Golden Retreiver with belly skin gradually turning grey/black

[GCM]

Hello.

I have a Golden Rereiver, Male 5.5 years of age. He has always has flaky skin. like dandruff sometime the flakes are large, and some are small.

We have recently (4-5 months ago) moved from Seattle to south eastern Quebec. His skin condition has seems to have worsened, it has subdued a little in Seattle (less flakiness) and now he is very very flaky again.

In the past we have tried skin biopsies, changes of food, anti-histamines, etc. In Seattle a vet had recommended he go on Hills W/D (he weighed 96lbs) and over 1.5 years he has lost weight and is now about 60 lbs. He has maintained this weight for almost 2 years now and is still on the same food. While being on this food his fur went from dull and dry to become glossy and healthy.

However as mentioned above, the last few months his skin has become more flaky and his belly skin is turning dark grey. His skin has never been a healthy pink (usually a light greyish pink), but this dark grey skin is weird.

ANy ideas??

He is very itchy too. We have lived in 2 different temporary houses, the first was all wood and ceramic floors and this one now is carpet and linoleum, we have been here for almost 6 weeks now. I use the same cleaning products I used iN Seattle. We are however in the country now...

Thanks

Georgina

[lilith_rizel]

I have no idea what it could be, I would call a vet clinic and ask if they have ever seen anything like it. It couldn't hurt, and a phone call doesn't cost anything if it is a local number. Has he been acting like himself?

[Writing4Fun]

This is a real shot in the dark, but I know that the electric baseboard heating in Quebec houses makes the environment really, really dry. Could this make an existing dry skin condition worse??

[goldenblaze]

Have you or your vet thought of mange? My Golden Blaze has mange and he is itchy, dry, dark skin. Do you think it slacks off at all anytime in the month the itch I mean? Is the skin on his belly the only skin that is black. Mange will live on the animal and can be something that is very hard to control. Mites are hard to find when the Vet does the skin scraps sometimes nothing shows up. Blaze had 8 done and only found 1 mites. Just a thought would never mean to worry you but maybe you can have your Vet look at that. Good Luck lets us know what you find.