Black Belly (was light pink)

[Payton]

Hello,

My dog (1yro) Rex has developed blackish skin on his belly and lower legs, is this normal? This started 3 months ago after he got a nasty case of fleas/mites. He skin hasn't seemed to fully recover and return to the ligh pink color even though he has the proper meds for fleas now. He currently only itches and licks he lower legs a little bit and seems healthy. Thank you!

[Snowshoe]

Welcome to the board. None of us is a Vet (I don't think) and I suggest you go back to your Vet with this question. In the photo Rex just looks like a dirty dog, which I dare say All of us here DO have experience with, LOL, but we can't really see his skin from the photo. In my limited experience flea/mite skin reaction is limited to the area of the belly where the dog was bitten. Since this is so widespread I wonder if it's a reaction to the meds? Were the meds oral? Topical? Both?

[Payton]

thanks for the response, sorry for the delay. He's a little bit dirty, but not bad, it's mostly skin coloration you're seeing. The coloration change occured before he went on any meds and has stayed contstant for months since he's been on anything except for bravecto/heatguard. I'm tempted to say he's fine and I'm blowing this out of proporation, but would be nice to hear if someone's dog went through a similar transition (and for me, I'm just conflating it with the flea/mites problem).

[smartrock]

I haven't seen that on my dogs but I wondered if the hyperpigmentation was a reaction to the fleas or mites. I looked around online and found this info from the Merck Vet Manual. I guess you'd need to check with your vet to see if the discoloration is related to this.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/dog-o...irless%20skin.

[lovemylabby]

Hello and welcome. Your Lab's skin discoloration does not look normal to me. I would definitely get your Veterinarian's opinion on this. It could be a number of things...fleas, mites, or perhaps some type of skin fungus, yeast or bacterial infection. I'm sure your Vet could do a skin scraping, diagnose this and give your dog medication to resolve it. Good luck to you.