Bruising coloration

Question
QUESTION: Hi...I have a 5 yr old male Toy Poodle.  He is a light apricot color.  His Mother is a dark apricot & his father is white.  My poodle has some bruising coloration around the top area of his neck area & his skin has seems to have darkened as of late.  I'm really concerned as I cannot take him to a vet because of money & transportation.  He seems to be running around ok, just not eating very well.

ANSWER: Hello Jodie,
I can't confirm this notion without a good picture to see, but the best thing I can come up with is that since your Poodle's father is white, this could be causing the skin to start turning darker.  White Poodles (Pure white Poodles from all white lines) have dark skin under the white hair.  It is to help stop them from sunburning when out in the sun.  This is probably also what is causing the bruising color, but that could also be caused by a collar if you keep one on your dog.  

If you want to send me a picture, you can either put it as a Follow-up question or you can e-mail it to me at MsTopkdog@yahoo.com

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions for me about this or other Poodle questions in general, please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


Bruising   QUESTION: This is the best photo I could get.  I know that it may not look like much, but if you look at it in the right light, it looks purple.  Only on his collar line is it a lighter skin color.

Answer
Hello again.  It sort of looks like it could be a bruise, but not for certain.  You might gently feel around the area and see how your dog reacts.  If he doesn't seem to be bothered by the area, I would just watch it to see if it changes color.  If it begins to lighten or yellow, then there was bruising.  If it doesn't change color or gets darker, then it could be from exposure to the sun.  That would explain why the lighter skin color is under the collar.  

It could also be from him scratching around his neck, but there might also be damage to the skin from his nails, so a bruise from scratching may be possible, but probably isn't probable.  

Again, I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions for me about this, or other Poodle questions in general, please feel free to ask.

Thanks again for using AllExperts.com,
Kim