Jack Russell Getting Black Spots On Skin and Hair Loss

by Laurie
(Bensalem, PA)

Betty Before Spots

My daughter's Jack Russell (over 10 yrs. old) has started to develop black spots, like large freckles all over her belly and hind end, and her hair is thinning in these areas. She is not scratching or in any way uncomfortable that we can tell. Appetite and activity level is good. There is no inflammation. The vet checked thyroid and said that was fine. She is on daily meds for seizures. Are these spots normal for an older Jack? Should we continue to have vet check further with more blood work?

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Sep 28, 2015
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Cushings NEW
by: Anonymous

Sounds like cushings disease

Sep 28, 2015
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Cushings disease NEW
by: kate

Sounds exactly like our 9 yr old JR ... Pretty likely to be cushings disease I would say.... Hard to diagnose... Took a lot of retesting to finally test positive. Get the vet to check cortisol etc.

Aug 18, 2015
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JRT Skin allergy care ideas and yes to more black spots! NEW
by: Janice

We adopted a JRT in January. His belly was covered in red bumps, chewed scabs and elephant-like skin texture. His ears were swollen shut and infected. His toes were raw, red, and he itched and scratched frantically most of the time. He was also about 5 lb over weight.
Did research and put him on grain-free diet, and used epi-otic in ears and antibiotic from vet. I noticed the epi-otic soothed a small thorn punture on my hand after gardening while I was applying it to his ears. After washing him with Burts Hypoallergenic dog shampoo and rinsing well I put a very small amount of this on his open belly wounds and massaged a bit into his toes. Helped him a lot.
He also seems less itchy if I brush/strip the dead hairs off his broken coat. They are really wirey and would make ME itch if I were him!

I found plain yogurt with NO cornstarch or geletin seems to help, too. He is much better but still has flair ups if he is out in dirt, weeds, pollen, etc. so I do a good bath once a week on itchy areas. Vet said to try one tablet of
chlorpheniramine maleate 4mg., an antihistamine in the morning with his food. Seems to help. Also my dog is very allergic to peanuts, chicken, other fowl. He loves cabbage, carrots, and seems to do okay with those foods. He is so much healthier and happier now even though he has flair ups.
I have Celiac disease and can relate! No grains, gluten, or junk food for him!

May 21, 2015
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Stress related baldness & black spots NEW
by: Anonymous

We have a 12 year old JRT. We've had him for 1.5 years. He was a rescue dog and was in 2 homes prior to ours. He's very submissive and clings to me. We can only guess what he's been through his first 11 years. Last August, he got a direct hit across his face by a skunk. Shortly afterward, he started losing his hair. Mind you, he's a broken coat, wire haired JRT. He's almost completely bald on his back, top of neck, sides & tail. His thyroid tests fine. No significant allergies, skin is not dry. Baldness doesn't seem to effect him. His exposed skin has turned black. Vet is at a total loss so I went to my herbalist for advice. 2 months ago I started him on a daily dose of liquid Chlorophyll and 2 weeks ago I started him on Vitamin B Complex. We believe the stress of getting sprayed by the skunk put him over the edge and caused his baldness. It will take several months to build up his adrenals, but we have high hopes of his hair growing back.

Aug 14, 2014
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seems harmless NEW
by: Anonymous

My 7 year old Jack Russell sheds her winter coat in the summer, she also gets a black belly at the same time.
She has a pink belly in the winter.
She has no allergies or skin problems so I am sure that it is harmless. The veterinarian checked it out and said that she is very healthy.
My friend also has a jack Russell but wirehaired. Hers does the same thing every summer as well.
She feels that it is natures way of protecting them from the sun. I tend to agree to this as it isn't bothersome to them at all!

Aug 14, 2014
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Jan 15, 2013
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Brown Spots NEW
by: Anonymous

I have a 10 month old JR named, Captain Sully. We call him Sully. Sully was born white with a brown patch over both eyes. There was a very faint brown spot on his back. It seemed over night that discoloration of his hair developed all over his body like freckles. He is healthy and the hair is not shedding or coming out, he just looks like a freckled speckled puppy, brown and white.

As I look through his pictures, it shows how suddenly the hair became spotted.

He is happy, playful, well fed with the best diet, so I didn't worry about it.

