How the Raw Pet Food Calculator Works

How the Calculation Works

The calculator uses a body-weight-percentage approach rather than a calorie-based formula:

Adult maintenance: 2–3% of body weight per day. A 20 kg adult dog receives 400–600 g of raw food daily (20 kg × 1000 g/kg × 0.02 = 400 g minimum; × 0.03 = 600 g maximum).

Growing puppies and kittens: 4–8% of body weight per day. The same 20 kg dog as a puppy would receive 800–1600 g/day — the higher range reflects the dramatically elevated energy needs of growth.

The total daily weight is then divided into three components using the 80/10/10 ratio: 80% muscle meat, 10% raw edible bone, 10% organ meat (of which half, i.e. 5% of the total, is ideally liver).

For example, a 20 kg adult dog fed at the midpoint of the range (500 g/day) would receive: 400 g muscle meat, 50 g raw bone, 50 g organ (25 g of which would be liver).

The inputs are body weight (kg or lb) and a growing/adult toggle. The formula itself has no caloric lookup — it is purely proportional to body weight.

The AVMA Position and Pathogen Risks

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) does not recommend raw or undercooked animal-source proteins in pet food or treats. The AVMA's position is based on documented evidence of Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, and other pathogens in raw pet food products — organisms that can cause illness in pets and in the people who handle the food, including children, elderly individuals, and immunocompromised household members.

Beyond pathogen risk, raw diets that are not carefully formulated by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist are frequently found to be nutritionally incomplete — deficient in calcium, phosphorus, certain vitamins, or trace minerals. Homemade raw diets based only on the percentage guidelines in this calculator are starting frameworks, not complete nutritional blueprints.

If you are feeding a raw diet or considering one, a consultation with a veterinary nutritionist is strongly recommended to review the complete diet for nutritional adequacy, and your vet can advise on food-safety handling practices that reduce (though do not eliminate) pathogen risk.

Practical Guidance: Acting on Your Result

Use the calculator's output as a daily weight target and rough composition guide, not a precision recipe. Start at the lower end of the percentage range (2% for adults, 4% for growing) and monitor your pet's weight and body condition over 2–4 weeks. Adjust up if weight is dropping too fast, down if weight is climbing.

The bone component should be raw, edible bone — not cooked (cooked bones splinter dangerously) and not weight-bearing bones from large animals for smaller pets (fracture risk). Common choices include chicken necks, backs, and wings for dogs and cats of appropriate sizes.

Sourcing from reputable, human-grade suppliers and handling raw meat with the same food-safety practices used for human food preparation (separate cutting boards, refrigeration at or below 4°C/40°F, prompt hand-washing) reduces — though does not eliminate — pathogen transmission risk.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using the adult percentage range for a growing puppy or kitten. The 2–3% adult guideline is far too low for a growing animal — puppies and kittens can need two to four times as much food relative to their body weight. Always select the 'growing' option for any animal under roughly 12 months old (or longer for large and giant breeds).

Feeding only muscle meat without bone or organ. The 80/10/10 split is designed to approximate the nutritional profile of whole-prey feeding, including calcium from bone and micronutrients from organ. A muscle-meat-only diet is calcium-deficient and will cause skeletal problems over time.

Not adjusting for the pet's actual body condition. The weight-percentage approach uses current body weight, which can be misleading if the pet is already overweight or underweight. An overweight pet fed at 2–3% of its inflated weight will receive too many calories; feeding toward a target healthy weight is more appropriate.

Treating the organ allowance as optional. Liver and other secreting organs are dense sources of fat-soluble vitamins and trace minerals that muscle meat alone cannot supply. Omitting organ in favour of 'more meat' creates real micronutrient gaps.

Interpreting Your Result

The calculator returns a daily gram range for total raw food and grams for each component (muscle meat, bone, organ, liver). These are starting estimates — individual pets vary in metabolic rate, activity, and health status, so treat the first few weeks as a calibration period.

If a pet loses weight faster than 1–2% of body weight per week, increase toward the higher end of the range. If weight is gaining unexpectedly, move toward the lower end or reduce by 10% and reassess. Weigh your pet monthly to track trends.

Because raw diets carry both nutritional and food-safety risks that no calculator can fully address, we recommend involving your veterinarian in any decision to start or significantly modify a raw diet — particularly for puppies, kittens, pregnant or nursing animals, immunocompromised pets, or households with young children or vulnerable adults.