Yorkie poop is not my favorite topic.
But it is an important one.
And “How often do yorkies poop?” is an important question.
It will help you determine if your dog is having a problem with irregular bowel movements.
This can cause it quite a bit of discomfort, so you want to diagnose and remedy any issue as early as you can.
And sometimes it can indicate a more serious health problem, so you need to know when to take your pup to a vet, too.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know (but probably didn’t want to) about yorkie poop, including how to recognize a problem and what to do to remedy it.
Contents
How Often Do Yorkies Poop?
An adult Yorkie should poop two to three times daily. Healthy puppies poop three to six times. If your dog is not defecating this often, it might be constipated.
The rest of this article will guide you in determining if your yorkie has healthy bowel movements and, if there is an issue, how to relieve constipation in yorkies. Let’s get right to it!
Factors That Affect Yorkie Poop Frequency
Yorkie owners naturally worry about the toilet habits of their dog, so they often ask how often it should be pooping. But the truth is that dogs are unique from one another, even those of the same breed.
You can’t say that pooping once a day or twice a day is normal and every dog should be doing the same. Both can be normal. What is normal for your dog is not necessarily normal for another.
That said, the standard for a yorkie is to poop at least once a day. A daily bowel movement indicates that your pet has normal digestion.
How often your yorkie actually poops depends on many different factors, like activity level, lifestyle, diet, and more. Below is a rundown of factors that exert the biggest influence on your yorkie’s poop frequency.
Activity Level
The first factor that can influence how often your yorkie poops is how much physical activity it gets in a day. If your yorkie sleeps a lot, it might not defecate as often as a more active dog.
This is primarily because dogs usually poop when they are outdoors, which is the place where they are most active. Meanwhile, a sleeping dog won’t feel the need to pee or poop at all.
If your dog is more active, you might notice it pooping twice a day or more. What’s more important than frequency is a regular bowel movement, just like it is with humans. It is a good thing if your yorkie defecates at a regular frequency every day. Take it out for a walk a few times a day to encourage it to poop.
Age
Your Yorkie’s age is another factor that can influence its daily bowel movement. As mentioned earlier, younger yorkies tend to poop more frequently than senior dogs.
The same goes for other dog breeds. Also, don’t be too bothered when your puppy keeps defecating all over your home. Yes, it’s a pain, but know that it won’t be like that forever.
Adult dogs are likely to poop in the morning during your morning walk. They might also poop once during midday and another time at night. Other dogs might do it more often. As long as it more or less the same every day, things are fine.
Meal Frequency
Yorkies usually poop after eating a meal. Some might not do it right away, but they typically show signs after having breakfast or dinner that they want to go outside, or to the spot where they are meant to do their business.
When you think about it, it is only normal for a yorkie that eats several times a day to poop more frequently than one that only eats once a day.
For instance, a dog that consumes two meals daily might only have to have to poop twice. A dog that eats 4 smaller meals a day, like puppies and younger dogs, is more likely to defecate more often.
If you ever notice that your dog is not defecating as often as it should, you could try splitting its daily food ration into more meals of smaller sizes.
If it eats twice daily, break that up into 3 smaller meals that is each equal to 33% of its daily food intake, instead of the two meals at 50% each. To do so, it is obviously important to know how much to feed a yorkie per day.
Food Quality
Your dog’s food quality is another factor that plays a major role in your how often your dog defecates. High-quality dog food is associated with less dog poop, while low-quality variants are linked with more poop.
The reason is that low-quality dog foods are usually loaded with fillers like soy, corn, and other types of grains. These fillers have little to no amount of nutritional value for your pet. Consuming large amounts of something that the body can’t absorb, naturally means it will come back out as waste.
On the other hand, high-quality dog food has more nutrients that the body absorbs, making less waste coming out. If you have a yorkie that defecates excessively, consider changing the food you feed it.
Another sign your pup is not getting the nutrition it needs is if it eats his own poop. If you’ve ever seen your dog do that, you were certainly left wondering: why does my yorkie eat poop? Well, it may be doing so to get the extra nutrition, because it isn’t getting enough from its food.
How To Tell If Your Dog Is Backed Up
Constipation in dogs is not that dangerous and it is a common health problem. However, it is not something you should ignore, because it could cause your dog to suffer from intense discomfort and pain.
It is a good idea to learn how to recognize the early signs of constipation in dogs, so that you can step in early and relieve your pet from the discomfort. Sometimes, constipated dogs even need to visit a vet for help. Here are the common signs of constipation in dogs.
