06/10/2026
Is Your Pet’s Diet Really Balanced? Their Skin and Coat Might Be Telling You So.
The skin and coat are often the first signs of a nutritional imbalance and it’s not just homemade diets at fault (majority of homemade diets are unbalanced). Many commercial foods (even those labeled “complete and balanced”) can still fall short.
A large part of the work I do is helping owners move their pets off of these unbalanced diets and transitioning them to plans that are fully balanced according to both NRC and AAFCO standards.
👀 Deficiency signs to watch for:
Protein: Scaling, patchy hair loss, brittle/thin hair, loss of coat colour, delayed wound healing
Essential Fatty Acids: Greasy skin, mild scaling, dull coat
Zinc: Crusting and scaling around pressure points and mucocutaneous areas
Copper: Hair depigmentation, rough or dull coat
Vitamin A: Dry, flaky skin with follicular buildup
Vitamin E (in cats): Firm, painful fatty lumps (steatitis)
Vitamin B Complex: Dry coat, scaling, cheilosis from riboflavin deficiency
Just because a product is labeled “dinner,” “meal,” or “complete and balanced” doesn’t mean it’s truly supporting your pet’s health.
Fascetti, Andrea J.; Delaney, Sean J.. Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition (p. 417). (Function). Kindle Edition.
