Manganese is a mineral your dog's body requires in minimal quantities. It aids in the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and proteins. Manganese can also promote over 300 enzyme processes, including converting fatty acids and energy from your dog's food.

Other critical roles of manganese are contributing to your dog's skeletal structure,  keeping his kidneys and liver in good working order, and developing and maintaining strong and healthy ligaments.

Manganese also benefits your dog's brain health by preventing oxidation, which releases free radicals that harm your dog's body and brain's cells, proteins, and DNA. 

Although dogs require it in relatively small amounts, manganese is critical in many physiological processes throughout the body.

Manganese is crucial for bone development and maintenance. It contributes to forming healthy bone tissue, regulating bone density, and overall skeletal health. It is also essential for the health of your dog's ligaments. 

Manganese synthesizes mucopolysaccharides necessary for maintaining healthy connective tissues, cartilage, and joint health. Many dogs that experience cranial cruciate ligament tears, similar to the ACL tears in people, have a manganese deficiency.

Many enzymes involved in the metabolic pathways, including the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fat to produce energy, require manganese. Your dog needs manganese to produce manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), an antioxidant enzyme that helps protect cells from oxidative stress by neutralizing harmful free radicals. 

Other crucial functions of manganese include developing and maintaining the reproductive organs, maintaining the digestive tract tissues, maintaining the neurological system, and supporting wound healing through collagen synthesis.

Manganese requirements are influenced by age, activity level, and overall health of your dog. During the growth phase, puppies have increased manganese requirements to support the development of their bones, cartilage, and other tissues. 

The NRC recommends a minimum of around 1.2 mg of manganese per kg of body weight per day for adult dogs. Puppies, pregnant dogs, and lactating dogs have higher manganese requirements due to the demands of growth and reproduction, approximately 2.0 to 3.5 mg of manganese per kg of body weight per day.

Other factors that play into your dog's manganese requirements include overall health, medical conditions, prescription medications, and nutrient interactions. Dogs with gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), pancreatitis, or chronic diarrhea, have impaired nutrient absorption, including minerals. These conditions can affect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, reducing its ability to absorb minerals properly.

Dietary factors can influence mineral absorption. High levels of dietary iron can compete with manganese for absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, creating a manganese deficiency in your dog. Calcium can also compete with manganese for absorption and vice versa if the intake is too high for either mineral. 

Commercial dog food often includes whole grains, legumes, and nuts that contain phytates. Phytates bind to certain minerals, including manganese, forming phytate-mineral complexes. When attached to phytates, the bioavailability of manganese is reduced because they are less readily absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract.

The same problem can occur if your dog eats too many foods with oxalates because they bind with manganese, reducing its bioavailability. Oxalates are found in spinach, rhubarb, and beets.

Although manganese deficiency is rare, a prolonged deficiency can cause severe health problems. 

Because manganese plays a role in bone development and maintenance, deficiencies can lead to skeletal abnormalities, such as weakened bones and growth abnormalities, particularly in growing puppies. 

Joints are also affected as the ligaments rely on manganese for proper development. A manganese deficiency can exacerbate joint diseases like hip dysplasia and osteoarthritis. If there is a manganese deficiency, the cranial cruciate ligaments of your dog's knees are prone to tears.

If manganese is deficient, breeding females can have infertility issues, difficulties during pregnancy, and impaired fetal development. 

Other health problems with manganese deficiency include diarrhea, poor nutrient absorption, and skin issues like dermatitis and dry, flaky skin. Your dog's immune system can be weakened, resulting in being more susceptible to infections. 

All of the components of the Real Ancestral 6X Diet™, muscle meat, raw meaty bones, organ meat including liver and another secreting organ, fish, and fur, all contain manganese. When feeding a biologically appropriate diet to your dog, there is little chance of a manganese deficiency!

Of the Real Ancestral diet components, the liver has the highest levels of manganese. Other whole food sources for manganese include blue mussels, which have ten times the manganese of liver, and hemp seeds, with more than 20 times the manganese of liver. Hemp seeds should be given in moderation to avoid intestinal upset in your dog. 

Furred items such as the ears of rabbits, cows, lambs, or wild boars and rabbits' feet are a natural source of manganese for dogs. These all-natural, air-dried chews are available from Real Dog Box. 

In the wild, fur is a natural component of a canid's diet. Wild dogs eat the fur of their prey, such as rabbits, rodents, or other small mammals. Bacillus spp., a common bacteria within the gut microbiome, produces keratinase, an enzyme that degrades keratin, allowing the minor extraction of the fur's vitamin and mineral content to be available to your dog. 

