brownish red staining - should i be concerned?

Hi all! hope you and you little ones are well!,
whilst I've been away for 5 weeks i left my 5 month old coco with my boyfriend. She's exactly the same pup as when i left (only a bit bigger and now she plays fetch!!) however i have noticed some browny red staining on her tummy and by her genitals. Should i be concerned about this? i am slightly worried as she is predominantly white with some light brown patches and so the staining looks awful. poor thing.

If anyone can advise on this it would really set my mind at ease.
thanking you all in advance.
sheila

Roxy has the same brownish red staining around that area. I clean her on a regular basis and keep the hair trimmed. Roxy is white and it stands out a mile but I guess thats how it usually is. I was the same as you when I first got mine, worried about everthing. It is a good thing to check and ask the experts!

ah thats good to know, i was just worried as it appeared out of nowhere!

Hi there Sheila and welcome to the forum - you have a lovely puppy there by the way -the white on shih tzu is inclined to stain and can be a number of things... sometimes round the mouth area it can be caused by food, round the eyes it is usually caused by the moisture in that area and often on little girls they get staining on their legs and round their lady's bits () I found that if my girls had a wee on concrete then they were inclinced to get a bit wet in these areas and would therefore stain - and the solution to that was to find them a lawn to wee on (good drainage )

You are right when you say it looks worse on those with a lot of white but you can get whitening shampoos that help keep the area whiter. As long as the area is kept clean and the pup has no irritation there (which would need vet treatment) then it is just trial and error to find which works for you. Try to keep the area as dry as possible and obviously clean.

There might be others on later who have little girls at the moment and have some more suggestions for you

hello, thank you so much for your advice. I briefly read something about brewers yeast and for a moment i panicked. i'm relieved to hear it is a common problem! thank you for your advice.
sheila x

simbalove wrote:Hi there Sheila and welcome to the forum - you have a lovely puppy there by the way -the white on shih tzu is inclined to stain and can be a number of things... sometimes round the mouth area it can be caused by food, round the eyes it is usually caused by the moisture in that area and often on little girls they get staining on their legs and round their lady's bits () I found that if my girls had a wee on concrete then they were inclinced to get a bit wet in these areas and would therefore stain - and the solution to that was to find them a lawn to wee on (good drainage )

You are right when you say it looks worse on those with a lot of white but you can get whitening shampoos that help keep the area whiter. As long as the area is kept clean and the pup has no irritation there (which would need vet treatment) then it is just trial and error to find which works for you. Try to keep the area as dry as possible and obviously clean.

There might be others on later who have little girls at the moment and have some more suggestions for you

Here is an interesing link about tear staining, but, never use peroxide or bleach on your furbaby.
http://www.bhejei.com/tearsta.htm

My Bichon mix, Mandy has the staining you are speaking of. My vet claims this to be a cosmetic issue only and no anti biotics are needed nor should be used. However, on the other side of the table, some say this is a yeast infection that should be treated with the antibiotic, Tylan and only used for a round of 10 days. Therefore, not compromising the immune system.
Just some thoughts....