Dogs, puppies, and cats have specific requirements for essential nutrients to live a healthy life. These essential nutrients are necessary for optimal health and must be provided when feeding a complete and balanced raw diet. The nutritional guidelines provided below are based on The National Research Council (NRC)’s guidelines for essential nutrients.

The nutritional guidelines are broken down into six categories which include amino acids, fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins, water soluble vitamins, macrominerals, and microminerals. These nutrient guidelines can be used when creating a complete and balanced raw diet for a dog and cat.

Puppies can eat raw food just like an adult dog can, no matter the age or breed, but it is necessary to make adjustments to traditional raw feeding ratios when feeding a puppy a raw diet to ensure the diet provides recommended allowances for essential nutrients.

Providing proper nutrition when feeding a growing puppy is very important to ensure the puppy grows as healthy as possible. These guides are intended for puppies who are still growing in height and weight. Each puppy’s development time depends on breed size.

Prepare, transition, and feed adult dogs a raw diet using fresh foods to provide all essential nutrients necessary for optimal health. All guidelines listed below are intended for adult dog maintenance.