# Black Nail Beds



## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Are clearing up! i'm so stoked! he's had this problem since he was a baby, and between raw feeding, and ACV in the bloody water of his meals in the AM it's clearing up!!! another health success story from a Biologically appropriate diet.:heh:

Pics, you can clearly see the Black yeasty nastiness of the nail beginning to grow out in almost a ring.. eventually it will be gone.

*EDITED: PROBLEM IS STILL PERSISTING*


Reviving this old thread!! August 13th 2011.

so.. after the last 2 months i'm finally starting to figure out what may be the problem (Thanks in a big way to Robin(whiteleo)!! I thought i would update everybody on this as it seems that the more dog people i know the more frequently i hear about this.

The problem with his feet is a possible secondary bacterial infection caused by... a zinc deficiency. Now.. he gets zinc from his food yes. he gets around 25-50mg per day BUT!!! from what i've learned is that it is not all usable and many dogs only access about 20-40% of that. This is especially common with nordic breeds which i have gotten much information about this from owners of Nordic breeds!

Here is my problem with this. We have to order it.

https://howlingdogalaska.com/index.php?page=zincgluco
This website is saying 200mg max which would be 4X the normal dose, otherwise you risk a copper deficiency in it's place.

Here is the information i could find about the AAFCO dosing.

Growing puppies-120 minimum, and 1000 maximum
Adult dogs-120 minimum, and 1000 maximum 

My vet which I haven't known for long, but they took about 30 minutes to figure out the dosage while we were at the clinic Came up with 500mg per day for 30 days and we would see how it was going after 30 days (trial by fire basically) which was fine as any treatment is better than no treatment.

1. Zinc responsive dermatosis	Three types: I in Huskies and Malamutes; II in rapidly growing puppies of large breeds; III in English Bull Terriers	
2. Crusting and scaling, redness, hair loss, sometimes oily skin, secondary bacterial infections common	
3. Correct any dietary deficiency, medicated shampoos, treatsecondary infections

These are the "tell tale" symptoms of a zinc deficiency, I'd just like some input from you guys if you think that maybe 500mg is too much according to one place, but in the middle according to the AAFCO. I've made a few phone calls into other vets, even a holistic vet about 6 hours from me, i'm just waiting to hear back from them.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Good for Tobi! I posted about this awhile ago but didn't have pictures of Leo's nails, he has some nails that have turned dark in color and I wouldn't say they are from yeast. They don't have a ring around it like Tobi's does but they are a solid dark color where they use to be white.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

it could very well be the same thing, i've began adding acv every day to his bloody meat he has started cleaning it up better... do you already to an acv regimen? or can you get pictures Tobi's nails used to be almost completely that color that the ring is... i could scrape it off with a sharp knife.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Did all his nails change color or just a few? Leo only had a couple that changed color. I don't use ACV but will look into it, the only time Leo had yeast was when he got a salmon oil pill that had soy in it and his ears got all gunky.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

just some... not all, and sometimes it was splotchy, like the back isn't really affected MUCH, but the front is mostly the middle 2 nails the side ones aren't as bad, i'm looking for some pics before it started to grow off though so you can see what i mean, but it was black nailbeds and brown kind of proceding from the nail bed down the nail in places. Can you scrape it off?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I haven't tried but he's had several baths since it all started. I imagine I'd have to really scrape hard to get some to come off and I don't want to hurt his nail coating.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I chew my nails so i had to use something to scrape it :lol: but my gf used her to scrape it off it's pretty soft if it is the same thing, pics incoming  this is pre ACV treatment and probably 2-3 weeks into raw.
The inside of his toes was pretty raw at that point which is what we were trying to combat (yeast) but the vet was thinking it could have been some kind of yeast she never raely diagnosed it she was perplexed


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Tobi's pads definitely looked yeasty, I'm glad the ACV worked. I'll give it a try and see what it will do.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> Tobi's pads definitely looked yeasty, I'm glad the ACV worked. I'll give it a try and see what it will do.


Ya deffinately get some pictures too I'd like to see if it works for Leo like it did for my lil guy, Braggs is probably the worst smelling/tasting thing i think i have ever fed, or drank myself :lol:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I have some of that in my cupboard!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I had the roughest time getting him used to eating it. i had to start off by using ground beef and i would mix in a teaspoon of it and give it like a treat then i mixed it with blood etc now he drinks it up for the most part uke:


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

I love Bragg's ACV!! Before I started Aspen on this, he always had red staining on one of his inner back legs. 2 weeks into the ACV and it started to fade!! I give him Nutiva coconut oil too so that might have helped as well!! I will keep using both because I totally see that it does work!! 
eace:


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Bumped for an updated original post.


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