Should I?

May 22, 2012
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"It's Age" NEW
by: Anonymous

Hello,
Ok, I have an 8 year old JRT. She has also developed brown spots, (and black). My little daughter whom is 7 screamed out one day: "She's got ticks!". So we took her to the vet, and its age spots developed when dogs get 5 and older.

Mar 21, 2012
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Black spots NEW
by: Joyce

Our Jack Russel is around 8 and every summer she gets the black spots and thinning hair and tends to chew her back. but today I noticed her gums are turning black.
Did anyone find out anything about this?

Jun 02, 2011
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Loss of hair abruptly
by: CMeyer

I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old Jack Russell. We live in South Florida and during the summer our dogs shed a lot. In an effort to combat the shedding in our house, we routinely take them into the back yard and brush them. Today however, we were brushing the 1 year old and her hair started falling out much more than usual. We stopped brushing when we noticed this, but by that point, she had lost most of the undercoat on the left side of her back. She has very thin hair and the skin underneath was red almost to the point of bleeding. We didn't brush her any differently than we usually do, so I am at a loss as to why this happened this time. Can anyone help?

Jun 01, 2011
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Doggie Freckles
by: Anonymous

My Jack Russell has quite a few of these little black pigment marks they have become more pronounced over the last year or so {he is two}. Researching this I found these marks are called 'ticking' and are nothing to be concerned about.

Dec 14, 2010
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spots
by: Jaye

My Jack is 11 and as he ages I see more and more spots, black and brown. My guess is that it is just normal pigmentation of the skin and nothing to worry about. I noticed these spots after his first trip to the groomer. He's a broken coat and when that double coat came off he came out looking like a Dalmation pup. A few toenails have also turned black. Again, I beleive this to be normal just like we develope freckles and moles.

Nov 06, 2010
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Betty's hair
by: Laurie

I just thought I'd let you all know that the grain-free diet has really helped Betty's hair to grow back. It's not totally back, but it is much better than it was 4 months ago.

Nov 03, 2010
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more black spots
by: Anonymous

we found through trial and error:
1 she can't have beef,chicken,grain,gluten and NO HUMAN FOODS.she eats a buffalo and vinicen brand food.
2 a single flea bite DOSE send her into a frenzy, blowing on her skin will too. Advantage everymonth.
3 after being spayed I was told that her uterus was very red and had some infectious swelling.
after all of this and not having any medications she was better but still itching, biting scratching! we dove more into why was her skin is weird ,flakey yet moist looking. we finally came across a possible suspect in an internal yeast infection.
we came across this website :
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yeast_mini_course.htm

we now rotate with a few home remidies that seem to be doing her well.
1. apple cider vinager mixed into her food a single cap ful once a day (she was skeptical at first but eats it like a champ)
2.1/4 cup plain keifer. it's like a treat for her! keifer is a non gelatinous yogurt that contains high amounts of probiotics that help fight the yeast infection in the intestines.
3.goldenseal, this is serious stuff! small amounts with water, never for more than four days in a row, 1-3 times a day.
we've noticed that ALL of her black spots are fading rapidly now. she still must wear a cone at all times as she is still not completly healed. I feel that since she itched for years it will take many more months if not another year before we can truly see the full effects.
she has been losing teeth but it doesn't seem to bother her yet. we plan on giving her high quality soft foods when the time comes.
I Also have a fear that weather/seasonal allergies still may pose threat next sping. I live in the willamatte valley and it means "valley of sickness". laced in a wet sping, pollen coats tree and bush leaves alike and is like a haze of yellow. she may need a more dry weather?
she use to never be playful, when you started to play she would just roll on her back and sratch. now she's playing with my two dogs! she's like a whole new dog and I can't to see if I can help her fully recover.

