Thin fur around nose an mouth - malnutrition?

In the last month or two I've noticed that Killian's fur in front of his nose has been getting thinner and now there's a little pink showing up under his nose as well. I've had him on Eagle Pack Holistic kibble and occasionally mix it with Wellness 95% canned foods and even more recently started giving him at least one meal every other day of the Nature's Variety frozen raw. Is this just something that happens as they grow up? He's only 8 months in a few weeks so maybe the fur just needs time to catch up with his new grown up dog body? Do dogs just have naturally thinner hair in that area? It's not like he doesn't have any... it's just sparse enough where his pink skin shows through...

Who knows.. Killian is my first dog that I've raised in my adult life - maybe I'm just being paranoid? Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on December 2, 2009 at 4:22pm

Can you post a photo?

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Permalink Reply by Beth on December 2, 2009 at 4:33pm

My Maddie has very soft fur and around her muzzle she has an area or two where a bit of pink shows through, so it's not necessarily a problem but I agree with Bev: a photo could help. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Alice on December 2, 2009 at 4:44pm

I too would like to see a photo but the hair on the snout and muzzle is usually more sparse. It became more noticeable on Finnigan too as he got older. When he was very little his snout was all an even white and now you see quite a bit of pink under his nose and on his chin as well as the skin on the bridge of his nose being more visible. Of course in his case, he developed some black spots on the bridge as he got older so I think that contributed to it being more noticeable.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on December 2, 2009 at 4:55pm

Well it's not the best photo of it, but maybe this one from my uploaded photos might help? Its a bit far away, but the pink is still noticeable:

http://www.mycorgi.com/photo/6-months-means-a-small?context=user

I'll try and get a pic posted closer up later today.

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Permalink Reply by Alice on December 2, 2009 at 5:08pm

I can see the pink on the bridge of the nose that you mentioned. It looks totally normal to me.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on December 2, 2009 at 5:24pm

Thanks Alice. No idea how much better I feel :D I'll still try to get closer shots put up just to be safe. Can never be too careful. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Alice on December 2, 2009 at 5:29pm

How is the skin? Any irritation, flaking etc? If there are signs of a skin condition you should contact your vet but from what I can see it looks fine. Maybe the others will have more to offer.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on December 2, 2009 at 5:37pm

Yep, it looks normal. I put sun screen on their noses in the summer when we are going to be out in the sun for a long time.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on December 2, 2009 at 6:25pm

Looks normal to me also! As long as it's pink and doesn't look irritated

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on December 2, 2009 at 6:54pm

Dax's nose looks exactly the same. I actually asked the vet about it when I took him in for a checkup. She said as long as the skin doesn't look irritated, don't worry about it. :)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on December 2, 2009 at 7:24pm

Both of mine look exactly the same as that. Remember to put sunscreen on the pink part if you're going out for a long time and the sun is harsh. I've had a few nose-sunburn issues at the beach. It was no fun.