RAW DOG FOOD CALCULATOR
Before Starting Your Dog on a Raw Diet
It is important to stress that our recommendations are guidelines and that you should pay specific attention to your dog’s weight and physical appearance as they adapt to their diet. How much you feed your dog every day depends on a number of factors including:
- Your dogs metabolism
- The quality of food you are feeding
- How much exercise your dog gets
- How much they weigh
- The age and breed of your dog
- If you want your dog to (Gain, Stay or loose) weight
Puppies
Usually, puppies should be fed to appetite from 4-6 weeks. From 7 weeks old please refer to the feeding guide below. Remember this is a guide and a common-sense approach is needed. Puppies should be lean and not over weight to protect their joints. Please use careful observation as your pup develops and call us for advice if necessary. Until your puppy is 16 weeks old we recommend spreading your dog’s daily food allowance over four meals per day. From 17 to 24 weeks of age reduce this to 3 meals a day. After this, 2 meals a day is preferable.
Weighing your dog
While you will be able to tell a lot about your dog’s weight by how they look and how they feel, if you want to check the weight of your dog then here’s how. As long as your dog doesn’t weigh more than you can lift, step on to the scales and weigh yourself. Let’s say you weigh 65kg. Next, step back on the scales holding your dog. This time your combined weight is 85kg. Using simple maths, you have established that your dog’s weight is 20kg.
Growing dogs
As your dog matures, begin reducing the total daily amount to 2-3% in line with the feeding guide, monitoring their weight carefully, so that you can adjust portions as necessary. Remember, every dog has a different metabolism and nutritional requirements, so feeding should be matched to their individual needs. Feeding guides are exactly that, guides!
Once you are happy with the amount of raw dog food you need you can purchase your adult raw dog food or your puppy raw dog food with the information given. All feeding recommendations are based on a dog’s weight. Here is what we mean by 2-3%:
Bruno is a healthy adult dog that weighs 30kg. This is his ideal weight and the weight that you want him to maintain. In order to sustain this, he will require somewhere between 2-3% of his body weight per day. In Bruno’s case that is 600-900g of food per day. Most dogs will require the lower end and some the upper end. We recommend starting at 2-2.5% and monitoring the dog’s weight, increasing or decreasing the amount as required. If you have a dog that is overweight or underweight then the food given can be adjusted as necessary.
My dog has become fussy / gone off raw
Please note the quality of ProDog Raw is such that it’s rare for dogs to need more than 2% generally. If your dog becomes fussy or stops eating raw, it's normally always a sign of overfeeding. In this case please reduce the amount you feed (in some circumstances this may mean the dog needs less than 2%) or call us for further advice. This is VERY a very common mistake for owners to make when new to raw feeding. Remember it’s quality over quantity with ProDog!
Giving additional dog treats
Remember that any treats should be given as part of the TOTAL daily feed allowance, not in addition to it. Also, be mindful that the quality of the nutrition in our raw is such that dogs can often need what appears to be a small amount of food in comparison with a processed feed quantity. Dogs fed raw often start to behave more naturally and ‘self-regulate’ around food. This means they eat to appetite. A wild dog would not eat daily, far from it so if your dog chooses to skip a meal don’t be too alarmed as long as they appear fit and well in themselves. If you have any questions or need advice about any of the above, and want to talk to our team of experts, please contact us and we will be only too happy to help.