The color of a dog's nose is mainly determined by genetic factors, which are the same as human skin and hair. Different breeds of dogs have different noses. Some dogs have black noses, some pink noses, some liver noses, and even colored ones. For example, some nomadic noses have been colored since childhood, especially the ones with meteorite color. So the natural color of the nose is varied. If your dog's nose is pink or liver color, or decor, don't worry about it. It's normal. The main thing that bothers us is "discoloration". Let's talk about it.
Several cases of dog nose discoloration
1. It changes with age
My Wang nose was very black when I was a child. Why did my nose turn red when I grew up? Or my Wang nose was always black, but now I'm old, my nose began to fade and fade.
2. Weather change
My Wang's nose turns red in winter. Is it frozen? Or when the temperature drops, his nose turns red from black. Even some winter sun, eh? Red nose began to turn black, this is why?
3. Accidental random change
There is no special regularity. Sometimes it's red, sometimes it's black, or it turns red after using plastic dog basin. Why is this?
4. Disease situation
Some diseases can cause discoloration of the dog's nose, such as vitiligo, and some skin diseases, but in this case, other parts of the body can also show some symptoms.
The truth comes, why does nose change color?
In view of the above-mentioned cases, the first two discoloration caused by the change of age and temperature are normal discoloration. Why does this kind of discoloration occur?
Truth: tyrosinase
Tyrosinase, a metal oxidase containing copper, is a key enzyme in melanin synthesis. It can control the speed and effect of melanin synthesis. Vitiligo we have heard that the onset of vitiligo is related to tyrosinase antibody.
Now that we know tyrosinase, what does it have to do with nose discoloration?
That's the problem. Why does my nose turn pink in winter and black in summer? Because tyrosinase is very sensitive to temperature, it is afraid of cold! When the temperature drops, its activity decreases, and then it moves lazily, so the production of melanin is affected. So it turns pink. Then, as soon as summer arrives, the weather is hot, it begins to be active, melanin is much, nose is black.
Why do some of the older dogs start to redden their noses?
This is because with the growth of age, some dogs in vivo tyrosinase will be less, the activity will be correspondingly reduced, this will affect the production of melanin, nose will be discolored. This is the normal situation is due to the influence of tyrosinase nose discoloration, this situation is normal, more than age, temperature, and diet factors.
Other abnormal reasons
allergy
Another condition that causes nose discoloration is skin allergy, which is commonly plastic. If you have a black nose, but if you change a plastic dog basin, your nose will turn red. This should pay attention to, it is likely that your Wang is allergic to plastic, so the nose changes color. In this case, it's OK to change the dog basin. Enamel and stainless steel are fine.
Scratch or illness
In some cases, the color of the dog's nose will be damaged in the process of redness, or the skin will be scratched in the process of black. Sometimes sick dogs will also cause the color of the nose, when the dog body recovery, the nose will become the normal color.
Vitiligo
If a dog has vitiligo, the color of the nose will generally turn pink, but it is easier to determine whether it is vitiligo. Because vitiligo general body skin will also become shallow, or white.
Protect the red nose
Although pink nose or other light colored nose is also normal, but compared to the black nose has its bad place, that is UV. Melanin can effectively absorb ultraviolet radiation, reduce the impact of ultraviolet on the body. So pink nose in summer to pay special attention to sun protection, especially when the sun is hot, do not go out to walk the dog, easy to heat stroke, but also easy to sunburn your little pink nose Wang. But you can use sunscreen, what sunscreen is good to use, you can ask the hairy boy his mother!
Seaweed powder black nose
Well, back to the previous question, why do some excrement shovelers feed seaweed powder or other things that claim to have black noses, and then their noses really turn black?
We have to find out the possible reason from tyrosinase. This enzyme has another characteristic, that is, copper, zinc, iron and other metal elements have an important role in promoting the activity of tyrosinase. There are these metal elements in seaweed, so when you feed seaweed, these metal elements in seaweed may promote the activity of tyrosinase, and then promote the production of melanin, and then the nose will be black.
But notice that I use the word "may" because there are also studies that extract substances from seaweed that inhibit tyrosinase, thereby achieving skin whitening in humans.
Therefore, whether the seaweed powder has a black nose or not can not give you a definite answer. It can only give you a possible reason. So if your dog is normal, you don't have to worry about the color of your nose.
