Question about Kai black spots on tongue

edited April 2010 in Kai Ken (甲斐犬)
Koda got his black spots on his tongue fairly early, at around 4 months old they had been totally formed.

Maymay came to me last month with two large ones on the sides of her tongue almost on the bottom. She is blowing coat like a mad woman, and I was furminating her this morning when low and behold I noticed two spots (light) forming on her tongue on top. They are faint like when Koda's started coming in. She definitely never had them before. She's always up in my face with her tongue out and I had searched her mouth when she first got here.

My question is, how old are they before they usually get their spots, and is it common for a 1 1/2 year old Kai to just start getting theirs?

I know that the spots are birthmarks, but I'm also wondering if there is something (i.e. nutritional wise) that makes them form.

Thanks!

Comments

  • edited November -1
    Sage's tongue is still getting purpler and he's four. As far as I know he has not been at the grape popsicles. I think they can keep spotting over time slowly.
  • edited November -1
    Sage has a purple tongue? Koda's is black black spots.

    Here's a pic. They go all the way up in this same formation.
    DSC_9385
  • edited November -1
    Its the dreaded Black-Spot Tongue Plague! And its spreading!!!

    I honestly paid no attention to the changing of Kona's spotted tongue. Sorry. I'll keep my eye on the other Kai we have and let you know how it progresses with age (if ti does at all).

    Mochi and Tai have no spots, so I'll keep track of them.

    ----
  • edited November -1
    It's dark spots, but there are more of them , or they are getting bigger. The pink parts of his tongue are getting smaller. In fact it is weird to me when Reilly opens her mouth and her tongue is ONLY pink. I dont know if I have a good recent photo of his tongue...

    He's got more spots than this now. this was a year or two ago.

    smile

  • edited November -1
    lol. You mean the "oh your dog must be part Chow" black spotted tongue syndrome?

    It's just wierd to me that Maymay is a year and a half and now just getting them on top. I guess I was wondering if diet can create black spots. I don't know like calcium deposits on the tongue or something. ha ha ha. Or maybe a healthy diet creates them? I know that sounds goofy and odd.
  • edited November -1
    Chrystal you and I were posting at the same time...great minds think alike. ;)

    Sage's spots are like Koda's just in a different formation. Maybe Koda's the wierd one and got them early.
  • aykayk
    edited November -1
    We had a senior dog in rescue whose tongue wasn't spotted in the shelter but then it became more noticable after he was in foster care.

    Best guess from me is that the spots became more noticable when the weather got warmer, he started panting more, and more blood went to the tongue. It was easier to pick out black against a redder tongue rather than a pasty pink tongue.
  • edited April 2010
    Out of focus, but this was a day or two ago- you can see the front half of his tongue has less pink, more dark spot action:
    Photobucket



    he's even spotted on the underside

    Photobucket

  • edited November -1
    That last pic is my favorite of all times!
  • edited November -1
    I need to post my Sage and Raye photos. I have several good ones. They are amazingly cute together. I'll need a new thread for that.
  • edited November -1
  • edited November -1
    For what it's worth, when we found Josephine our best guess (and that of the vets) was that she was 10-12 weeks old. At that time she had 2-3 black almost perfectly round, kind of smallish spots on her tongue. And yes, we heard there were only one or two breeds with spots on the tongue. Then comes the report from the brother-in-law vet that many dogs have the black spots or regions on their tongues, including his pure-bred golden retriever... So there, all you Chow predictors...

    Now Josephine is over 3 years old, and she has much more extensive black areas on her tongue. It seems the black spots (now more like splotches) on her tongue just grew as her tongue grew... The better to lick you, my dear!

    Although I really don't know, I doubt the blackness has anything to do with diet. In the Kai its perhaps like the brindling... continues to come out/be more pronounced through the early years. I have read the brindle increases/becomes more extensive through about year five. That's a new way to think of it... a brindled tongue! LOL...
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