How much raw food should I feed my dog?

That 2 to 3% is a starting point. Where your dog sits in the range depends mostly on how active they are, and you fine-tune it by watching their weight over the first few weeks. Below are the daily grams by weight, per meal, for puppies and older dogs, and how long a box lasts.

Daily amounts by weight

These are the same percentages our raw dog food calculator uses for adult dogs: 2% for a quieter dog, 2.5% for a moderately active one and 3% for a very active or working dog.

Older dogs often need a little less. The calculator uses about 1.8 to 2.2% of body weight for dogs aged seven and over, depending on activity. Use your dog’s ideal weight rather than their current weight if they need to lose or gain a few kilos.

If the grams look high next to what your dog ate on kibble, that’s expected. Raw food holds a lot more water than dry food, so a raw-fed dog eats a bigger amount by weight. Our raw versus kibble cost guide works through what that means for your budget.

Which column? A quieter dog gets a walk a day and spends a lot of time asleep. A moderately active dog gets a good walk or two and a run around. A very active dog works stock, runs with you most days or trains for a sport.

Our breed guides work these amounts through for Labradors, German Shepherds, Staffies and Border Collies.

How many grams per meal

Most adult dogs eat two meals a day, which is what the calculator plans. At the moderate 2.5%:

The blocks column is the mince or blend, about 90% of the day. The rest is a raw meaty bone a few times a week.

How that splits across the 80/10/10 guide

A common rule of thumb for raw feeding is about 80% muscle meat, 10% raw bone and 10% organ. For a 20 kg dog eating 500 g a day, that works out to roughly:

• 400 g of muscle meat
• 50 g of raw bone
• 50 g of organ

You don’t need to weigh all three every day. Most raw feeders even it out over a week, for example by feeding a raw meaty bone a few times a week rather than a little bone every day. Most of our blends, such as Active Dog Mix and Breeders Mix, already include offal, which contributes to the organ part.

With a plain mince, an easy way to add organ is Balance Mix, one part to two parts mince. Our guide to liver and organ meat has the organ amounts by weight.

A quicker way to measure

Here’s a tip we pass on to customers, especially those with smaller dogs. Find an old cup or metal scoop, fill it with food and weigh it once. If a scoop holds about 100 g and your dog eats 300 g a day, that’s three scoops, and you can put the scales away.

Puppies and older dogs

Growing dogs eat a bigger share of their weight, and the share tapers as they grow. Our calculator uses these figures, based on the puppy’s current weight:

At 8 to 10 weeks, many raw feeding guides start a little higher, at about 8 to 10%, easing to about 8% by four months. The calculator uses 8%, and nudges it about 10% up or down for a quieter or busier puppy.

If you know roughly what your puppy will weigh as an adult, the calculator also stops the daily amount going over 3% of that adult weight. Our guide to how much raw food to feed a puppy covers starting a puppy, and our guide to raw feeding older dogs has the senior amounts.

Is my dog eating the right amount?

Weigh your dog every couple of weeks when you first switch, and check their shape. You should be able to feel their ribs easily under a thin layer of fat without seeing them stick out. Our guide to the dog body condition score shows how to check.

• Gaining weight: cut the daily amount by about 10% and check again in two weeks.
• Losing weight: add about 10%.

Activity changes through the year too, so a dog who’s busier in one season may need less in a quieter one.

How long a carton lasts

Our mixes and minces come in 10 kg cartons. Our calculator plans about 90% of the food as mince or blend and 10% as raw bones, so a 20 kg dog eating 500 g a day gets through about 450 g of mince a day, or roughly 3 kg a week. One 10 kg carton lasts that dog a little over three weeks. The calculator does this sum for your dog and tells you how many cartons cover the number of weeks you choose.

Our guide to portioning raw dog food shows how to split a carton into daily amounts.

One meal or two?

Either works. Most owners split the daily amount into two meals for larger dogs, and some feed smaller dogs once a day. Pick what suits your routine and keep it consistent.

Feeding a cat as well? Adult cats usually eat about 3% of their body weight a day, and our guide to feeding cats raw meat has the amounts.

Common questions

How many grams of raw food should my dog eat?

Multiply their weight in kilos by 25 for a moderately active adult: a 20 kg dog eats about 500 g a day. Use 20 for a quieter dog and 30 for a very active one.

Do I feed by my dog’s current or ideal weight?

Ideal weight, if they need to lose or gain a little.

Do treats count?

Yes. Take treats out of the day’s total, or use small cubes of the day’s raw food as training treats.

Should I feed less on rest days?

Not day to day. Adjust over weeks, by watching their weight and shape, rather than meal by meal.