I’ve said for years that dogs can benefit from fresh food. I’ve fed my own dogs raw meat and other fresh additions, and combining commercial complete food with fresh or raw ingredients still appeals to me. At the same time, I’ve never believed that every dog must eat exclusively raw food. The reason is simple: the way food is prepared doesn’t tell us whether the dog is getting all the nutrients it needs.<\/p>\n
Dr Karen Becker has repeatedly pointed out that unbalanced homemade diets may do more harm than good. She has also criticised the familiar 80\/10\/10 model, in which most of the diet consists of muscle meat, 10% bone and 10% organs. That can be a starting point for dividing ingredients, but it doesn’t answer my most important question: does the dog actually receive enough calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, vitamin D and other essential nutrients every day, relative to its real energy requirement?<\/p>\n
The 80\/10\/10 formula looks attractively simple. However, it primarily describes the weight of the ingredients, not their nutrient content. One hundred grams of liver does not provide the same nutrients as one hundred grams of another organ. Different cuts of meat, bones and fish contain different minerals and fatty acids. Even different tissues from the same animal contribute different nutrients. Replacing one ingredient with another may therefore change much more than the protein source, including the amounts of calcium, iron, copper and vitamins.<\/p>\n
This isn’t just a theoretical concern. In a 2011 study, Dillitzer, Becker and Kienzle examined 95 raw food rations fed to adult dogs. Roughly 60% of the assessed rations had at least one substantial nutritional imbalance. About half provided less iodine than the minimum requirement, and some supplied very little calcium. The study does not prove that every raw diet is inadequate, nor did it directly measure the long-term health outcome of every dog. It does show how easy it is to overlook something important even in a seemingly varied menu.<\/p>\n
So \u201cI feed different meats and organs\u201d is not the same as \u201cmy dog’s diet is balanced\u201d. Variety has value, but it cannot replace nutritional calculations. Similarly, the mere presence of a supplement does not show that its dose or form is suitable.<\/p>\n
Meat and organ meats provide protein, vitamins and minerals. But organs are not nutritionally interchangeable: liver may be particularly rich in vitamin A and copper, whereas heart is nutritionally closer to muscle meat. If a recipe does not specify how much of each organ to use, it isn’t a very precise recipe. A high fat content also changes the energy density of the diet. A dog may consume more energy than it needs long before it has obtained sufficient amounts of a particular mineral.<\/p>\n
Calcium and phosphorus must be present in appropriate amounts and proportions for the dog’s life stage. Removing bones can reduce some mechanical risks, but it does not eliminate the dog’s need for calcium. Conversely, adding bones does not guarantee safe or appropriate mineral balance. Too much bone can provide excessive calcium and contribute to constipation, while unsuitable bones can damage teeth or the gastrointestinal tract. A well-formulated boneless diet can obtain calcium from another appropriate source and may not need raw bones at all.<\/p>\n
Vegetables and suitable berries can provide fibre, water and plant compounds. I happily include them myself. But I wouldn’t impose a universal rule that precisely 15\u201325% of every dog’s diet must be pur\u00e9ed plant material. The appropriate share depends on the individual dog, gastrointestinal tolerance and the rest of the recipe. The same applies to probiotics, digestive enzymes, chlorella and other ingredients used in integrative practice. Some may offer a specific benefit in a particular situation, but they cannot compensate for missing iodine or vitamin D.<\/p>\n
If you want homemade food to become your dog’s long-term main diet, I would look for a recipe whose author can show nutritional calculations relative to energy needs. The European FEDIAF guidelines provide a useful reference for adult dogs and growing puppies. \u201cHuman-grade\u201d does not automatically mean \u201ccomplete and balanced for dogs\u201d, just as \u201cnatural\u201d or \u201cpremium\u201d on the packaging does not establish nutritional adequacy.<\/p>\n
Integrative veterinarians frequently use so-called balancers to supply nutrients that a homemade diet otherwise lacks. But you first need to know what is actually missing. For example, a diet containing liver and one without liver do not necessarily need the same balancer.<\/p>\n
One obvious mistake is making minced meat or chicken breast the main diet and adding an occasional carrot. This may create a tasty meal, but not a nutritionally complete long-term diet. Another is assuming that organs can never be overfed because they are natural. Liver, in particular, requires attention to quantities and fat-soluble vitamins.<\/p>\n
A third mistake is substituting ingredients without recalculating the recipe. Replacing fish with chicken changes fatty acid content and potential sources of iodine and vitamin D. I wouldn’t claim that every chicken-fed dog must achieve an exact 2:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio or that any higher figure automatically causes chronic inflammation. Fatty acid ratios may matter, but the diet must be evaluated in terms of actual amounts, types of fatty acids, energy content and the dog’s individual condition. Fish oil can sometimes help, but it adds calories and can involve dose-related and interaction risks.<\/p>\n
A fourth mistake is using cups or handfuls as the measurements for a recipe. Minced meat and large chunks occupy very different volumes, so the portion can vary much more than the written recipe suggests. Kitchen scales help. More importantly, 100 grams of one food will not necessarily provide the same energy as 100 grams of another. Canned, dry and raw food cannot simply be swapped gram for gram.<\/p>\n
A fifth mistake is relying solely on the owner’s observation that \u201cthe dog looks great\u201d. A shiny coat, good energy and normal stools are valuable observations, but they do not rule out micronutrient deficiencies. A repeatedly unbalanced diet may create problems long before anything is externally visible.<\/p>\n
