{"id":8440,"date":"2020-08-10T09:11:09","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T14:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/?p=8440"},"modified":"2020-08-10T09:11:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T14:11:09","slug":"why-does-my-dog-have-black-spots-on-its-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/why-does-my-dog-have-black-spots-on-its-tongue\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does My Dog Have Black Spots on its Tongue?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you take a look, you might notice that your canine companion has black spots on their tongue. Not every dog has a tongue like this, but there are many breeds that do. Why do some dogs have black spots on their tongues while others don&#8217;t? Is it something you should be concerned about as a pet parent? Let&#8217;s find out!<\/p>\n<h3>Misconceptions About Black Spots on a Dog&#8217;s Tongue<\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever seen or met a <a href=\"https:\/\/dogtime.com\/dog-breeds\/chow-chow#\/slide\/1\">Chow Chow<\/a>, you may have noticed their prominent blue\/black tongue. Besides their lion-like mane, it&#8217;s one of their most distinguishing traits. Because of this, many people believe that if a mixed dog breed has any sort of black or blue coloring on their tongue, it&#8217;s because they have Chow in them. Another common belief is that if you see a purebred with spots on their tongue, it means they&#8217;re not actually a purebred at all.<\/p>\n<p>However, neither of these statements is accurate, and a spotted tongue isn&#8217;t a scientific or reliable way to discover a dog&#8217;s ancestry.<\/p>\n<h3>Melanin Could Be the Cause<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vcahospitals.com\/know-your-pet\/genetics-basics-coat-color-genetics-in-dogs#:~:text=Melanocytes%20are%20the%20cells%20within,rest%20of%20the%20hair%20shaft.\">Melanin<\/a> is a substance that determines skin and hair color as we as the color of one&#8217;s eyes. If a person has extra pigmentation in their skin cells, it can show up as birthmarks or freckles. When it comes to our canine companions, these &#8220;freckles&#8221; caused by melanin can show up on their skin as well as their tongue. So if a pup has black spots on their tongue, it could be due to extra pigmentation.<\/p>\n<p>Dog breeds that have darker lips or noses may also have dark pigmentation spots on their gums and tongue. These &#8220;freckles&#8221; will typically be visible upon the canine&#8217;s birth or develop when the pup is very young.<\/p>\n<h3>When The Color of Your Dog&#8217;s Tongue Should Raise Concern<\/h3>\n<p>Even though black spots on your furry friend&#8217;s tongue can be completely safe and normal &#8211; it might also be a sign that a medical issue is at hand. Healthy spots will have the same texture as the rest of your canine&#8217;s tongue, and pretty much stay the same size and shape their whole life. If you discover spots that aren&#8217;t blue\/black, are raised, have a foul odor, or are a different texture than that of the dog&#8217;s tongue &#8211; then there might be a problem. Additionally, dark spots that suddenly appear on your pup&#8217;s tongue, mouth, gums, or skin can also be indications of health issues. If you find anything like this on your furry friend, you should call their vet to get it properly checked out.<\/p>\n<p>Black spots on your pooch&#8217;s tongue can be a completely normal trait that appears on all dog breeds, purebred and mixed alike. When these spots have been present since birth, they usually are nothing to cause concern. It&#8217;s typically only when these types of spots show up out of nowhere is when you should call Fido&#8217;s vet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you take a look, you might notice that your canine companion has black spots on their tongue. Not every dog has a tongue like this, but there are many breeds that do. Why do some dogs have black spots on their tongues while others don&#8217;t? Is it something you should be concerned about as&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/why-does-my-dog-have-black-spots-on-its-tongue\/\"><b>Read More <i class=\"fas fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":8443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-safety"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/san-antonio-dog-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}