Nov 03, 2010
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black spots
by: Anonymous

I have an 8 year old jack named paulie.
she's was at one point my mothers dog, but I took her away to help.when she was about three she stared sratching a lot, to the point where she was HALF bald at all times. she had open sores and swollen skin that looked flakey yet moist. *ick* she itched all the time for years non stop gnawing, biting, rubbing. she was amess, my mother did try but never went beyond these possible problems: flea, food and gentics.
she spent thousands of dollars on random and most often fruitless medicens, benadryl shots, flea spray, drops, cones, shampoo, topical otiments(not to add in vet costs). I felt so bad for her, I know I would feel violated being under so much forced medications.
finally I steped in after my mother was going to have her put down after one especially scarring day. My mother and I opened the door of her house to find a rather large bald and bloody wound on the back of her head.by her own doing, some how rolling on a blanket enough to pull a cone off. there was blood (but not much) on the blanket and the wound itself seemed superfical. but horrifying to think that she probably spent a lot of time on this.
she has been with us for six months now and is doing quite a bit better, but we have been more than I ever thought we could. the First few vet visits were to determine what state she was in at the moment I got her and to have her spayed. she got one last benadryl shot, atibiotics and a new food. the vet told me she could have extreem allergies in which the grass and tree pollen could effecft her (it still might), a single flea bite could send her ina bitting frenzy for weeks and allergies to most foods. not to mention the vet told us that she has never seen a dog at her age with such receided gums, warned that she would soon be lossing her teeth.

Jul 29, 2010
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Black & Brown Spots on my Jack Russell Pup
by: Anonymous

Hi

My puppy is a jack russell he is 2months and was born brown and white. He is now getting spots black&brown up through his white coat of hair can anyone explain why this is happening to him??? He is perfectly healthy.

Jul 25, 2010
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Black spots on belly and legs
by: Jaycee's Mom

My JACK RUSSELL is almost 3yrs old only in the last month her belly and legs which have always have been pink not have large black markings I thought i was seeing things but i was glad to here that my family and friends noticed the same thing.

Jun 20, 2010
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Betty Update
by: Laurie

Hi Folks,
I am the original poster of this thread and I just thought I'd update you on my daughter's dog. She seems to have lost more hair recently so my daughter did some research. She saw something about the possibility of an allergy to grain that may contribute to this condition. So she just started Betty on a grain free diet. We'll see what happens. The poor little thing is half naked and we have to be careful of sunburn now that summer is here.

Jun 20, 2010
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Loosing Hair, black spots on skin
by: Sandy

Hi there, my 3 year old Jack Russell also has this thinning hair and black spot "thing"I've been reading here about??? I found it was after her having her first litter, she lost some condition due to nursing her bubs, but never gained back the hair loss?? I'v also been to the vet who says it's no problem as she is perfectly healthy. I however don't like it and want her coat to thicken back up. If anyone finds a solution would love to hear about it.

Jun 20, 2010
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May 23, 2010
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so I'm NOT crazy!!
by: Anonymous

Just got a "4 year old" Russell 10 days ago and starting noticing what I thought was a very peculiar phenomenon. It seemed to me that I was noticing more and more small light black spots e,ering on my jrt's coat.almost look (and I suppose could be!) faint mud splatters,but obviously,that's not what it is based on this thread!

May 04, 2010
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see above
by: jack lover

also have a near 2 year old jack ,and he has gotten brown spts like large freckles on his belly plz can some1 let me know about this i wud really apreciate it thanks dltasco@yahoo.com

Sep 22, 2009
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Black spots
by: Anonymous

My Jack is 3 months old and is covered all over with black spots now. When he was 6 weeks he was completely pink. The vet said they are just like freckles.

Aug 24, 2009
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black spots
by: Anonymous

My Jack just turned 10 this year - he is almost completely white except for a brown patch over his one eye and another small patch on his head. I've noticed that he also seems to be getting more and more black spots too (my kids call them cow patches or cow spots). He seems to be in generally good health as well so I guess it's something that happens as they age and I wouldn't worry too much.

Mar 25, 2009
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Black Spots
by: Anonymous

My Jack Russell is 5 months old and she is starting to get a few black specks on her hind legs. She has been to the Vet multiple times dur to her being a pup and all but he says that it's normal. Almost like freckles!

Jul 24, 2008
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Pigmentation
by: Anonymous

I checked with the vet and was informed that this is a kind of pigmentation. This is a common case among old dogs or dogs of white hair, thin skin.

Jul 22, 2008
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Black Spots
by: mary=harborview

he hair may be thinning due to age. The black spots have probably always been there as it is a very common thing. It's called "ticking" and when the hair is thinning or groomed short you start to see these. I think you are doing all the right things by keeping in contact with your vet and having those tests.

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