Dog’s Skin Turning Black May Indicate an Inflammatory Process
If your dog consistently licks at a particular area of her skin, she might experience darkening of the pigment there. If she has light fur in that area, it will soon turn brown or dark red due to the licking. The skin can also turn black and thicken over time.
Inflammation and infections from a variety of sources can trigger local or widespread hyperpigmentation of your dog’s skin. Some of these triggers include:
Dog’s Skin Turning Black Might Indicate a Hormonal Problem
Dogs with hyperadrenocorticism or Cushing’s syndrome experience heightened levels of adrenal hormones in their bodies. One of the physical signs of this condition is increased skin pigmentation, especially around the abdomen. This condition may also be accompanied by calcinosis cutis, or tiny, hard lumps in the skin over the abdomen.
An underactive thyroid gland or hypothyroidism can sometimes cause your dog’s skin to turn black, especially around the abdomen and flanks. Other skin and coat problems associated with this condition may include hair loss or poor regrowth when you shave a patch.
Why is my dog’s Belly turning black?
The most common cause of the change in skin color on a dog’s belly is hyperpigmentation, which simply means a darkening of the skin. This is often more dramatic in dogs with light skin and fur.
But, note that skin discoloration doesn’t occur overnight — there is often some degree of incessant trauma or exposure for your dog’s stomach or belly area to turn black.
Think back to that redness that occurred at some point on your dog’s legs or when your pup spent a couple of weeks licking her belly. Perhaps these same patterns of itching happened over months or years, but the color change from that chronic trauma is only visible now.
Hyperpigmentation is not a specific disease but a reaction of your dog’s body to certain conditions. It may appear as light-brown-to-black, rough, and velvety areas of thickened, hairless skin.
The common sites are in the legs and groin areas, and it can be primary or secondary.
Primary diseases that trigger skin darkening can occur in any dog breed, but it is more prevalent in Dachshunds. The symptoms are usually evident by the time your dog reaches one year old.
Primary hyperpigmentation in Dachshunds is non-curable. In some pups, the condition is only cosmetic and often doesn’t require treatment. If there is inflammation, early cases may respond well to shampoo treatment.
As symptoms progress, other treatments, such as oral medications or injections, may be useful.
Secondary hyperpigmentation is relatively common and can affect any breed of dog, especially those breeds prone to obesity, allergies, hormonal abnormalities, skin infections, and contact dermatitis.
In most cases, secondary hyperpigmentation is triggered by friction and/or inflammation. Inflammation, in particular, leads to additional skin changes, such as hair loss, thickened skin, odor, and pain.
The edges of inflamed areas are usually red, a sign of secondary yeast or bacterial infection. With time, the discoloration may spread to the lower neck, abdomen, groin, hocks, ears, eyes, and the area between the external organs and the anus.
Itching is usually variable, and when it occurs, it is often caused by the underlying illness or by a secondary infection. As the situation progresses, other health issues may develop, such as secondary hair loss, infections, and fluid discharge.
In secondary hyperpigmentation, the affected skin areas will go away on their own once the underlying cause is identified and treated. However, that will not happen if the secondary yeast and bacterial infections are not controlled and treated.
Many affected dogs usually benefit greatly from appropriate medicated shampoos (2 to 3 times per week) and antibiotics. Your vet may likely prescribe such treatments, but you need to be patient with the treatment programs.
More often, signs of skin darkening resolve slowly, and it may take several months for your dog’s skin to return to normal.
Fortunately, the concurrent treatments of secondary infections are helpful and should be explored before administering various medications. Medicated shampoos work well in removing excess oil and odor, but you must use them regularly for sustained results.
Diagnosing hyperpigmentation is by the appearance of signs on the pet. In a young Dachshund, your veterinarian will seek to eliminate other causes of the signs.
Your veterinarians will basically ask the same questions you might be asking yourself already to arrive at an accurate diagnosis:
Once you’ve adequately answered these questions and evaluated your dog’s history, your vet may move on to other diagnostics such as skin scrapings, cytology, biopsy, and even food trials. This helps to identify the root cause of the problem and treat the issue that is causing your dog’s skin to turn black.
If you’ve adopted a new dog that now has quiet skin but with obvious dark areas, it’s likely the pup suffered from skin trauma or allergies at a young age.
A careful evaluation of your pooch’s history and physical exam will help to identify any underlying cause. The presence of secondary hyperpigmentation more often suggests an underlying disease.
Your vet may also carry out skin scrapings to exclude other causes such as parasite infestation, especially in young pups, and impression smears may help to identify bacterial infections.
Depending on other available signs, your vet may carry out endocrine function tests for thyroid and adrenal disease to check for underlying hormonal abnormalities. Sometimes, skin testing, food trials, or both may be useful in testing for allergies.
Finally, skin biopsies may be taken to check for a condition known as seborrhea. In most cases, your vet will want to treat any secondary bacterial infection before proceeding with other diagnostic tests.
A dog’s skin turning black is most often associated with chronic itching. This is referred to as pruritus-induced hyperpigmentation, which means the darkening of the dog’s skin due to chronic itching.
You and your vet will have to manage the allergies triggering the itching and chronic inflammation to reverse the changes in skin color. Sometimes, it may be as simple as feeding hypoallergenic dog food.
Although your dog’s skin may never return to its previous light color, treating chronic skin conditions and the underlying causes of itching and self-trauma is critical for your dog’s overall health and comfort.
What Causes Red Circles On Dog’s Belly/ Dog skin Infection
If youre cozily rubbing your poochs belly only to notice that it suddenly looks to be dark purplish or blue rather than its normal color, then its time to call the veterinarian to make an appointment. Skin discoloration issues in dogs often signify cases of cutaneous hyperpigmentation. Any type of dog is potentially susceptible to hyperpigmentation, no matter the breed.
Cutaneous hyperpigmentation entails, in a nutshell, the skin taking on a darker coloring. This hyperpigmentation in most cases isnt a disorder of its own, but rather an effect of another medical ailment. Its relatively prevalent in the canine world. A lot of different things can lead to hyperpigmentation in dogs, including bacterial infections, allergies, Cushings disease and excessive body weight. Inflammation typically is responsible for the emergence of hyperpigmentation.
Skin discoloration is indeed a telling sign of cutaneous hyperpigmentation in canines, not only in dark purple or blue, but sometimes in colors like black and pale brown, too. When dogs experience hyperpigmentation, not only does the skins color change a little, its texture also often changes, frequently taking on a markedly dense and coarse feel. Hyperpigmentation doesnt only show up on dogs stomachs, but also commonly on their limbs and where their lower stomachs and thighs meet.
If you notice any unusual coloring on any part of your pets body, not only on the stomach, the veterinarian can determine exactly what the trigger is. If the vet works on managing the root cause of the discoloration, it should fade away with some time, occasionally up to months at a time. If bacterial infection is the reason for the purplish dark hyperpigmentation, a veterinarian might suggest antibiotics for your canine, which, in turn, should lead to the eventual clearing up of the frustrating discoloration.
If your pooch happens to be a dachshund, then his dark purplish discoloration might not be related to any other existing ailment, but instead might actually be its own entity. In this specific breed, hyperpigmentation is often a primary condition. Cases of dogs of other breeds with primary hyperpigmentation are extremely few and far between. Although this genetic issue doesnt have a cure, a variety of management options are available to dachshunds who are living with it, whether oral medicines or specialized shampoos.