Easy Raw Dog Food Feeding Charts & Worksheets – K9sOverCoffee

I originally published these raw dog food feeding charts as a paid ebook.

However, as of September 2024, they’re available for free.

I’ve made that decision to help more dog owners in figuring out how to make DIY raw dog food without a payment threshold.

Now without further ado, let’s jump right into this raw feeding guide!

BARF & PMR Raw Dog Food Feeding Charts

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links I may earn compensation through at no additional cost to you. 

What Does Raw Dog Food Consist Of?

There are 2 main models of raw feeding – BARF and PMR.

The first one is BARF raw dog food, which includes plant matter like veggies, fruit, nuts & seeds.

The second one is known as PMR raw dog food, which is fed without any plant matter.

Now, in the table below, I break down BARF and PMR raw dog food into their respective components.

Please note that the amounts differ depending on the dog’s life stage and activity level.

How Much Raw Dog Food Does My Dog Need to Eat Per Day?

As I already said, the amount of daily raw dog food your dog needs to eat depends on their life stage as well as their level of activity.

So in this section of the raw feeding guide for dogs, you’ll find instructions of how to do the raw dog food math.

And yes, that includes raw feeding guidelines for adult dogs and puppies.

Adult Raw Dog Food Feeding Formula 

In a nutshell, here’s how to do the raw feeding math for adult dogs:

Divide the target body weight by 100, then multiply the result with the maintenance percentage. This is going to be a number between 1.5%-4%.

OK, but what exactly is your dog’s target body weight? It’s your dog’s ideal body weight without being overweight or underweight.

And what about the maintenance percentage? That’s the percentage of your dog’s ideal body weight that’s needed to maintain their ideal body weight.

For adult dogs, this maintenance percentage ranges between 1.5% – 4%. 

However, please note that 2.5% works for the average, active dog who exercises 1-2 hours per day.

• 1.5% Inactive dog/couch potato [less than 30 minutes of daily exercise]
• 2% Moderately active dog [30-60 minutes of daily exercise]
• 2.5% Active dog [1-2 hours of daily exercise]
• 3% Vigorously active dog [2.5-4 hours of daily exercise]
• 3.5% Working dog [4 hours + of daily exercise]
• 4% Pregnant dog [3rd trimester through weaning puppies]

Pre-Calculated Raw Dog Food Feeding Charts for Adult Dogs

Below, you’ll find my raw dog food feeding charts.

Quick tip: To make portioning your raw dog food a bit easier, it’s totally fine to round up or down to the nearest decimal.

How to Split Up The Daily Raw Dog Food Amount Into Its Components

We’ll use the example of a 40lb adult dog fed a BARF diet.

Puppy Raw Dog Food Feeding Formula

OK, moving on to the raw feeding guide for puppies.

Start by dividing your puppy’s monthly body weight [BW] by 100.

Next, multiply the result with the respective percentage. For puppies, this is somewhere between 10-2.5%:

• 2 months old puppy: BW/100 x 10%
• 3 months old puppy: BW/100 x 9.5%
• 4 months old puppy: BW/100 x 9%
• 5 months old puppy: BW/100 x 8%
• 6 months old puppy: BW/100 x 7%
• 7 months old puppy: BW/100 x 6%
• 8 months old puppy: BW/100 x 5%
• 9 months old puppy: BW/100 x 4%
• 10 months old puppy: BW/100 x 3.5%
• 11 months old puppy: BW/100 x 3%
• 12 months old puppy: BW/100 x 2.5%

Now obviously, this approach includes weighing your puppy on a monthly basis.

To do this, one option is to take them to your vet and have them weighed there.

Another option is to weigh them at home using a digital pet scale. The one I link to weighs puppies and kittens up to 33 lbs.

If you have a larger breed, you’ll want to use a large breed dog weight scale like this one.

Pre-Calculated Raw Dog Food Feeding Charts for Puppies

How to Split Up The Daily Puppy Raw Dog Food Amount Into Its Components

As an example, we’ll use a 6 months old female Labrador puppy.

This puppy weighs 45 lb and is fed PMR dog food at a 7% maintenance percentage.

6 months old: 45 lb, fed at 7%: 45/100=0.45 x 7=3.15lb = 50.4 oz

Bone vs Meat Ratio on Raw Meaty Bones

Why is that important?

Well, as the name suggests, RMBs consist of edible bone AND meat!

So a 10 oz turkey neck isn’t just 10 oz of bone, it also has meat on it.

That’s important when you raw meal prep because the meat on the bone counts towards your dog’s muscle meat allowance.

How to Calculate The Ratio of Bone vs Meat on RMBs

First, you have to know the bone vs meat ratio in percentages.

I’ll share the ratios of 20 of the most common RMBs with you below and will provide concrete examples.

Next, you’ll want to weigh the raw meaty bone.

Now you just have to calculate how much bone and how much meat is on the respective bone bearing in mind its weight.

Bone vs Meat Ratios of 20 Common RMBs with Average Weights

Please note that these weights are AVERAGE weights and that they can vary quite a bit.

