# HELP!!



## tbananaz (Jun 7, 2010)

we recently rescued a blue pit.. when we got her she was 14 mos.. she has been with us for about 2 mos now.. when we initially got her she had a beautiful gray coat that was largely unblemished with the exception of a little pinkness on her throat where the fur is white.. we were told by the shelter that it was from a prong collar.. we never used a prong collar.. i guess they did.. however in recent weeks she has experienced some discoloration on the top part of her neck near her shoulders.. the fur seems to be real blotchy and darker than it should be.. any ideas or suggestions? i can take pics if u think it would help..


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## Saint Francis (Jun 2, 2010)

I can't say with any certainty what it would be, BUT definitely pictures will help. Someone will have a suggestion, don't worry


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

Have you noticed if she is scratching alot? What food are you feeding? Is she outside alot? 

In the winter Vendettas coat gets a reddish hue to it but it goes away when she is outside in the sunlight more. i was wondering if she is lacking vitamin D.

Pictures would help.


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## Dirtytank (Jun 4, 2010)

I have noticed that coat color may shift a bit at times, does it look as if its falling out? Is there patches of skin showing or is it still solid and firm?


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## fortyfootelf (Feb 2, 2010)

you should see if she is allergic to something. i doubt that a prong collar would leave a rash on her skin, and even if it did after 2 months it shuold have disappeared. there may be something in the food that you are feeding.


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## tbananaz (Jun 7, 2010)

Sorry it took so long.. but here are the pictures of hopes fur discoloration.. any ideas?


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## fortyfootelf (Feb 2, 2010)

thanks for getting us those pictures. i did some research on this bro and what i got wasnt telling me a whole lot but only bkuz i wasnt sure if your dog was showing any symtoms <brainfart.) but i was able to find you something that should help you though. you mentioned something with a prong collar, and thats what you thought was the route of this discoloration? it has something to do with the pigment and im not exactly sure how something like this would just randomly change. has his neck always looked like that since you got him or did it start to appear after the fact? im thinking he has a hererditary gene that has lead to this discoloration. but i found out that there are other routes to this problem. good luck bro, here is the link
Causes of Pigment & Color Changes in the Skin & Coat in Dogs


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

My blue dogs did the same this this summer and they were just blowing coat. Before the ADBA show Typhoon looked like a catahula dog, she was spotted. I got a brush like the furminator, you really need a brush like that anything else will scratch the skin, and brushed out all the dead coat. What is happening is you are more likely feeding her a better food and she is getting in a good healthy coat and the dull lighter grey coat is falling out and underneath is a darker healthier coat. You just need to strip out all the dead stuff so the new stuff can come in. Typhoon was co-owned with someone who was not taking care of her and when I got her back she was a light grey, now she is back to a deep blue because her coat is healthy again. Bailey my other blue dog is doing the same thing right now but she is just blowing coat and she too looks patchy in spots but the more I brush the better she looks. Get a good oatmeal shampoo give her a bath and brush her with a furminator or a brush like that, do not over brush or you will scratch her. It will take a week or so but that dead coat should all come out. I will see if I can find pictures of typhoon she looked just like your dog.


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## fortyfootelf (Feb 2, 2010)

is this more common in blue pits? the reason i ask is bkuz most of the people that are having this problem say their dog is a blue pit... i could definatly see the reason it would be is bkuz their hair is darker therefor retaining more heat and causing the skin to dry out... but i dont know this is a question not a responce...


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

Oh I forgot to add this may not be the whole solution but the first place I would start.

fourtyfootelf, Skin and coat problems tend to plague blue dogs because of all the bad breeding and generation after generation of breeding for color. Blowing coat can happen to any color and I have several dogs this year do the same thing and they were not all blue. We had a very cold winter and my dogs got heavy winter coats in and the summers here are really hot and they blew out all that winter coat and yes it tends to be lighter because the coat is dead and the healthy coat underneath starts to come out.
This is common in many breeds and i think the weather has a lot to do with it, I have never seen my dogs shed so much but also this was one of the coldest winters in a long time.

Now this could also happen because of nutrition, bad nutrition like in Typhoon's case caused a dry brittle coat that changed to a dull grey color. When she got in her new healthy hair it came out in patches like the pictures above but now she is a deep blue again and looks healthy.

There are other skin conditions that can cause discoloration of the coat or for patch to fall out but because of the season and the fact he just adopted this dog I tend to think that is it just the dog getting in a healthy coat. I would start there first and then go through a process of elimination.

I will show you what I mean with Typhoon who's coat problems were nutrition related.

here is her coat as a younger dog nice and deep and shinny









Here she is when I got her back and look at the color difference, dull and light grey









Here it is when she was changing color
Look at her side by her lower rib cage and you will see patches of dark spots with the lighter color that is when she started to blow that dead coat out









Here look at her sides compared to her back legs and you see how the hair looks different colors. I need to take pictures of her now she has a gorgeous coat that is dark and one color. For a while there she looked like the pictures that the op put up of his dog, really patchy and in chunks but it started to go away. I think the whole process took about a month or so.


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## cEElint (Oct 6, 2009)

I <3 Typhoon!!


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## Black Rabbit (Nov 14, 2009)

cEElint said:


> I <3 Typhoon!!


Me too   she's amazing


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I have to say she changed my mind on pitterstaffs! She is absolutely beautiful and kicks butt in ADBA she is half way towards her ADBA CH! I wish I could go to more shows but this darn baby! lol I will try and get more pictures of her soon and post them up, she has matured nicely! She looks big but she is around 40lbs and 18" tall.
K Sorry for high jacking the thread! lol


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