and covered in yellow mucus.
Spotting mucus can be hard at first, especially if this is something you haven’t dealt with before. But if you take a closer look at your dog’s feces, you’ll notice that it has an almost oily consistency.
If food intolerance seems like the most likely cause of yellow poop, it might be the perfect time to make some changes to your dog’s diet.
If you want to take the guessing out of the equation, take your pooch to the vet and have them do an allergy test to identify the problem-causing ingredient. Once your vet identifies the allergen, they will also suggest an appropriate diet for your dog.
Depending on the severity and type of your dog’s allergies, you may like to try limited ingredient dog foods. These foods usually feature only a handful of handpicked ingredients and novel proteins that won’t trigger a reaction in your dog.
As soon as you get your dog’s diet right, you will notice a huge improvement in the quality of their stool, and the yellow mucus and loose stools will become a thing of the past.
FAQs About Yellow Stool In Dogs
Why is my dog’s poop yellow?
Many different reasons can cause yellow stool in your dog. While some of them aren’t a cause for concern, others can be extremely serious and warrant a trip to the veterinarian.
The most common causes for yellow dog stool include liver problems, pancreatitis, gallbladder issues, intestinal parasites, eating foreign objects, irritable bowel syndrome, food intolerance, and gastroenteritis.
Is yellow poop serious?
More often than not, your dog’s yellow stool is caused by a change in their diet rather than a serious health problem.
However, if your pooch continues to poop yellow stool for several days or if they start to show any other symptoms, you should contact your vet and take your dog for a checkup.
Depending on the underlying condition, yellow feces can be accompanied by a variety of different symptoms, so it’s best if your vet rules out any serious health problems from the start.
What does yellow stool indicate?
The color of your dog’s stool is a good indicator of their overall health and of what is happening within their body.
When it comes to dogs, yellow stool is most often the result of eating a heavily pigmented object like yellow chalk, crayons, or makers.
The color pigments found in these items will color your dog’s poop in yellow, usually causing a dog’s poop to have random patches of yellow color.
Besides being a good indicator of the type of object your dog consumed, yellow stool can also indicate that your dog has a health problem.
A number of different diseases can cause a dog to have a yellow stool, so you should consider additional symptoms for establishing a proper diagnosis and coming up with a treatment plan.
Can worms cause yellow stool?
Different types of intestinal parasites can cause your dog’s stool to become yellow. Roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, and giardia can change your dog’s stool color from brown to yellow and mess with its consistency.
And in the cases of severe worm infestations, your dog’s stool might contain live worms that will be visible with a naked eye.
Conclusion
It’s not uncommon for canines to experience passing bouts of yellow dog poop several times during their lives.
If your dog’s yellow stool doesn’t last more than a day or two, and it isn’t accompanied by any additional symptoms, you have nothing to worry about.
However, you should call your vet if your dog continues to pass yellow stool over the course of a couple of days and shows signs of additional symptoms. If this is the case, your dog might be suffering from:
- Intestinal infection or intestinal parasites
- Food intolerance
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Liver disease
- Gallbladder problems
Although some of these health issues are more serious than others, all of them can be successfully treated if diagnosed in time.
So, if your dog exhibits any other symptoms besides yellow poop, take them to the vet as soon as possible, to be on the safe side.
This article is for entertainment purposes only. If your dog has any out of the ordinary symptoms including yellow dog poop, please consider taking him to your veterinarian for your vets professional opinion.
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