I certainly don’t want to replace one extreme with another. Fresh food can allow control over ingredients, help tailor some sensitive dogs’ diets and accommodate individual preferences. Homemade food may be an excellent option if carefully formulated. Some dogs tolerate one menu better than another. But that does not establish that serving food raw was the sole cause of an improvement.<\/p>\n
At the same time, nutritional balance and microbiological safety are separate issues. Even a correctly formulated raw diet may contain Salmonella, Campylobacter or other pathogens. The FDA, WSAVA and the UK Food Standards Agency discuss risks from raw pet food both to animals and to people. A dog can carry bacteria without visible symptoms. Freezing and drying do not reliably eliminate every microorganism.<\/p>\n
This does not mean that every dog eating raw meat becomes ill. It does mean asking where the ingredients came from, how they were stored, whether the meat was minced, and whether children, pregnant people, older adults or immunocompromised people live in the household. A whole piece of meat and minced meat may present different contamination patterns: grinding can spread surface contamination throughout the mixture. Safe handling, cleaning food-preparation surfaces and washing hands are not optional extras. They are part of food safety.<\/p>\n
I like to separate two questions: \u201cDoes my dog tolerate this?\u201d and \u201cIs this demonstrably safe and nutritionally balanced in the long term?\u201d An owner can often answer the first by observing their dog. The second also requires calculations and evidence. Making this distinction doesn’t take anything away from an integrative approach.<\/p>\n
My dogs’ meals have included quality complete food as well as raw muscle meat, organs and other additions. This provides flexibility and variety. But I don’t want to pretend that mixing two potentially deficient diets automatically creates one perfect diet. Two unbalanced menus may not balance each other out. A reliable complete food reduces uncertainty, but substantial replacements require renewed consideration of nutrients.<\/p>\n
AAHA and WSAVA practical feeding advice frequently uses the guideline that treats and unbalanced additions should supply no more than about 10% of daily calories. Replacing 20\u201325% of the energy intake with homemade additions isn’t automatically wrong, but you should not assume that the remaining complete food makes up for everything. That degree of replacement requires thoughtful, and sometimes calculated, nutritional balancing. The percentage must describe calories, not the weight of food put in the bowl.<\/p>\n
I’ve also seen a practical example among customers’ dogs: three dogs eating the same raw diet had elevated bilirubin values, and the results returned to normal after their feeding was changed. It is worth noticing, but it does not prove that raw food itself caused the elevated bilirubin. Several factors may have changed at once, and laboratory findings must be interpreted with a veterinarian. Such experiences are among the reasons I don’t blindly trust either the promises of raw feeding or impressive claims on packaging.<\/p>\n
If the food is intended as the main diet, I would ask whether it is explicitly labelled complete and for which life stage, whether the formulator has appropriate nutritional expertise, and whether a nutrient analysis is available if needed. Are calcium and phosphorus values given? How are iodine, zinc and vitamins D and E supplied? Can the producer explain what the word \u201cbalanced\u201d means in their particular product? For a homemade recipe, I would ask myself exactly the same questions.<\/p>\n
For a dog with kidney, pancreatic, intestinal or another chronic disease, a generic internet recipe isn’t a good starting point. With growing puppies, especially large breeds, skeletal development is also at stake. A veterinary nutrition specialist can help formulate such diets. Weight, body condition and actual food intake should be reviewed, and targeted tests may be useful where indicated. A routine blood test every six months cannot replace nutritional analysis because it won’t reveal every dietary deficiency.<\/p>\n
Check that the recipe lists ingredients in grams, states daily energy intake and covers the calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc and vitamin requirements for the dog’s life stage. Review organ meats, fatty acids and supplement amounts as well. Keep microbiological hygiene separate from nutritional adequacy. If most of the diet is homemade, consider consulting a veterinary nutrition specialist. If you simply add something tasty to complete food, calculate the substitution in calories rather than judging by the apparent volume in the bowl.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to feed my dog exactly the same thing every day simply out of habit. Nor do I want the dog’s health to depend on whether I happened to measure the correct amount of organs, minerals and oil today. The actual nutritional quality of the whole ration therefore remains most important to me. An 80\/10\/10 ratio may give a recipe its basic shape, but it cannot certify that all nutritional needs are met. And yes, that involves some tedious mathematics. Asking \u201cwhy should this menu be adequate?\u201d is still much more useful than believing that raw automatically means perfect.<\/p>\n
I’ve said for years that dogs can benefit from fresh food. I’ve fed my own dogs raw meat and other fresh additions, and combining commercial complete food with fresh or raw ingredients still appeals to me. At the same time, I’ve never believed that every dog must eat exclusively raw food. The reason is simple: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":189974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[698,770,772],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-nutrition","category-raw-home-prepared-food"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Balanced-homemade-raw-food-EN.jpg",300,300,false],"list":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Balanced-homemade-raw-food-EN.jpg",300,300,false],"medium":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Balanced-homemade-raw-food-EN.jpg",300,300,false],"full":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Balanced-homemade-raw-food-EN.jpg",300,300,false]},"yoast_head":"\n