Dog Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
For dogs on home-prepared diets, or with ongoing skin and coat concerns
A blood test shows what's circulating right now. Hair shows what has been deposited over the preceding weeks to months, which makes hair mineral analysis a different lens rather than a better one — better suited to slow-moving nutritional patterns than to acute illness.
This matters most for dogs eating home-prepared, fresh or raw diets. Homemade diets are straightforward to get right on protein and fat, and easy to get wrong on trace minerals. Zinc, copper, manganese, selenium and iodine are the usual gaps, and the relationships between them matter as much as the individual numbers — zinc and copper compete for absorption, calcium and phosphorus need to sit in balance.
Your dog's sample is analysed by an accredited Australian laboratory using ICP-MS.
Every report is reviewed by our veterinary team and translated into practical, plain-English recommendations for your dog — not a raw data sheet.
Why test your dog's mineral status?
Minerals underpin healthy skin and coat, energy production, muscle and nerve function, immune health and normal growth. Hair mineral analysis adds a layer of nutritional information that may help identify imbalances or environmental exposures worth discussing with your vet.
Every report includes vet-reviewed recommendations on nutrition, supplementation, or whether further veterinary investigation is worthwhile — not a raw data sheet.
This screen is ideal for:
- Dogs eating a home-prepared, fresh or raw diet
- Dogs with ongoing skin, coat or itch concerns
- Dogs receiving several nutritional supplements at once
- Dogs that may have been exposed to environmental contaminants
- Dogs with chronic health concerns where nutrition could be contributing
- Pet parents wanting a fuller picture of overall wellbeing
What hair mineral analysis can and can't tell you
Hair mineral analysis is a screening and nutritional profiling tool, not a diagnostic test.
It can highlight patterns in mineral status and possible environmental exposure over a period of weeks to months, and give you and your vet a starting point for conversations about diet and supplementation.
It cannot diagnose disease, confirm heavy metal toxicity, or replace veterinary examination and blood testing. Hair results are influenced by coat colour, grooming products and how the sample is collected — which is why interpretation matters more than the raw numbers, and why every i-screenPets report is reviewed by a veterinarian before it reaches you.
If your dog is unwell, please see your treating veterinarian. This test is designed to sit alongside veterinary care, not instead of it.
