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My 5 year old English Bulldog is having some issues lately. The biggest problem is that her skin is turning black. Last summer her belly turned black but eventually went away when fall came. We just assumed it was because she loves to lay in the sun. This year it has gotten worse though. Not only is her belly black again, but both of her sides have big black spots. We started to notice that her hair was falling out and thinning where the black is.
We took her to the vet for the black spots, as well as the blood blisters and horrible sores she has on her paws. The vet put her on some medications for a ear infection and another medication to clear up an infection containing yeast. He also suggested having her being tested for Hypothyriodism.
About a week later the results came back and they were negative for Hypothyriodism. Is it now 3 weeks on the medications and she still has the sores on her paws and the black spots are the same.
She is fed a good diet with a food with LOW filler.
Any suggestions? We are at a loss right now because we dont know what to do to help our bully. Please see the pictures below to get an idea of the black spots. They are darker in person, thinning hair and sort of look dry.
HSM, I sent you a PM with a link to a Bulldog forum. There have been tons of discussions on there regarding this issue and it is quite common. You'll get a ton of help and advice from Bulldog owners. I have bullies as well and love the Bulldog forum!
And to answer your question in short, my friend's Bulldog had a condition very similar to this. Are there scaly patches and a smell associated with this as well? If so, you might be dealing with black skin disease. Here's a link describing it. Medicated shampoo and antibiotics will clear it right up, since it's a bacterial infection.
When she took him to the vet when this first started, they thought it was an overproduction in testosterone since he was still unneutered, but that wasn't the case. The vet said that's generally the case in lighter colored males. Another common reason a dog's skin turns black is hypothyroidism. I hope you figure it out soon!
My female EB had this when she was a pup. It didn't seem to bother her, no skin irritation at all. The spots would just appear and then disappear. It happened probably 3 or 4 times, she is now 6 years old and I haven't seen any signs of black spots in years.
Yeast infections (and they're a bugger to clear up) will cause pink skin to turn black.
Our staffie gets them. They only way I can clear them up on her is religious use of medicated shampoo (that you have to leave on for 25 minutes) and a leave in lotion you put on after rinsing. As much as you'd have though strong sunshine would help shift it, it doesn't seem to.
On the plus side, it don't itch or otherwise irritate. It's been said to me by a vet it's sometimes caused by an overloaded/depressed immune system - ie, it's an opportunistic infection. That made perfect sense in her case as she's also always battling being allergic to the state we live in.
Thanks for the help so far. As for what food she is fed, she is currently on Eukanuba. She is fed 3/4 of a cup twice a day. She has been on it since we adopted her (2 years ago) and we've only had this problem last summer with her belly, and now this spring with her belly and sides.
I read online somewhere that sometimes bulldogs get skin blackening in the spring (because of low Vitamin D in the winter) and then mid summer, the coloring disappears. Not sure if this is what Emma has though.
Either way, Emma is a healthy bulldog, except for her sore paws (which are getting better with the medicine shes on, you can tell she isnt in pain anymore but some sores are still there) and for her black spots, which dont seem to bother her, she doesnt scratch or lick them ever.
The thyroid test we had done cost $130 and took over a week to get the results back. I've read online that most places it only costs about $40.
For the yeast infection, she definitely had yeast in her system. Whenever she has an ear infection or minor skin infection on her face (normally in her nose fold) it always contains yeast. I might have to buy some medicated shampoo for Emma. What kind do you suggest??
Before you get medicated shampoos and wipes, I highly recommend changing her diet. Eukanuba is a terrible food, with tons of grains and fillers. If you go to the Bulldog forum I pm'd you, there is an entire nutrition section. Most of the people feed Orijen, Acana, Wellness Core, TOTW or raw. Just about every single Bulldog ailment can be traced back to poor diet.
I have an almost 2 year old Bulldog that has been fed a quality diet from the day he came home and has never had one single health issue, skin or otherwise. He too was sent home with a bag of Eukanuba, which was promptly discarded and changed to Orijen. There's a lot to be said for a quality diet! Here's a review of Eukanuba from dog food analysis. It rates only 2 stars, you want something at least 4, prerably 5 or 6. This is their "natural" formula. The others rate even worse.
And to answer your question about wipes/shampoo, everyone on the Bulldog forum used Malaseb in the past. As you probably know, they are no longer available. So, Mal-a-ket is the replacement. They make wipes and shampoo, but I don't use them. I use a baby wipe to wipe his folds and never had yeast issues or skin infections.
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