Hi, I have a question.
Valentine is 10 weeks post-amputation for osteosarcoma in her front right leg. She is doing fantastic. We have had to interrupt her chemo treatments after 1 round of carboplatin because of the dog flu epidemic here in Chicago.
Her scar has healed very well. She still licks at it from time to time. And her fur is growing back nicely.
But she has developed some skin splotching around the surgery and scar area. I have included a couple of photos.
We probably cannot take her in to see her surgeon at this point because we are avoiding taking her anywhere where she might be exposed to the flu.
Any experience or thoughts about this would be appreciated.
Thank you for any comments you can share about this.
Thank you for your comments and thoughts.
That looks like hyperpigmentation, which could be due to the licking. Two of my dogs have this because they are both constantly fighting yeast infections on their skin. They lick and bite at the affected areas and the skin darkens like you show in the photos. When their skin conditions clear up then the hyperpigmentation goes away. We give one of our dogs regular medicated baths because he has systemic yeast and staph infections :(.
In Valentine’s case it may just be due to the licking but you will want to verify that with your vet. Do you ever see any yellow crusty spots in that area? That would be indicative of yeast. Maybe you can send these photos to your vet and see what they recommend.
Glad everything else is going well!
xoxo
Ellie had something similar. Her pink belly turned all black pigmented near the scar. She never licked the area, it was never crusty or wet. The skin just turned blotchy black along the incision. The oncologist said she often sees it but has no explanation for it. The hair has grown back now, so I’m not sure whether the area has stayed black or not.
Hmm. Well that looks like our Wyatt’s belly and leg area but he’s a german sheherd and he’s always been like that. I would think it’s nothing to worry about but when you can, just ask your vet if you can email the pics to be sure. I like Ellie’s mom’s explanation.