One of my dogs a 3 yo neutered male papillon is heading to the vet Saturday for an appointment for trying to figure out why suddenly he has very grey soft poo every other day.

From my reading this is usually due to problems with the bile duct or small intestines but I was wondering if anyone else had other ideas for what causes soft grey poop? I prefer to go prepared if I can and get an idea of what tests will be needed. No major diet changes and no health problems other than anxiety. He has been tested in the past for liver shunt, and thyroid issues which came back normal.

Take a sample of this grey poo if you can-as fresh as possible, and if they don't find anything, maybe they could send some to your local vet diagnostic lab for a peak with better equipment.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

One of my dogs a 3 yo neutered male papillon is heading to the vet Saturday for an appointment for trying to figure out why suddenly he has very grey soft poo every other day.

From my reading this is usually due to problems with the bile duct or small intestines but I was wondering if anyone else had other ideas for what causes soft grey poop? I prefer to go prepared if I can and get an idea of what tests will be needed. No major diet changes and no health problems other than anxiety. He has been tested in the past for liver shunt, and thyroid issues which came back normal.

Cement color or dark charcoal/blackish?

Bile is what give poop its characteristic color, so bile obstruction can cause a cement color, I have read (just as you also read).

Very dark can mean upper-GI bleeding from any number of causes.

I'd take one as fresh as possible as well as one from a day when it was not grey (you mentioned every other day).

 Quote: Melissa Thom

... an idea of what tests will be needed.

I am guessing blood, fecal, and endoscopic tests.

Not a health professional, of course.

Good luck. Please let us know.

Is it wrong to hope for a simple infection? My worry is that it's a bile duct obstruction or pancreas inflammation choking off the bile duct, or bad gall stones.

I'm talking about the color of finished concrete.

Is the dog sick? Frail? My husband is a surgeon, I asked him for ideas. He said awful things like you mentioned -- but he also said " idiopathic" which means there probably IS some pathology, but "the doctor is an idiot" meaning the stool turns brown later, no one knows why, it doesn't mean anything at all except some days he makes a grey pooter.
I always did large animal.

I always expand my vocabulary through tv. Dr. House: Idiopathic, from the Latin meaning we're idiots 'cause we can't figure out what's causing it. This may be the case where I am waiting for another symptom before I begin the gauntlet of testing but we'll see what Dr. Lance says his best guess is.

Right now no. This dog isn't sick, lethargic, or acting like there is any abdominal pain or pain upon pottying. This dog however has always had a very flat muscle tone issue from 5 months old which is what caused me to do the thyroid testing for both hyper and hypo, the liver shunt bile acid test, and finally the neutering at 18months because I determined whatever "it" is to be a genetic issue along with what I consider craptastic temperament after I met his sire in person. Beautiful dog, with a fantastic build for a papillon but a total nerve bag from day 1 which we manage through routines and happy anxiety outlets.

I'm really hoping for a horse instead of a zebra in this but we'll see where the road takes us tomorrow.

What happened at the vet?

Right now he doesn't think it's pancreatic or lower GI infection, or general infection and is leaning towards gall stones. I'm not sure why a 3 year old dog would get gall stones without some other underlying condition but that's where we're at so far.

The blood work had to be sent out and should be back Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning at the latest. The fecal he already called back about and said it was fine.

Because he's already had a bile acid test recently he felt it would be ok through process of elimination to try to start treating for gall stones and suggested dropping the fat content in his diet (no problem), upping the omega 3s (no problem), and adding vit k. If we start seeing gray turds every movement then it's time to move up to either trying to break them up via ultrasound which unfortunately would need to be done at another vet office, or consider surgery. He thought we should see an improvement pretty quickly if it were gallstones back to brown all the time and that starting treatment for it wouldn't hurt anything in the short term. What he told me to do for now is watch for pain, jaundice, and keep turd watching. If the tests come back showing elevated white count we'll start a course of antibiotics too.

If it is gallstones it'll be something we have to manage here on out because it's likely to recur and since this is a 7lb dog wouldn't take much size to cause a complete obstruction.

It was refreshing to hear "why that's a grey turd."