Life-stage × jurisdiction essential amino-acid matrix (dog & cat adult maintenance)
Minimum essential amino-acid levels for adult maintenance, compiled from the parsed cross-standard index and the NIAS 2024 standard. All three standards express amino acids on a dry-matter / per-100-g-DM basis, so the columns are directly comparable:
- AAFCO 2026 (US):
% DM— e.g.0.51means 0.51 % DM = 0.51 g/100 g DM. - FEDIAF 2025 (EU):
g per 100 g DM(Table III-3a, "Unit per 100 g dry matter"). - NIAS 2024 (KR):
g per 100 g DM(표 2-17b dog 성견, 표 2-17f cat 성묘).
Every numeric cell is a verbatim value of the named source JSON. Cells not present in a source are honest gaps, never interpolated.
Dog — adult maintenance (minimum, g/100 g DM)
| Amino acid | AAFCO 2026 (US) | FEDIAF 2025 (EU) | NIAS 2024 (KR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arginine | 0.51 | 0.52 | 0.51 |
| Histidine | 0.19 | 0.23 | 0.19 |
| Isoleucine | 0.38 | 0.46 | 0.38 |
| Leucine | 0.68 | 0.82 | 0.68 |
| Lysine | 0.63 | 0.42 | 0.42 |
| Methionine | 0.33 | 0.40 | 0.33 |
| Methionine + cystine | 0.65 | 0.76 | 0.65 |
| Phenylalanine | 0.45 | 0.54 | 0.45 |
| Phenylalanine + tyrosine | 0.74 | 0.89 | 0.74 |
| Threonine | 0.48 | 0.52 | 0.48 |
| Tryptophan | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.16 |
| Valine | 0.49 | 0.59 | 0.49 |
The three standards agree closely on most dog amino acids. The largest divergence is lysine (AAFCO 0.63 vs FEDIAF 0.42 / NIAS 0.42 g/100 g DM) — AAFCO's adult-dog lysine minimum is ~50 % higher than the EU/KR figure.
Cat — adult maintenance (minimum, g/100 g DM)
| Amino acid | AAFCO 2026 (US) | FEDIAF 2025 (EU) | NIAS 2024 (KR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arginine | 1.04 | 1.0 | 1.00 |
| Histidine | 0.312 | 0.26 | 0.26 |
| Isoleucine | 0.52 | 0.43 | 0.43 |
| Leucine | 1.24 | 1.02 | 1.02 |
| Lysine | 0.832 | 0.34 | 0.34 |
| Methionine | 0.20 | 0.17 | 0.17 |
| Methionine + cystine | 0.40 | 0.34 | 0.34 |
| Phenylalanine | 0.42 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| Phenylalanine + tyrosine | 1.532 | 1.53 | 1.53 |
| Threonine | 0.732 | 0.52 | 0.52 |
| Tryptophan | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.13 |
| Valine | 0.62 | 0.51 | 0.51 |
Cats show wider spread than dogs. Lysine again diverges sharply (AAFCO 0.832 vs FEDIAF 0.34 / NIAS 0.34 g/100 g DM). Histidine (AAFCO 0.312 vs FEDIAF/NIAS 0.26) and threonine (AAFCO 0.732 vs FEDIAF/NIAS 0.52) are also markedly higher under AAFCO; tryptophan is higher under FEDIAF/NIAS (0.13 vs AAFCO 0.16 — i.e. AAFCO lower). These reflect genuinely different minimum-setting philosophies, not units artefact (all are g/100 g DM).
Method & honest-gap notes
- Source of truth:
pdf-parsed/cross_standard_nutrient_index.json—aafco_us_2026
(essential_amino_acids_min_pct_dm for dog/cat adult maintenance) and fediaf_2025_summary.lifestages (dog adult nutrients_110kcal, cat adult nutrients_100kcal, amino-acid keys carry the pct_dm suffix); plus pdf-parsed/kr-2026/korea_nias_nutrient_standard.json tables 표 2-17b (dog 성견) and 표 2-17f (cat 성묘).
- Direct comparability: AAFCO
% DMand FEDIAF/NIASg/100 g DMare the same scale
(percent = grams per 100 g), so no conversion factor is applied — each quoted number is a verbatim value of its source column.
- Growth / reproduction life stages are intentionally out of scope here (focus: adult
maintenance). The growth/reproduction amino-acid matrices are covered by separate topics.
- Reproduce: re-read the named index keys / NIAS table cells; each quoted number is a
substring/value of the source JSON.
Cross-references
life_stage_nutrient_matrix— AAFCO-vs-FEDIAF protein / fat / calcium / phosphorus matrixlife_stage_nutrient_matrix_vitamins— fat-soluble vitamin matrix (same three standards)life_stage_nutrient_matrix_water_soluble_vitamins— B-vitamin / choline matrix/api/v1/cross_compare— programmatic cross-standard nutrient comparison (same source index)