Album Graecum - The Mystery of White Doggy Poo

Once upon a time, there was a little doggy poo. This little doggy poo was different from his poo friends. All of the other doggy poos were squidgy brown, but our little poo was dried-up and white. All of the other poos called him names because he was different.

Then one day, the little doggy poo disappeared. Nobody liked the brown squidgy doggy poos. They were smelly and got stuck to people's shoes. But they were all that was left. Everybody wondered what had happened to the little white doggy poo.

The End.

Ah a touching story indeed, but white dog poo is, or used to be a reality. Lots of people are asking: where has white dog poo gone?

Apparently, the reason we no longer see white dog poo, is due to a change in the diet of pet dogs. People used to give their dogs bones to eat. Dog food also used to contain a lot of ground up bones in it to fill it out. White dog poo is the result of dog poo that has dried out in the sun, leaving behind something that contains a lot of ground up bone. Modern dog food does not contain as much bone, and people do not give their dogs so many bones to eat any more.

A long time ago, Romans used white dog poo as medicine! They would grind it up, mix it with honey and swallow it to try and cure a sore throat! Yuk!

They called it Album Graecum. It could also be applied to the skin as a plaster to try and heal wounds. It probably didn't work and would have been very smelly!

White dog poo has also been used as a way of making leather. Roman soldiers used to wear a lot of leather. Roman soldiers probably smelled of dog poo!

A Smelly Roman Soldier