Re: [PyrNet-L] Darkening of coat

["Kathy (Seng) Gurland" <rg2@is8.nyu.edu>]

WSTERBA@TINY.COMPUTING.CSBSJU.EDU  wrote:


>Nonetheless a student in a class I teach upon encountering my dog
>>notified me that, he is "sick" because his coat is
>>darkening.  WE rescued him last December and he
>>does seem to be turning a reddish tan color in places
>>and I was concerned as to what may be causing this to happen.
>>My Vet (who is a rural farm vet) can not help and
>>my student (who is from Japan and speaks only some English)
>>can only tell me that I need to change Bart's diet and
>>wash him in ionized alkaline water.

I recently took my 4yr old Pyr, Tyler, whom we have had for a year and a
half to the groomers for his bath and both the groomer and I noticed that
Ty's coat looked darker and his skin was orangish in color.  To make a long
story short, the only thing different that I had done since his last bath
(four months before) was that I had started him on special capsules for
improving his coat. Well I went back and noticed that there was a lot of
vitamin A in it, also known as Beta Carotene.  It is common knowledge that
humans who take too much A or eat an inordinate amount of beta carotene
foods, such as carrots, eventually wind up with an orangish tint to their
skin. So, upon remembering this, I wrote to the catalogue where I had
ordered the capsules to notify them that they should tell other owners of
white dogs that this supplement could cause this problem.  Although they
denied that it was the capsules, they suggested that I take him off of
them, which I did anyway, and within 6 weeks, Ty's coat was back to his
original off white beautiful color.  They also mentioned that very often it
is the dog''s saliva which will turn the coat darker.

I am just passing this on to you as my own expereince, certainly not as an
authority or as if i know if your dog is "sick" or not. Just thought you
might watch what he gets in his diet, and watch where he licks or drools.
Also, when we first got Ty, he was pure,pure white.  The original owner use
to use shampoos which are made for white dogs and have a whitener in them.
I have not been using those shampoos and his coat has a less white, but
more natural color to it, and his badger markings have become more
apparent, especially the apricot colored one on his big ole' bottom.  If
you rescued your dog, you may not know what kinds of shampoos use to be
used in bathing him and that could make a difference also.

Hopefully you'll get other suggestions from more authorized Pyr owners, but
I just wanted to let you know what I had experienced with my Ty's coat/skin
changing color.

Kathy & Tyler
NYC
rg2@is8.nyu.edu

Until we-Mail again,

KATH