# Didn't dog poop turn white in the '70's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518 "2011-03-13T10:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/1 "2011-03-13T10:25:46Z")
I tried a search on this (I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first thread) but didn’t see anything in the first 3 pages. In the 70’s, didn’t dog poop turn white and dry out really fast? Is my memory eroding? What caused it? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/2 "2011-03-13T11:13:38Z")
A change in the composition of pet food. Pet food used to have added bone meal, literally ground up bones, as a filler. The bone was poorly digested and passed through. It acted as a binding agent in the faeces and when the other material was either decayed or bleached, the faeces was white. Modern pet foods contain grain meal as the filler. The grain is better digested, and the fibre makes the stools loose and more prone to physically breaking down. So as a result, no white dog turds. I really hated hitting those dry white turds when i was mowing the lawn as a kid. Instantaneously explode into a reeking cloud of pulverised dog turd. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/3 "2011-03-13T12:14:53Z")
Does that mean that now, instead of stinky clouds of bone dust and dried feces, you have to deal with your dog having a poopy anus because the stool is looser? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/4 "2011-03-13T17:16:59Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > Does that mean that now, instead of stinky clouds of bone dust and dried feces, you have to deal with your dog having a poopy anus because the stool is looser? No problem, most dogs and cats clean themselves afterward. So give you wittle puppy or kitty a kiss for me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/5 "2011-03-13T17:41:23Z")
Actually, the time line has changed. (several times) The time line where all the dogs and cats died after the astronauts brought back a disease from space resulted in the earth becoming a planet of apes. That time line was ‘short circuited’ when some of the apes returned to the early 70s via an inverse Haslein trajectory. That time line was ‘short circuited’ when the Jupiter II visited earth in the 1940s. That time line had the white dog turds in it, since in that one, the disease that would have killed the pets mutated on the way back with the astronauts due to a different adhesive used on the space capsule. As a result of the mutation, the dog turds became white, and they remained that way for several years until the alien microrganism died out from cell phone radiation. (there have been a few other time line shifts, but I am not at liberty to discuss them) ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/6 "2011-03-13T18:12:44Z")
I KNEW IT! Seriously, I have looong wondered why I never see white dog poop anymore, but it’s such a bizarre thing to try to bring up in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/7 "2011-03-13T18:25:43Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > A change in the composition of pet food. > > Pet food used to have added bone meal, literally ground up bones, as a filler. The bone was poorly digested and passed through. It acted as a binding agent in the faeces and when the other material was either decayed or bleached, the faeces was white. > > Modern pet foods contain grain meal as the filler. The grain is better digested, and the fibre makes the stools loose and more prone to physically breaking down. I thought it was because they used chalk in dog food - subsequently banned in the early 80s. Though it could be from bone meal as well. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/8 "2011-03-13T18:41:47Z")
I’d totally forgotten about the white dog poop. It exploded spectacularly when the lawnmower hit them. very cool dust clouds. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/9 "2011-03-13T20:27:16Z")
Wow, what a cool fact. I was afraid the answer was going to be “it still does; you just don’t notice since you stopped playing with it”. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/10 "2011-03-13T20:34:17Z")
> [@Heyoka13](#): > > Actually, > > the time line has changed. (several times) > > The time line where all the dogs and cats died after the astronauts brought back a disease from space resulted in the earth becoming a planet of apes. > > That time line was ‘short circuited’ when some of the apes returned to the early 70s via an inverse Haslein trajectory. > > That time line was ‘short circuited’ when the Jupiter II visited earth in the 1940s. That time line had the white dog turds in it, since in that one, the disease that would have killed the pets mutated on the way back with the astronauts due to a different adhesive used on the space capsule. As a result of the mutation, the dog turds became white, and they remained that way for several years until the alien microrganism died out from cell phone radiation. > (there have been a few other time line shifts, but I am not at liberty to discuss them) I find your ideas intriguing and would like to read your blog. It is very rare that someone with such unusual theories knows how to write in paragraphs; although yours need some work as far as defining the main ideas, at least you know to press _return_ twice in a row every so often, which is a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/11 "2011-03-13T20:35:14Z")
I swear it still does, at least sometimes. A few weeks ago a friend of mine made a comment about old dog poop looking like ET when he was sick. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but neither of us lived in the 70’s and I don’t have many memories of dog poop in the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/12 "2011-03-13T20:49:08Z")
Wow, I remember white dog poo. I haven’t had a dog around as a pet in 20 years at least, so I completely forgot it existed. **Heyoka13** , no one believes you, there’s way too much proper grammar and punctuation in that to be believable. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/13 "2011-03-13T21:09:18Z")
Yes it’s down to diet, if your dog has lots of boines you’ll still get the white stuff. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/14 "2011-03-13T21:19:58Z")
I don’t have a dog anymore, but I remember seeing white dog poop when the snow melted in the winter, this was in the late 80s early 90s timeframe. Don’t recall white poop otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/15 "2011-03-14T00:26:33Z")
I thought it was from mold growing on the outside. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/16 "2011-03-14T01:01:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d totally forgotten about the white dog poop. It exploded spectacularly when the lawnmower hit them. very cool dust clouds. No kidding. In our neighborhood it was so bad that the poor people people bought junky used cars, packed up, and tried to make their way to California. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/17 "2011-03-14T04:06:04Z")
Saw some white dog poop just last week. I had no idea this was becoming rare, but I don’t think this is something I’ll include on my nostalgia list. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/18 "2011-03-14T04:07:24Z")
Back then wasn’t everybody and his dog doing coke? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/19 "2011-03-14T04:24:11Z")
I saw a lot of white dog poop back in the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518/20 "2011-03-14T05:24:51Z")
80’s kid here. Dog poop turned white. I didn’t know that it stopped. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/didnt-dog-poop-turn-white-in-the-70s/574518.md?page=2)