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What causes dry, scabby skin on my 3-week-old puppy's tail and paw?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | 15 days old

I have a puppy shes 3weeks old her tail and one of her back paws looks funny dry like scabby almost not sure what it is

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lauren Barry, BVSc, MRCVS, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 24th, 2017

She may have a type of skin mite called Demodex which causes hair loss and scabbing and is common in young pups as their immune system is still developing. Your vet will be able to examine her and may recommend a test called a skin scrape to determine if it is this mite, or is another cause of the lesion.

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    Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on September 9th, 2018

    This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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