Hello,

I have a 5 month old parti colour American cocker spaniel, he's mainly white with black ears, freckles etc.

On his belly by his bits his fur is a rusty pink colour,,when younger he had a white belly, his face is also a little like this with slight pinky bits like tear stains.

I have never owned a white dog before so any help as to why this is happening and what I can do to get his coat back to the Snow White colour it once was would be a great help.

In case it's diet related he's on Eukanuba dry puppy food, the lamb one.

Thank you

Annee

try using diamond white shampoo and grannys lux flaxes
has your dog been near grit as grit turns fur funny colours

Hello, thank you....no he doesn't go near grit at all.

I do wash him with a white shampoo but it doesn't help...lux flakes I've not heard of.

Annee

unfort supermarkets no longer stock.grannys lux flaxes you can get them on amazon

try using lux and diomond white together
it brings very dirty heavy horse legs up gleming white also it works on my very dirty liver n white pointer
it could also be from mud mud can also turn coats weird colour and legs to

I have a white dog and he started at around the age of 8mths with staining. It can be due to yeast or by porphyrins in the saliva which is produced when red blood cells are broken down. Which is why you see the staining around the mouth and areas where they lick.

You'll find loads of different so called cures such as only giving filter water, adding apple cider vinegar to drinking water and food, washing areas with bicarb, not feeding any products containing beef, avoid anything with added colourings. Some work for some.

I like the animology white wash shampoo which has the blue whitener in it

Hi Annee, I feel certain its the Eukanuba. If I were you I would start a six month trial of a different food. As soon as I saw your post I thought about Eukanuba even before I saw that's what you are feeding.

Dawn R.

Ahh, OK, thank you.....now, can anyone then recommend a dry puppy food ?

He's on the Eukanuba as its the one that came with him from the breeder.

Thank you

I feed my schnauzers Orijen, purely because it's the next best thing to raw feeding, and it doesn't contain beet pulp - which can be a cause of red staining in beards.

Everyone will have a different recommendation... it may be worth checking out this website... allaboutdogfood.co.uk I've found it really useful for checking dog foods and treats

Orijen ? I've never heard of it or the website for that matter..just had a quick look and Orijen seems to have great reviews so I'll certainly look into it.

Thank you so much.

It is very good food. Would you not do raw on your youngster as I know you did feed it to your previous dog x

When a friend was showing a her Lhasa girl with white feet they had a terrible time with staining. They ended up trying all sorts of different shampoo conditioner for whitening and had to put like decking stuff down outside to help keep them dry and clean.
I did watch a vedio on grooming and the man was saying to check the ph of the water as one of them would increase staining. But can't rember if it was alkaline or acidic now. Wether it's true or not I don't know.

Hi Sue,

I tried raw with Prunella years ago but she was never really happy with it and she always seemed to have a bad tummy.

I tried giving her daughter Ocean a chicken wing once and she refused to eat it...she doesn't even like bones.

I don't think I'll try raw with the puppy as he did have a chicken wing and became super aggressive with it and I can't have that, I want him to have a dry food diet but the best one for him and his coat.

Annee

I would recommend Arden Grange. Their Puppy/Junior is a chicken and rice recipe and is gluten free too. Something I found important when I had American Cockers.

I feed raw but of u want to stay with kibble.look for a grain free.one something like orijen as.suggested or millies both available on line amd u may be able to get a small sample pack .not sure if it will solve the problem.though. i would  however change from eucanuba

It's from licking, depending on the ph of the dogs saliva, licked areas will turn pink.

I am fighting with two pink patches on my grey dog where she had a hot spot and a small wound.

Hello Brainless and everyone else kind enough to answer,

I will definitely change his food but how to lower the ph level within him ? I think vitamin c lowers ph levels and guess I can filter his water too.

It is definitely to do with him licking I'm sure...all your advice makes sense as its only in the areas he gets at.

Annee

As a raw feeder I would obviously suggest changing to raw, it is by far the most natural food to feed our canine animals, it is what they were designed to eat and consume. If I were to use a dry Grain free product (including rice free) I would suggest; Orijen or Millies Wolfheart, both of which are very good quality. You will find that much less of the grain free products are needed at meal times as more can be digested and you will find much less coming out of the other end too!

Wait ok did we write each others posts lol?

Orijen definitely seems the food I'm going to change him to....will just hope his coat improves, I'm also going to buy a water filter or buy bottled water from today and add some vitamin c to it to see if that lowers the ph levels.

Annee

> It can be due to yeast or by porphyrins in the saliva which is produced when red blood cells are broken down. Which is why you see the staining around the mouth and areas where they lick.

I'd go with the yeast suggestion and licking.   My Basset, who is an open tricolour so lots of white, has pink armpits, and less in his groin area now, also his front legs.   Try as I do to sort this out, and that means almost weekly 'blanket baths' it's still happening.  And I've used an anti-yeast shampoo, and a white-out shampoo (Wahl - Diamond White) - diluted Hibiscrub.   You name it.   He's on Arden Grange Sensitive which is fish and potato so should keep him food-allergy free.    None of those we bred (this one is a buy in after I ended my bloodline) suffered like this, and yes, he is a bit itchy.

Loads of different 'cures' - agreed.

You might try talking to a vet who specialises in skin problems.

Just thinking vit c is acidic  as in citric acid ? so if the urine is too acidic already  you need something that alkalizes.  I would still be considering yeasts causing itches and in turn causing licking and therefore saliva changing the colour of the fur. it is my derm vet ( conventional ) that recommends dilute white vinegar to soak the areas in for yeasts. admitted we are using a whole set of things as we are dealing with yeast allergies among others

furriefriends, sorry!! 

Don't apologise i thought it was funny the posts were almost identical

Annee, are you able to collect rain water ?
Ours love outside water, they have an outside and inside bowl/bucket they often choose and wait to drink the water outside.

Hello, yes I can do that too.

I've bought some Origen dog food and will see how he goes on that.

Annee

Take care not to feed too much too soon. It is a fantastic kibble but much less is required because of the quality!!