The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Emma is mostly white, which has been a new challenge for me - especially since she isn't a prissy little dog. She has stains around her mouth and I think it's from food. Even though I wipe her mouth, and I clip the hair there pretty close, she still stains. Any solution to keeping that area cleaner and whiter? I thought those of you who groom might have some suggestions.

Tina,

Does she drool a lot? Sometimes that can cause staining.

Is there any odor from the area?

I have two suggestions that may help. My Hannah has the white mouth. I put an additive in their water to fight tartar that is tasteless and odorless and this may help especially when they drool. I also wipe their mouths with mouthwash once a week to 1) keep the folds clean from bacteria and 2) to avoid that color staining you are talking about.

Think dye in the food is usually the culprit I just use a baby wipe.

What kind of food is she on? I have found that if Izzy doesn't have grain free food she stains like crazy. Once she is on grain free she has a beautiful white face to kiss

She's eating Acana Pacifica - grain free. You know, I never thought about the food coloring in the food! Duh. That might just be the culprit. There's no odor and she doesn't really have deep folds, but the color actually reminds me of yeast. I'm going to look at the bag and see if it has "Red No. (whatever)" as a colorant. Thanks for giving me some tips!

I can't imagine any good quality food having dye in it

Abby gets read around the mouth...looks like she drank the Kool-aid

Debbie, what do you feed your girls? I just changed to Nature's Variety Instinct Raw so we shall see if it does have any bearing on the mouth "stains".

I'd use whatever you use on the ears. Wipe it on with a q-tip.
Snow White is the only one of my dogs who has an issue with this. But it comes and goes with slightly yeasty ears too. A little more use of the K-9 Liquid health clears up both issues.

Deborah, I feed various kibble and no matter what Abby gets red. I'm thinking yeast since she is an itchy little girl

I have a Cocker girl with very bad allergies. Her feet itch and she is constantly licking them. The fur on her feet are a reddish brown color which I understand to be from saliva which is reddish. That may be the cause of staining around the mouth. As for my buff Cocker she wears these cute little brown "shoes".

I also foster Cockers until adopted. Several have had staining on the side of the mouth which I attributed to saliva where the teeth or jaws don't fit well and saliva leaks out