Amundson, Laura A.Millican, Allison A.Swensson, ErikMcGilliard, Michael L.Tomlinson, Dana2025-03-132025-03-132025-02-26Amundson, L.A.; Millican, A.A.; Swensson, E.; McGilliard, M.L.; Tomlinson, D. Effect of Supplemental Trace Mineral Source on Haircoat and Activity Levels in Senior Dogs. Animals 2025, 15, 686.https://hdl.handle.net/10919/124854Trace minerals (TMs) are pivotal for animal wellbeing and appearance. This study evaluated the effects of TM (Zn, Mn, Cu, and Fe) sources on senior dogs&rsquo; haircoat and activity. Dogs (mean age 9.16 yr) were fed a control diet (inorganic TM) for 14 d before being assigned to one of three treatments for 3 mo. Treatments included inorganic (Control; <i>n</i> = 10), amino acid-complexed (TMC; <i>n</i> = 17; ZINPRO^&reg; ZnMet + Zinpro^&reg; Availa^&reg; Mins) or lysine and glutamic acid-complexed (TMC-LG; <i>n</i> = 16; Zinpro^&reg; ProPath^&reg;) supplemental TM. Treatments were formulated to provide standard (Control&mdash;100 ppm Zn, 5 ppm Mn, 12 ppm Cu, 45 ppm Fe) or product-recommended (TMC and TMC-LG&mdash;100 ppm Zn, 25 ppm Mn, 7 ppm Cu, 45 ppm Fe) TM levels (DM basis). Hair length, regrowth, and shedding were measured along with activity. Dogs fed TMC (26.43 mm; 11.64 mm/mo) and TMC-LG (27.87 mm; 12.6 mm/mo) had significantly (<i>p</i> &le; 0.05) longer hair that grew faster compared to the Control (18.93 mm; 9.14 mm/mo). At 3 mo TMC-LG-fed dogs had 0.38 g less shed hair, and TMC-fed dogs had 0.87 h more active time/d compared to the Control (<i>p</i> &le; 0.05). Dogs fed TMC and TMC-LG had superior haircoat characteristics and activity compared to the Control.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalArticle - Refereed2025-03-12https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15050686