Someone posted:
> Interestingly, she is still black - no grey.  I've talked w/
> other owners who feed their dogs raw and they have said that
> their dogs who were turning grey actually reverted to their
> dark color after going raw.

Susan replied:
>>I think there are genetics involved as well in regard to graying of dogs. <<

Gee whiz, this list in on a roll, TWO topics I have a little experience in!  First chickens, then dogs!

I have fed my dogs a raw, biologically appropriate diet for a bit over six years now, and am hoping for my third raw-fed generation to be born some time this year.  (Ever notice that if you actually WANT a girl to come in heat, she decides to put it off indefinitely??!!)

I have seen some lines in many different breeds of dogs that went grey very young, and when many of the close relatives do the same, despite normal variations in diet and environment, the grey is likely to be hereditary (early greying on the head in humans is hereditary also).  This type of greying is unlikely to be affected by diet.

I have seen dogs with chronic low-grade health problems who went grey early from the stress of not being quite healthy.  These dogs CAN get at least some of their original muzzle color back if their health is improved.  However, overall evidence of health (fresh breath, clean teeth, shiny eyes, wet nose, energy, healthy coat and pads of the feet, well-colored pink gums) add up to a clearer picture of health than the presence or absence of grey on the muzzle.

If a dog has BOTH causes of early greying and is switched to a species-appropriate diet, you should see SOME improvement of muzzle color due to improved health.

My mastiff sibs (brother Lumpy -- short for The Heffalump, and his litter sister Stella) were six in February.  Six is old for a mastiff these days, but I am hoping for them to make it to ten or eleven in good health.  Stella has no grey so far (she would rather put it on MY head!  There are moments when she is VERY like her mother.)

Lumpy has a very low-grade form of Cystinuria, a hereditary kidney problem.  He has never had any symptoms (symptomatic dogs develop severe urinary stones and have trouble processing protein), and he was weaned onto raw food.  However, he had a terrible year from age 4 to age 5 in the hands of a co-owner who must have been mentally ill, because he starved this sweet gentle dog to an incredible degree (most mammals die of starvation long before losing as high a percentage of body mass as Lumpy did, I feel the raw diet helped him hang on).

A year and a half after being recovered from this person, and being fed good stuff like goat and lamb tripe and pureed fresh veggies, Lumpy has a little grey starting in his muzzle, a faint dusting so far. Six to seven is the typical age for my line to start to go grey.

In my breed, I can name lines that tend to go grey early, I have a friend whose mastiff pup started to go grey at FOURTEEN MONTHS.  As soon as I saw her pedigree, I knew why.

So, there are multiple reasons a dog might go grey.  A species-appropriate raw diet is wonderfully flexible, can be bought less expensively than premium kibble, and if the greying of the dog is due to stress from chronic health problems made worse by kibble, then the raw diet will indeed help reverse SOME of the grey.

Hope this helps.

laurie (Mother Mastiff)