Manganese can also be found in cloves, ginger, cilantro, coconut meat, broccoli, pumpkin seeds,  green tripe, green leafy vegetables, and nuts.

Although needed in minute quantities, manganese is a crucial mineral for your dog.

Manganese is essential for healthy joints, including the ligaments and cartilaginous components. Dogs with a manganese deficiency are more prone to cranial cruciate ligament tears. 

Fur is an excellent all-natural source of manganese for dogs.

Successful Management of Severe Manganese Toxicosis in Two Dogs 

Investigation of manganese homeostasis in dogs with anaemia and chronic enteropathy   

Effect of supplementation of organic manganese on reproductive performance of female Ussuri raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) during the breeding season   

Micronutrients: Minerals and Vitamins in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 5th Edition   

Diet and dog characteristics affect major and trace elements in hair and blood of healthy dogs - PMC   

Effects of an orally administered mixture of chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride and manganese ascorbate on synovial fluid chondroitin sulfate 3B3 and 7D4 epitope in a canine cruciate ligament transection model of osteoarthritis  

Concentrations of manganese, iron, and strontium in bones of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris)    

ZINC, COPPER AND MANGANESE DEFICIENCIES AND THE RUMINANT SKELETON: A REVIEW    

Nutrient Composition of Whole Vertebrate Prey (Excluding Fish) Fed in Zoos • AZA Nutrition Advisory Group   

Biodegradation of Hard Keratins by Two Bacillus Strains - PMC    

In vitro synergistic effects of three enzymes from Bacillus subtilis CH-1 on keratin decomposition - PMC   

Manganese deficiency and CCL disease | Animal Wellness Magazine   

Manganese is a mineral your dog's body requires in minimal quantities. It aids in the digestion and absorption of <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/carbohydrates">carbohydrates</a> and proteins. Manganese can also promote over 300 enzyme processes, including converting <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/fatty-acids">fatty acids</a> and energy from your dog's food.

Manganese also benefits your dog's brain health by preventing <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/oxidation">oxidation</a>, which releases <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/free-radicals">free radicals</a> that harm your dog's body and brain's cells, proteins, and DNA. 

Manganese synthesizes mucopolysaccharides necessary for maintaining healthy connective tissues, <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/cartilage">cartilage</a>, and joint health. Many dogs that experience cranial cruciate ligament tears, similar to the ACL tears in people, have a manganese deficiency.

Many enzymes involved in the metabolic pathways, including the <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/metabolism">metabolism</a> of proteins, carbohydrates, and fat to produce energy, require manganese. Your dog needs manganese to produce manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), an antioxidant enzyme that helps protect cells from oxidative stress by neutralizing harmful free radicals. 

Other factors that play into your dog's manganese requirements include overall health, medical conditions, prescription medications, and nutrient interactions. Dogs with gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/pancreatitis">pancreatitis</a>, or <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/chronic">chronic</a> diarrhea, have impaired nutrient absorption, including minerals. These conditions can affect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, reducing its ability to absorb minerals properly.

Dietary factors can influence mineral absorption. High levels of dietary iron can compete with manganese for absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, creating a manganese deficiency in your dog. <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/calcium">Calcium</a> can also compete with manganese for absorption and vice versa if the intake is too high for either mineral. 

Commercial dog food often includes whole grains, legumes, and nuts that contain <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/phytates">phytates</a>. Phytates bind to certain minerals, including manganese, forming phytate-mineral complexes. When attached to phytates, the <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/bioavailable">bioavailability</a> of manganese is reduced because they are less readily absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract.

If manganese is deficient, breeding females can have <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/infertility">infertility</a> issues, difficulties during pregnancy, and impaired fetal development. 

In the wild, fur is a natural component of a canid's diet. Wild dogs eat the fur of their prey, such as rabbits, rodents, or other small mammals. Bacillus spp., a common bacteria within the <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/gut-microbiome">gut microbiome</a>, produces keratinase, an enzyme that degrades keratin, allowing the minor extraction of the fur's vitamin and mineral content to be available to your dog. 

Manganese can also be found in cloves, ginger, cilantro, coconut meat, broccoli, <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/pumpkin">pumpkin</a> seeds,  <a href="https://feedreal.com/glossary/green-tripe">green tripe</a>, green leafy vegetables, and nuts.

Manganese for Raw Feeders

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