Yellow Skin (Jaundice) in Dogs

There are three main things that are going to cause yellow skin or jaundice in dogs. 

Liver disease 

The first thing is when the dog has liver disease. This is one of the most common things that are going to cause the yellow skin in dogs. It is going to happen when the healthy liver cells inside of a dog are not going to function like it is suppose to. There are four different types of liver disease in dogs. The first type is cancer. The second type is any type of toxic substances or poisons that are found inside of plants. The third type is a viral or bacterial infection. The last type is an auto immune disease. With all of these different types, you are going to need to make sure that you are working with your vet to see what is going on with the dog. This is going to make a big difference in restoring the health of the pup. 

Obstruction 

The second thing is when the dog has an obstruction in their bile duct. Most of the time, this is going to be known as post-hepatic jaundice. This is because the the flow of blood is going to occur after the liver. Once it leaves the liver, then it is going to be the job of the gall bladder to drain the waste out of the body. There are also a few things that are going to cause this obstruction. The first thing is gallbladder disease. The second thing is trauma. The third thing is gall stones or an infection in the gall bladder. The last thing is pancreatic cancer. 

Destruction 

The third thing is a destruction of the person's red blood cells. This is going to be better known as pre-hepatic jaundice. This happens when the red blood cells are going to be broke down a lot faster than the lover is able to metabolize them. This means that the dog is going to have an excess of bilirubin inside of their body. There are a few things that are going to cause this to happen. The first cause is cancer. The second cause is parasites in the blood. The third cause is heartworm disease. The fourth cause is when the dog has hemolytic anemia. This is an autoimmune disease where the body is going to mistakenly try to destroy the red blood cells inside of the body. 

These are the just some of the things that can cause the yellow skin that is known as jaundice in your dog. If your dog is showing any signs that they have the yellow skin, then you are going to need to take them to the vet as soon as possible. The vet is going to ask your about any medications that the dog might be taking and the food that they are going to be eating on a regular basis. This is so that they can do blood tests or x-rays on the dog. This is the best way that they are going to be able to see what is going on with the liver of your dog. There might even be a chance that they will need to do a biopsy on the liver to see if the dog might have cancer or not.