Okay, so poop isn’t supposed to smell like roses, but you’re asking, “Why does my dog’s poop smell so bad?” It’s likely a sign of some poor gut health, so here’s why your dog may have foul-smelling poop and how you can help.
Why does my dog’s poop smell so bad?
Yes, dog poop stinks. You expect dog poop to smell bad but your best friend has the most foul smelling dog poop you’ve come across Foul smelling dog poop is a sign of many medical issues, including the most important–something is not right in your dog’s gastrointestinal tract.. If your dog’s poop smells bad, it could be any number of underlying issues and you may want to take a stool sample for your vet. Some things your vet may discuss could include:
Here’s why your dog’s poop smells so bad
- Poor diet
- Getting into trash
- Getting into rotten food
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Viral infection
- Bacteria infection
- Parasites
- Worms
- Pancreatitis (Pancreatic Disease)
- Malabsorption syndrome
- Colitis
- Allergy to food or food intolerance
- Yeast infection
- Toxins in your home
Here’s how to help dog poop from smelling.
1. Diet is everything.
A dog’s digestive system was designed to process high-protein diets. From their days as wolves, this has been the case, and sometimes, simply the nature of their dog food content can make dog poop smell so bad. During the digestive process, your dog’s gastrointestinal tract breaks down proteins into amino acids. Your dog absorbs this for nutrition, and the byproduct of protein metabolism can be some smelly excrement.
But if your dog isn’t digesting its food properly, no matter what the ingredients, you may find it will have underlying health conditions that could lead to foul smelling dog poop. Your dog’s digestive system aims to break food down to its smallest, most absorbable form so that your dog can have optimal nutrition and optimal gut health. When your dog isn’t digesting food properly, it isn’t absorbing nutrition as well as it could be. More, that food can ferment and start to reek, which is why foul-smelling poop ends up as the result. Gases like ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulfide end up being released in their stool, and can make dog poop smell so bad.
2. Remove allergens from your dog’s food
Your dog may have allergic reactions or intolerances to certain foods. Sometimes grains, glutens, wheat, dairy, soy, artificial colors, artificial flavors or preservatives can irritate their gut. Their reaction can interrupt their microbiome’s balance, which can mean smellier dog poop. Sometimes eliminating those items that make your dog’s poop smell so bad can help their poop smell better.
3. Balance that gut!
Most of the time, if you want to stop dog poop from smelling, you need to be sure the dog’s gut is balanced. Your dog’s gut is an environment all its own, a complex ecosystem of bacteria that thrive and help your dog digest food as well as aid other very important functions of the body. Sometimes medicines can disrupt that microbiome and lead to an overgrowth of harmful bacteria in their gut. Sometimes it’s a health condition. Sometimes it’s poor diet. But almost all of the time, if you’re wondering how to stop dog poop from smelling so bad, focusing on the gut is the best place to start.
The complex microbiome dogs have is made up of good (probiotics) and bad bacteria. When the bad bacteria are more numerous than the good, they can form compounds that are especially smelly in dog poop.
Balancing your dog’s gut health can help dog poop smell better. When its microbiome is balanced, there is a healthy balance of probiotics fending against bad bacteria overgrowth, infection, allergy reaction and more. And when your dog’s gut health is in check, the dog poop doesn’t smell as bad.
Bernie’s Perfect Poop Can Help When Dog Poop Stinks.
If you’re tired of foul smelling poop, Bernie’s Perfect Poop can come to the rescue. Perfect Poop is a combination of premium fiber, prebiotics, probiotics and digestive enzymes. Together, these ingredients feed and bolster your dog’s gut, and that leads to optimal dog digestion and nutrient absorption. When your dog digests food better, and has a healthier, more balanced microbiome, the dog poop smell won’t be so bad.
Not only will your dog’s improved gut health be how to stop dog poop from smelling so much, it’ll improve your dog’s overall immunity and health too. As we always say around here, healthy dogs lead happier lives.
And when you don’t need to hold your nose with every scooped poop, you’ll be happier too!
