Manganese in a dog's diet: healthy adult requirements

Manganese is easy to miss in a healthy adult dog's diet. Check maintenance references, sources, and the limits of label data.

Bowl of raw meat, offal, egg yolk, and strawberries held in a garden

This article applies only to diet formulation for a healthy adult dog at maintenance. It does not cover growth, pregnancy, lactation, or diets used for clinical conditions; those situations need separate reference values and an individual feeding plan.

In home-prepared diets for healthy adult dogs, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, iodine, and vitamin D get much of the attention. Manganese comes up less often, although it too is easy to miss when reliable ingredient data are unavailable.

Manganese supports enzyme activity and the formation of bone, cartilage, and connective tissue. The presence of meat, organs, eggs, and bone alone does not guarantee that a finished recipe meets its manganese target. The whole diet has to be calculated and the result related to its energy content.

What the studies actually show

Stockman et al. evaluated 200 published recipes for home-prepared maintenance diets for adult dogs [1]. In 190 of 200 recipes (95%), at least one essential nutrient value was below an NRC or AAFCO recommendation. In 167 of 200 recipes (83.5%), multiple nutrient values were below NRC recommended allowances. Zinc values were below the relevant recommendations in 138 recipes (69%), copper in 108 (54%), and calcium in 70 (35%). These findings describe a population of recipes, not every home-prepared diet or the nutritional status of an individual dog.

Moravszki et al. tested 33 preprepared raw dog foods labelled as complete, purchased on the Hungarian market from six manufacturers [2]. None of the tested products met all the FEDIAF mineral recommendations used for comparison. Manganese was below the reference level in 23 of 33 products (69.7%). This is an important signal from a defined market sample, not proof that every commercial raw food or every individual diet is low in manganese.

Why the individual recipe must be calculated

Some commonly used meats contain only trace amounts of manganese. USDA FoodData Central reports 0.010 mg/100 g for raw 90/10 ground beef (FDC 174030) and 0.011 mg/100 g for raw skinless, boneless chicken breast (FDC 171077) [8]. This does not mean that every meat has the same composition, but it shows why large amounts of these two foods alone contribute little manganese.

Other ingredients, including some seeds, plant foods, and algae, can contribute manganese. The result still depends on the exact ingredient and its amount in the complete recipe. It is therefore unsafe to assume that the target “will add up somehow” without checking the data.

Maintenance requirements: which manganese values to use

The following reference points apply to healthy adult dogs at maintenance. They should not be used for growth, pregnancy, lactation, or clinical diets:

  • NRC gives a recommended allowance of 1.2 mg manganese per 1000 kcal of metabolisable energy [3].
  • The AAFCO adult-maintenance profile sets a minimum of 5.0 mg/kg dry matter. At the profile's assumed energy density of 4000 kcal/kg dry matter, that converts to 1.25 mg/1000 kcal [5].
  • FEDIAF 2025 gives 1.44 mg/1000 kcal at an assumed energy intake of 110 kcal/kg BW^0.75 and 1.67 mg/1000 kcal at 95 kcal/kg BW^0.75, where BW means body weight [4].

These figures are formulation references. They do not diagnose a deficiency or provide an individual therapeutic dose for a particular dog.

In a diet generator, mg/1000 kcal is the most useful common basis. A value per 100 g of an ingredient does not account for how much enters the recipe or for the energy content of the whole diet. Ingredients with high manganese content are listed in the ranking of products rich in manganese.

What a label can tell you

Under EU rules, the mandatory analytical-constituent declaration for complete dog food lists crude protein, crude fibre, crude oils and fats, and crude ash; manganese is not on that list [6]. Its absence from a label therefore does not mean that the product contains no manganese.

Where the figure appears also matters. The FEDIAF labelling code explains that an amount stated under “additives” refers to the quantity added, whereas a value stated under analytical constituents is the total amount analysed in the finished product, including the portion naturally present in raw materials [7]. Accurate formulation therefore needs the latter value or a reliable total-content analysis supplied by the manufacturer.

Algae: correct arithmetic does not replace product analysis

In a study of supplementation in post-weaning pigs, the authors chemically characterised the algae used. The tested Ascophyllum nodosum material contained 100.80 mg manganese/kg as fed [9]. The conversion is:

100.80 mg/kg ÷ 1000 g/kg = 0.1008 mg/g

One gram of that exact tested material therefore contained about 0.101 mg manganese. The result cannot be transferred to another product or batch without its own analysis. If a product is also used as an iodine source, the calculation should use its declared iodine content and the dosing instructions for that specific product. Because a natural supplement can vary from batch to batch, always confirm that the value declared on the pack matches what you enter for the recipe — see why supplement batches differ.

What to remember

Research shows nutrient shortfalls in the analysed populations of home-prepared recipes and commercial raw foods. It does not establish that a particular dog or a particular recipe is deficient.

In practice, calculate manganese across the complete recipe, express the result per 1000 kcal, and compare it with a clearly named reference. If a product is meant to make a meaningful contribution, use reliable total manganese content rather than an assumption based on the ingredient name.

Sources

  1. Stockman, J., Fascetti, A. J., Kass, P. H., Larsen, J. A. (2013). Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 242(11), 1500–1505. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.242.11.1500
  2. Moravszki, L. et al. (2025). Assessment of mineral adequacy in preprepared raw dog foods labeled as complete. Scientific Reports, 15, 43447. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27388-w
  3. National Research Council (2006). Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. The National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/10668/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf
  4. FEDIAF (2025). Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs. https://europeanpetfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/FEDIAF-Nutritional-Guidelines_2025-ONLINE.pdf
  5. AAFCO (2014). Revised AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles. https://www.aafco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Pet_Food_Report_Annual_2014-Appendix_A-Revised_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles-Final_092214.pdf
  6. Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed, Annex VII. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32009R0767
  7. FEDIAF (2019). Code of Good Labelling Practice for Pet Food. https://europeanpetfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/FEDIAF_labeling_code_2019_onlineOctober2019.pdf
  8. USDA FoodData Central. Beef, ground, 90% lean meat / 10% fat, raw (FDC 174030) and Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw (FDC 171077). Beef, chicken
  9. Frazzini, S. et al. (2024). Chemical-functional characterization of Ascophyllum nodosum and Phymatolithon calcareum and dietary supplementation in post-weaning pigs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 11, 1431091. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1431091