So always weigh your raw meaty bone in order to be able to calculate its proper bone vs meat ratio!

How to Figure Out How Much of a Particular RMB Your Dog Needs Per Day

This approach works well for RMBs that are easy to cut up such as necks, wings and feet.

For example, let’s assume that your dog needs 1.6oz of bone per day.

Now let’s assume you want to feed a turkey neck, which has a 40% bone content.

So, you’ll have to divide the 1.6 oz bone allowance by the 40% bone content, and then multiply the result with 100.

1.6/40 = 0.04 x 100 = 4

So, you would need to feed 4 ounces of turkey neck to cover the bone allowance.

Here’s another approach that works better for bone-dense RMBs like heads and frames:

Figure out how long the amount of bone in a given RMB will last your dog and only feed that RMB during this time frame.

For example, my dog Wally needs 1.52 oz of bone per day.

If I have a rabbit head that weighs 5 oz and has 3.75 oz bone, that amount of bone lasts him for 2.5 days.

Here’s how to do that math: Divide the bone content (3.75) by your dog’s daily bone allowance (1.52):

3.75 / 1.52 = 2.5 days worth of bone

So, if Wally eats a rabbit head Monday morning, he’ll need the next rabbit head on:

• Wedensday night
• Saturday night
• Tuesday morning

That’s way easier than trying to cut up rabbit heads and potentially hurting yourself in the process.

Raw Dog Food Worksheets for Adult Dogs and Puppies

Now, let’s get to the fun part where you do YOUR dog’s raw dog food math with the worksheets below!

I’ll give you options for both adult dogs and puppies, eating either a BARF diet or a PMR diet.

Raw Dog Food Work Sheet for Adult Dogs

Fill in your dog’s target body weight, the maintenance percentage you feed them at, and then calculate their daily raw dog food amount.

Remember:

• 1.5% inactive dog /couch potato (less than 30 minutes of daily exercise)
• 2% moderately active dog (30-60 minutes of daily exercise)
• 2.5% active dog (1-2 hours of daily exercise)
• 3% vigorously active dog (2.5-4 hours of daily exercise)
• 3.5% working dog (4+ hours of daily exercise)
• 4% pregnant dog (3rd trimester through weaning puppies)

Raw Dog Food Work Sheet for Puppies

Breaking Down Raw Dog Food Meal Prep

Now that I’ve shared my raw dog food feeding charts, I’d like to break down my approach for raw dog food meal prep.

Because over the years, I’ve prepared thousands of raw meals for dogs.

That said, here’s how I go about it:

1. Your Dog’s Allowance

Write down your dog’s daily allowances of the different raw dog food components:

• Muscle meat
• Raw meaty bone
• Liver
• Other secreting organ
• (optional for BARF diet) Plant matter

2. Meal Prep Frequency

Decide if you want to make a batch of raw dog food for one week, 2 weeks or a full month, then multiply your dog’s daily allowance accordingly.

The more meals you want to prep, the more time AND freezer space you’ll need, so that’s something to be aware of.

3. Focus on RMBs

Plan your dog’s meals around the raw meaty bones you can easily source. For smaller dogs, smaller RMBs like feet, wings and heads from smaller animals work best:

• Chicken heads, wings, necks, and feet
• Duck wings and feet

For medium and large size dogs, larger wings, heads, necks and frames work best:

• Rabbit heads and frames
• Chicken leg quarters
• Duck necks, heads, and frames
• Turkey necks, wings, and thighs
• Pork, goat, and lamb ribs
• Pig feet

4. Bone Ratio of Your RMB

Write down the bone amount of the RMB you decide to meal prep around, then figure out how many your pup needs per week to meet their weekly bone allowance.

5. Meat Ratio of Your RMB

Write down the meat amount of the RMB you decide to meal prep around, then add it to your dog’s weekly muscle meat allowance.

That was the hardest part!

6. Other Raw Dog Food Ingredients

All that’s left to do now is add up your dog’s daily liver, other secreting organs and (optional) plant matter amount.

Now you can prepare for the actual meal prep:

• Go shopping for the ingredients
• Make sure you have enough food storage containers or zip lock bags

Related Reading: Raw dog food meal prep – the ultimate guide for beginners

Bottom Line

I hope you found this blog entry on raw dog food feeding charts helpful and are now a step closer to making your own homemade raw dog food!

If you still feel confused, please reach out to me and I’ll do everything I can to help you.

At the end of the day, that’s my main goal with everything I write about on the blog.

Sharing what I’ve learned on the topic of raw dog food so you can nourish your pup with fresh, minimally processed food.

Another option is to connect with like-minded raw feeders in the free K9sOverCoffee raw feeding Facebook group here.

Either way, I’d love to get your feedback on the blog post along with worksheets as it will help me improve the way I present this raw feeding math to others.

So that said, please get in touch at [email protected].

This is also an opportunity to pick my raw feeding brain for free, so don’t be shy!

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