Hi, I posted a topic on the visitors board 19th and I am very grateful for the replies so I have just registered, I have found out that my dogs condition is ccalled snow nose. Does anyone have any remedys for this or do you think it could be the food she is currently on Pascoes complete which agrees with her digestive system but i'm wondering if there is something missing in it which has caused this snow nose. Buffy is a malamute.

Welcome to the forum Jacqui :-) Leigh

There is a theory that it can be caused by the type of bowl the food is fed in, I think it's plastic - but I'm not certain, so I'll go and search for the info. It isn't at all harmful to the dog, and is completely acceptable, even for showing. I am sure it isn't caused different brands of food. Often it will come and go in various seasons

Sarah

Found this and OK'd it from the list concerned. Out of interest do you use plastic or metal bowls?

1. There seem to be several causes, but one of mine gets snow nose all the
time if I don't keep her on 50mg of zinc per day.
2. Walnut oil sometimes helps ALSO use only stainless steel dishes.
3. It has been my experience that when my dogs get snow
noses that they clear up once it turns warm. I have in the past given my
dogs kelp tablets (you can get them at any health food store) and they
seemed to
help.
4. With my dogs all developing snow noses this winter (which none have
done before) I was feeling like it could be nutritional. My first
bet was a mild zinc deficiency, so I got some Zinpro. I decided to
not add the full therapeutic amount to their food since I was trying
to just add a bit more - I assume the food has most of what they
need. So instead of 2 Zinpro tablets a day, I have been giving each
one a half tablet. Can't say if the zinc is doing the trick or if its
the advent of spring, but all but one has darkened up over the last
few weeks since I started it.
5. As I recall, when this subject came up within the last couple of years
on the list, there's the true snow nose from the dark winters and lack of
sun that
comes and goes, and then there is the simple the pinking up and loss of
pigment (I guess) which may or may not be helped with supplements. AND I
think I remember someone saying that it also could have to do with
illness, or a lack of something in the diet, OR drinking out of plastic
water bowls!!!!

My dog (Golden Retriever) has developed snow nose and I also read somewhere that there is a line of thinking that some types plastic bowls can be a cause.
He does have one dish of plastic but I must admit that I have continued to use this.
I am waiting to see what spring brings and if there is a return to black again. It does seem to be darkening up over the last couple of weeks (not that I've seen much sun !!!)
Sara

One of my girls' noses loses its coaly blackness most winters, but the colour returns in the spring. This year is the first year it hasn't happened, which I find interesting as we have had many more sunny days than usual and I wonder if this is why.

I have a cream coloured GSD who gets a 'snow nose' - I don't know what causes it, I was told to give him elderberry or sea kelp, have been giving him kelp for a few weeks, his nose has not went dark yet, but I will keep giving it to him anyway. I know that in some dogs, especially light coloured ones, dark pigment can be a problem whatever time of the year, I think its inherited, but I was told if the dogs lips and paw pads are not black then the dog has a lack of pigment, not simply a snow nose. Hope this helps.

my goldies eat out of and drink out of metal bowls but still have snow noses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Reading some of the posts I wonder if people are seeing snow noses or liver pigment :D A snow nose would have the outside of the pigment as normal (either black or brown) fading in toward pink/red in the middle.

Sleddog breeds noses actually dry out at night when they are asleep - in their native conditions they would need this to stop their noses freezing overnight :p I don't know if this is why they are more prone to snow noses

Firstly hello everyone thanks for help, I now know I don't need a costly visit to the vets just for her to tell me exactly what you have said or Less!! But charge me for the privilege of doing so.
In response to a question Buffy uses a stainless steel drinking bowl and a clay food bowl. I think I will wait and see if the colour appears back on it's own accord first before I try any remedies but thanks again for all the advice.

My hubby won't let me call our puppy Buffy so I'm going to call her Willow. Sad aren't we!!!!!

Fiona

What's wrong with "Angel" at least then you can have a secret dream about the gorgeous hunk;-)

Pam n the boys

I wanted to call our new boy Angel :) Glad to see I am not the only huge Buffy and Angel fan on the board.

No Fiona your not sad my 4 year old working sheepdog is called Willow and a lovely girl she is too.Gillian

I ve just lost my Akita whelping, she was a Willow, often abbreviated to Winks or Woo - you ve all made me sad again now.

Lorraine

I'm sorry Lorraine. If I'd have know I never would have posted my message. In 1999 we lost our daughter, Imogen, to cot death and last month one of friends had a baby girl and called her Imogen. I cried for a week :(

Life really is cruel sometimes isn't it.

Sorry and big hugs your way,

Fiona

Fiona, please don't feel bad, I certainly didn't mean for you to, as you say the names bring all the emotions back don't they. I am so sorry about your daughter, I have not got the 'words' to express how I feel for you as a mum myself.

Big hugs to you x 2

regards
Lorraine