Dog waste color chart

Dogs, if their owner sticks to a “no table food” policy, eat the same meal day after day, which should result in a very easily established baseline for their waste product. If dog food manufacturers had a simple colored square on every package innocuously named Waste Color Indicator (WCI), owners would be able to better gauge offal color changes when changing foods or adjusting diets. This could also serve as a warning system for when Steve gets in the garbage.

Veterinarians could have a color chart as well for the chromatically challenged, much the same way many E.R.’s have the 1-9 pain chart prominently posted. Instead of trying to figure out if the dog’s waste has sporadically been grey-green or green-grey, simply say “this one” and point.

(I know it is common for vets to require a stool sample for a number of other tests as well, but it is often frustrating when the appointment runs around and your pet does a normal doggy dirt.)

It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would help. If the dog’s waste is blue with silver streaks, for instance, odds are it ate a marker and some tinsel.