My dog is on a diet. Could his crusty face scabs be zinc deficiency?

Question

Hi, a couple months ago I visited the vet and he suggested to me, to gety dog to lose 10 lbs, we put him on a diet, where he was eating 1 1/2 cups of food per day, as opposed to the 2 1/2 we were feeding him. Around this time he started to get lesions and crusty scabs on his face, the current vet we're seeing doesn't know what it is and is just giving us random antibiotics. I was thinking it might be zinc deficiency, could us putting him on a diet be a cause of this? Pet's info: Dog | Siberian Husky | Male | neutered | 7 years and 2 months old | 80 lbs

Cara, DVM, cVMA · Accepted Answer

A lot of things can cause skin lesions on the face, from allergies to mange, so it's difficult to necessarily pin it on the diet. Zinc deficiency is very uncommon, but is genetic in huskies. It's not the diet that causes it, but rather a problem in how they metabolize zinc. It usually appears in young dogs (1-3 years old). The only way to diagnose it is via biopsy, which is a test your vet can do. If Tonka was doing well on the same diet previously and the only thing that has changed is the amount he's getting I would be surprised that it would cause this, especially if it's a balanced diet. Please do not supplement zinc without talking to your veterinarian, as zinc toxicity can be very dangerous.

My dog is on a diet. Could his crusty face scabs be zinc deficiency?

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