mucus in poop

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Our 5 1/2 month old puppy often had a light coloured mucus in her poop. No blood.

Her poop is very variable. Sometimes its very dark, sometimes very pale. Sometimes its hard, other times its squishy. She does go pretty regularly - at the beginning of her morning walk after breakfast and at the beginning of her evening walk after dinner.

We havent been changing her food - she is on Raw Diet - Club Canine ground chicken (with bones) and occasionally the beef. We give her grain free kibble as treats when training, and she has no more than 1 raw hide bone a day. She often has a piece of raw veggie a day, usually a bit of a carrot or green bean.

She has had mucus in her poop for as long as we can remember. It seems worse in the morning. Recently, it has sometimes been light green (maybe from what she has eaten?)

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Hi Kaytlin
Not sure what would cause this. There are a few things you could try. First cut out the rawhide...not really very good for them as it is not digestible. I really don't know, but it could be some kind of irritation from either food or parasite. If she was still here, I would give her aloe vera juice mixed half and half with water. About 1 oz a couple of times a day.
Next I would try colloidal silver. Aloe is soothing to the lining of the intestine and fights bacteria and viruses. Silver colloids fight bacteria. I also have a product called Karbo Essentials. It is an immune building food additive that also causes dogs to eliminate parasites. I bought it from the internet. The business is in Washington or Oregon...I forget which. This product even eliminates giardia. If she is feeling fine, I wouldn't worry too much. You could take a stool sample to the vet if it worries you. I tend to try the natural stuff first and go from there. Did you do an online search for information? There are a number of vet sites out there.
Another thing you could try is changing the main protein in her diet for a while. At least 30 or even 60 days. Is she getting yogurt? If not, you could add that to build up natural good bacteria. There are pills to do that too. I also suggest you do one thing at a time so you can track the results. Keep me posted.

[Mary Burkovich]

Excess mucous is formed when there is something irritating the digestive tract. It could be a number of things. Your puppy could have a sensitive digestive system. I am assuming your puppy is parasite free. I have seen this quite a few time especially when my dogs were puppies and were fed a raw diet especially whole bones like chicken wings. Sometimes the bones can do this to an immature or sensitive digestive system. Try giving a digestive enzyme with meals. I could also be the rawhide. If you are giving chew type treats..make sure they are something highly digestable..like a bullystick or a natural cow ear. Stay away from greasy pig ears or cheaper rawhide. If it's just a matter of an immature or sensitive digestive system..the digestive enzymes should help. Also..the herb called Slippery Elm has soothing healing properties to the digestive tract
Hope this helps!

[Melissa, Samson & Shelby]

Parasites can cause the mucus. Samson had that when he had giardia as a puppy.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I have noticed that when I give Hunter a raw chicken leg - just as a treat I feed her Canidae normally - that she does get mucous also. She also had a terrible bout with it in diarrhea after swimming in lake Erie and ingesting to much of the water when the bacteria count was super high - of course I found that out a day later! Story of my life!

[Libby & Bentley]

bentley had mucus in his poop when he had worms... being a people nurse though, i can tell you mucus can appear in the stool with any gastrointestinal irritation. i'd monitor it a bit..and if it continues, take a stool sample to the vet.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

thanks everyone

experiment 1 - no rawhide...

Question - Coopers Raw food does have a little yogurt in it... but maybe a snack of veggies and yogurt will help her. My question is... can dogs digest lactose?

[Barbara Burrows]

I found that rawhide caused this in one of mine. She is healthy and after a few days without rawhide it cleared up.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha started with muscous in her poops last fall. In hindsight - chewing sticks irrated her belly. The animal nutrinist I go to suggested 'Rx Clay'. A scoopful (about 1/8 of a teaspoon) cleared it up. I kept her on it for a couple of months. When I see the mucsous again, I start giving it to her until it is gone again.
(I am NOT a vet, just someone who has been there and this worked for Samantha)