I've seen dogs fed PMR with the brown stains around the mouth. I do think it has something to do with saliva, and some dogs seem more predisposed to it than others, regardless of diet.

 

so far all the photos i've seen of dogs on PMR showed very little, or no staining of beard at all.

my dogs were on kibbles & commercial barf last time & both their beards started to stain very badly. but their beard area started to clean up miraculously after the conversion.

 

We have friends with westies and schnauzers - their dogs were very brown in the muzzle on regular kibble but cleared considerably when put on a grain free diet - still kibble but grain free. 5 dogs have changed this way in the last year, interesting, maybe its a mild allergic reaction to the grain?

 

It has to do with both saliva and diet because a dogs who body physiology is influenced by their diet. In my experience I have seen dogs switched to a PMR diet from kibble and have tear and mouth stains completely go away.

But I've also seen tear staining on PMR dogs come back (one case with two bichon mixes who are related-mother and daughter). Initially their staining went away in the first six months post switch. Then the staining returned and hasn't gone away in over a year. Their diet consists mostly of chicken and fish, occasionally organs. While I know some dogs are more predisposed to staining than others, I think diet still plays a big role.

I initially thought that staining was due to grains or other inappropriate food items in a dogs diet but now I think it has more to do with how regular a dogs diet is. Are they eating the same things day in and day out? How much variety are they getting? BARF style raw diets are typically more consistent from day to day if not the same thing every day (same with kibble dogs) compared to a prey model diet. Like too much consistency of the same food sources causes a slight intolerance to them that shows up in the form of saliva and tear staining.

This is all speculation of course :wink:

I'm curious what these BARF fed dogs meal plans are like?

 

Mollie is a little OCD. If she gets a mozzie or ant bite and I don't watch her like a hawk, she'll lick and bite it obsessively until the hair falls out and it turns into a big sore. I've noticed that when she is at the licking stage, the hair turns a reddish brown and the more she licks it, the darker it gets. So I tend to think it is something in their saliva.

 

typically a BARF diet models after recipes by Dr Billinghurst or Pitcairn which consists of alot of things: mainly muscle meats, organs, bones, vegetables, fruits & supplements (healthy powder which consists of yeast, lecithin, kelp & egg shell powder. other supps added can include a fixed dosage of multi-vitamins & fish oil.)

yes, confusing & loads of work.

not sure if it's the massive amount of stuff that goes into a BARF diet that causes the staining. staining aside, the health of the dogs is all good.

 

A person well recognized in the Havanese breed said our dogs red beard is from the high mineral content of Honest Kitchens Zeal which is dehydrated fish. We are staying on it however since her inflamed bowl disease is in check and her weight is back down to normal.

 

Not sure about raw or barft, but in some websites they say sometimes the sugar or the coloring (even if is natural) from some vegetables and fruits can have a big influence

My toy poodle Pompadour was in proplan small breed puppy for a short time, he got severe brownish red tear stains wit a greasy fell, they cleared out when I used angel eyes and took away the proplan

I have tried some grain free and grain included foods and they haven't showed up again

Now sometimes he gets a tiny bit, but mush less sticky, they are colorless and not were near in quantity like wit the proplan.