No Pooping For Days
Not having a bowel movement for a day or two is a sign of constipation. But it doesn’t confirm that your dog is constipated with certainty, so you’ll also want to keep an eye out for other signs of being backed up.
Pain When Pooping
For both humans and dogs, pooping should not be a painful experience. When your Yorkie shows signs of discomfort while passing stool, such as crying, yelping, or acting strangely, it means that your dog is likely constipated.
Straining With No Poop Coming Out
Another sign that your Yorkie is constipated is if it is straining when trying to poop, but nothing comes out. This situation indicates that your dog’s poop is hard or is not moving healthily inside its digestive system.
Stool With Blood
If there is blood in your yorkie’s stool, get it medical attention. It could be something serious. On the other hand, it could also simply indicate that your pet is suffering from constipation. Straining while defecating can irritate the intestines and result in drops of blood coming out.
Unusually Hard Stool
It might sound crazy and gross, but try to remember how typical dog poop looks. Doing so will allow you to determine in one glance if the consistency of your yorkie’s poop is not the same as it used to be. Any time your dog’s poop changes in consistency, something has changes in its digestive system.
How To Encourage Your Yorkie To Poop
The moment you confirm that your Yorkie is constipated, start looking for a solution. The first step is to try the common treatments for constipation in dogs, which we will detail next.
If the condition is severe or it does not improve after 48 hours, contact a vet for help right away.
Get Your Dog To Drink More Water
When your pet is dehydrated, it has a greater chance to experience constipation. Make sure you give enough water to your yorkie every day.
You should also keep the water bowl clean and ensure it always has water in it. If your pet doesn’t seem to like drinking, be creative and find ways to make it drink more.
Another thing that can dehydrate your pet is hot weather. Always make sure you give your furry friend more water when it is hot outside.
If you are searching for ways to get your dog to drink more water, try this. Place a treat in a container then fill it with water. Freeze it. Then have your dog lick the ice until it gets to the treat in the middle.
Another easy fix is to add some water to dry dog food. It may not look appetizing to you, but it gets your dog to consume more water. You could also just switch to wet food, which obviously has a higher water content than dry food to begin with.
Feed It Some Coconut Oil
You can also try olive or coconut oil to help your yorkie poop easier and faster. But remember that these oils might be natural and healthy, but they also contain high amounts of fat. Use them only as a food topper in moderate quantities.
Add Some Canned Pumpkin To Its Food
Another home remedy for constipation in dogs is canned pumpkin. Dogs benefit from canned pumpkin in terms of relieving constipation, diarrhea, and other stomach issues. You can put a small quantity of canned pumpkin into your dog’s food daily.
Be sure to buy a 100% pumpkin purée and not the kind you use as pie filling. The reason is that these kinds of canned pumpkin products contain a lot of sugar and other preservatives that are toxic for dogs.
Get Your Dog To Exercise More
As mentioned earlier in this post, exercise encourages healthy bowel movements. If your yorkie is not getting enough daily exercise, start taking it for an additional walk per day, or increase the length of your walks.
You should also add at least one additional intense exercise activity per week. These are things that have your dog expending a lot of energy, like playing catch.
Yorkie Poop Frequency: Conclusion
An adult Yorkie should poop around two to three times daily, and young dogs should have a bowel movement around three to six times. But even if they fall outside this range, it could be fine. Pay attention when the frequency changes.
That said, if your dog is outside the standard range, it may be worth it to get it checked out, just in case. Before doing that, you could try a few things to remedy the situation yourself, if you like.
For example, if it poops many times a day, take a look at your pet’s diet. Read the ingredient list of the dog food it consumes to see if it contains too many fillers. If so, consider changing to a different food.
Knowing the healthy number of times your dog defecates daily can help you determine whether it is constipated or pooping too much. If your dog has been having difficulty pooping for days, try the home remedies mentioned earlier.
If they don’t work, take it to a vet. If your dog is pooping all the time and the poop is runny, read our article covering what to do if your yorkie has diarrhea.
Finally, it is absolutely essential you give your dog plenty of opportunities to relieve itself. This means it needs to be able to poop when it feels the urge and also pee when it feels the need. Read up on how long a Yorkie can hold its bladder for more on that.
Sophie says
My Yorkie’s poop is soft but stringy she keeps moving as she poops she is 9 yrs old