My Fawn boy's belly is turning black!!

I have been amazed to find that 10 year old Henry's belly and under arms are turning black. They used to be so pink. At first I thought it was dirt so I when I bathed him I really scrubbed with extra shampoo but low and behold....his belly skin has turned black. Any one else seeing this in their older Fawns? I am just surprised. Plus I miss that little pink puppy belly!!

My moms fawn pugs tummy and pits are black..sometimes she gets sores its from her alergys....But others will be able to help you more than me..

Could be yeast....or could be normal. The only one of mine to have a black belly right now is Daisy, and her's is yeast. Is the skin different, or the same but just black? Any hair loss?

It's called hyper pigmentation. Some dogs just do get darker on their skin as they age, but sometimes the darkening is due to allergies. Hazel has some darkening of her skin which I know isn't allergies. Tank has LOTS of black which is due to allergies, but may never go back to his original pink.

What do you feed?

Thanks you guys! I am just floored to know there is a connection to allergies! Henry has had a skin allergy that makes him not only itchy, but also very sensitive to touch. We manage it with Vitamin B shots, which are anti inflammatory. But why would the allergy make the skin turn dark???? There is no hair loss. He looks very much like a fawn, is just that his pink belly is gone and I am shocked at how black it is now. When you say yeast....what could that mean? Do you mean, an overgrowth of bacteria in his intestines?

Doodikins wrote:Thanks you guys! I am just floored to know there is a connection to allergies! Henry has had a skin allergy that makes him not only itchy, but also very sensitive to touch. We manage it with Vitamin B shots, which are anti inflammatory. But why would the allergy make the skin turn dark???? There is no hair loss. He looks very much like a fawn, is just that his pink belly is gone and I am shocked at how black it is now. When you say yeast....what could that mean? Do you mean, an overgrowth of bacteria in his intestines?

It's not uncommon for dogs with allergies to have yeast infections on their skin and in some cases, have systemic yeast infections. Tank has systemic yeast we believe from his years of vet diets and prednisone. You can usually smell a yeast infection--smells kind of moldy--like old dirty socks or a gym bag--some times it's worse than other times.

The skin turns dark as a consequence of the allergies and infection.

What do you feed Henry?

He eats Nature's Variety Raw Frozen Chicken Formula. We of course make it into a broth with warm water and add fish oil, digestive enzymes, liquid glucosomine and a chinese herb that controls his bladder stones. He also eats veggies and fruit occasionally as treats and regular dog biscuits.

Well, I can't fault the diet--except he might be reacting to the chicken or the eggs. If I remember correctly NV had a lot of egg in it. It had too many ingredients for my crew as Tank is so reactive to so many things. If he's not itchy or smelly, I'd just keep an eye on it. Might be worth switching to a different protein and see if there's any improvement.

I've started to switch over to whole carcass/prey model raw food to see if I can get a handle on his ongoing yeast issues.

Northernwitch, First of all thank you so much for helping me with this!! I so appreciate your feedback. Can you tell me more about whole carcass/prey??? What is it and where do you get it?