Fecal Characterisitcs

Question 1

Normal color for infant and adult

Answer 1

Yellow or brown

Question 2

What does white and clay stool mean

Answer 2

Absence of bile

Question 3

What does black or tarry (melena) stool mean

Answer 3

Iron ingestion or GI bleeding

Question 4

What does red stool mean

Answer 4

GI bleeding, hemorrhoids, ingestion of beets

Question 5

What does pale and oily stool mean

Answer 5

Malabsorption of fats

Question 6

What is normal odor

Answer 6

Malodorous, affected by food

Question 7

What does noxious change in odor mean

Answer 7

Blood in feces or infection

Question 8

What does normal consistency look like

Answer 8

Soft and formed

Question 9

What does liquid consistency mean

Answer 9

Diarrhea and reduced absorption

Question 10

What does hard consistency mean

Answer 10

Constipation

Question 11

What is normal frequency for infant and adult

Answer 11

4-6 times in breastfed infants; 1-3 daily for bottle fed infants; twice daily or 3 times a week for adults

Question 12

What is abnormal frequency and what is it caused by

Answer 12

Infants - 6 times daily or less than once every 1 or 2 days; adult - more than 3 times a day or less than once a week

Caused by hypermotility or hypomotility

Question 13

What is abnormal shape and what does it mean

Answer 13

Narrow and pencil shaped

It means obstruction and increased peristalsis

Question 14

What should be in the feces

Answer 14

Undigested food, dead bacteria, bile, fat, pigment, water, cells lining intestinal mucosa

Question 15

What does blood, pus, foreign bodies, mucus, and worms mean if it’s in feces

Answer 15

Internal bleeding, infections, swallowed objects, irritation, inflammations, parasites

Question 16

What does oily stool mean

Answer 16

Malabsorption, enteritis, pancreatic disease, surgical resection of intestine

Question 17

What does mucus mean

Answer 17

Intestinal irritation, inflammation, infection, injury