Limerencepterodactyl.com

Exploring health, relationships, and democracy.

Dog Food Calculator
This is a calculator for processing how much meat/bone, and what type of meat (like muscle meat, organ meat, etc.), to give your dog. It is evidence based, with references attached below, but it does not replace a vet or critical thinking - use at your own risk. This type of feeding is called prey model raw feeding. There's also BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) which has slightly different foods - we'll be using the prey model here. The calculator below will help the reader calculate their dog's daily energy requirements, first in calories, then in grams of food to feed their dog.
Step 1: Input the dog's weight in pounds (lbs) or in kilograms (kg). The calculator will use the bodyweight to determine how much energy the dog uses at rest. Math calculation referenced from The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center (2025).
Weight in pounds (lbs):
Weight in kilograms (kg):
Resting energy (calories):	0 calories
Step 2: Decide how much muscle meat to give. The difference (5 percent) is subtracted from raw bones and added to fibre and vice versa. If the dog has diarrhea (loose stool), they need more fibre. If their poop is coming out in poop-shaped balls, they need less fibre (lookup the Bristol stool chart online to learn more about poop). Food percentages referenced from perfectlyrawsome.com
Meat serving size (grams):
Step 4: Select 1-2 activity levels to calculate daily calories (resting energy x activity multiplier). I have two options for activity multipliers because it gives a low and high calorie range to target for the dog. These multipliers are referenced from Ohio State University. The multipliers are next to suggested activity levels or life stages. Also, it's possible "Individual pet needs can vary by as much as 50% from calculated values" according to Ohio State (2025).
Target 1	Target 2
Activity level 1:	Activity level 2:
Daily calories	0	Daily calories	0
Daily grams of raw food	0	Daily grams of raw food	0
Muscle meat, (75-80% of daily intake)	0	Muscle meat, (75-80% of daily intake)	0
Raw bones, 10% of daily intake	0	Raw bones, 10% of daily intake	0
Liver meat, 5% of daily intake	0	Liver meat, 5% of daily intake	0
Non-liver organ meat, 5% of daily intake	0	Non-liver organ meat, 5% of daily intake	0
Fibre, 0-5% of daily intake	0	Fibre, 0-5% of daily intake	0
Step 5: From here the reader can start making up their dog's meals. I hope you have fun and found this calculator helpful. Attached below is a chart to track you dog's intake if needed. There's also a spot to track poop if needed; when switching to a raw food died, the dog's poop should be smaller in volume as the raw food diet is less processed than kibble.
Date:
Intake (actual amount eaten in grams):
Weight (kg):
Target 1 daily intake (g):
Target 2 daily intake (g):
Poop size:
Poop quality according to the Bristol Stool Chart. Aim for type 3-4 (the middle of the chart):
Click the button to the right to add the above rows to the chart below
Remove last data entry on the chart:
Closing Remarks: My family and I fed our dog a raw food diet for 10+ years. Our pup lived to 18+ years old. Towards the end of his life, he wasn't able to tolerate the raw food as well and switched to a cooked meat diet (rather than raw). I believe the raw diet (as compared to kibble) helped our dog live this long since the average life expectancy for our dog's breed is 14-16 years. Moreover, in my social circle, our dog has outlived 2 dogs of the same breed and has not been diagnosed with cancer. If I were to make any changes to our pup's quality of life in his old age it would be to his oral health. He did have some surgery to remove rotten teeth, and with the benefit of hindsight, it may have been better to remove all his teeth as they continued to cause him trouble over the years (and for clarification, this is not related to his diet but his age.)
References The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center. (2025). Companion Animal Nutrition Support Service. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://vmc.vet.osu.edu/services/companion-animal-nutrition-support-service Perfectly Rawsome. (n.d.). Prey model raw diet (PMR): Adult dogs. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://perfectlyrawsome.com/raw-feeding-knowledgebase/prey-model-raw-diet-pmr-adult-dogs/

Dog Food Calculator

This is a calculator for processing how much meat/bone, and what type of meat (like muscle meat, organ meat, etc.), to give your dog. It is evidence based, with references attached below, but it does not replace a vet or critical thinking - use at your own risk.

This type of feeding is called prey model raw feeding. There's also BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) which has slightly different foods - we'll be using the prey model here. The calculator below will help the reader calculate their dog's daily energy requirements, first in calories, then in grams of food to feed their dog.

Step 1: Input the dog's weight in pounds (lbs) or in kilograms (kg). The calculator will use the bodyweight to determine how much energy the dog uses at rest. Math calculation referenced from The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center (2025).

Weight in pounds (lbs):

Weight in kilograms (kg):

Resting energy (calories):

0 calories

Step 2: Decide how much muscle meat to give. The difference (5 percent) is subtracted from raw bones and added to fibre and vice versa. If the dog has diarrhea (loose stool), they need more fibre. If their poop is coming out in poop-shaped balls, they need less fibre (lookup the Bristol stool chart online to learn more about poop). Food percentages referenced from perfectlyrawsome.com

Meat serving size (grams):

Step 4: Select 1-2 activity levels to calculate daily calories (resting energy x activity multiplier). I have two options for activity multipliers because it gives a low and high calorie range to target for the dog. These multipliers are referenced from Ohio State University. The multipliers are next to suggested activity levels or life stages. Also, it's possible "Individual pet needs can vary by as much as 50% from calculated values" according to Ohio State (2025).

Target 1

Target 2

Activity level 1:

Activity level 2:

Daily calories

Daily grams of raw food

Muscle meat, (75-80% of daily intake)

Raw bones, 10% of daily intake

Liver meat, 5% of daily intake

Non-liver organ meat, 5% of daily intake

Fibre, 0-5% of daily intake

Step 5: From here the reader can start making up their dog's meals. I hope you have fun and found this calculator helpful. Attached below is a chart to track you dog's intake if needed. There's also a spot to track poop if needed; when switching to a raw food died, the dog's poop should be smaller in volume as the raw food diet is less processed than kibble.

Date:

Intake (actual amount eaten in grams):

Weight (kg):

Target 1 daily intake (g):

Target 2 daily intake (g):

Poop size:

Poop quality according to the Bristol Stool Chart. Aim for type 3-4 (the middle of the chart):

Click the button to the right to add the above rows to the chart below

Remove last data entry on the chart:

Closing Remarks:

My family and I fed our dog a raw food diet for 10+ years. Our pup lived to 18+ years old. Towards the end of his life, he wasn't able to tolerate the raw food as well and switched to a cooked meat diet (rather than raw). I believe the raw diet (as compared to kibble) helped our dog live this long since the average life expectancy for our dog's breed is 14-16 years. Moreover, in my social circle, our dog has outlived 2 dogs of the same breed and has not been diagnosed with cancer.

If I were to make any changes to our pup's quality of life in his old age it would be to his oral health. He did have some surgery to remove rotten teeth, and with the benefit of hindsight, it may have been better to remove all his teeth as they continued to cause him trouble over the years (and for clarification, this is not related to his diet but his age.)

References

The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center. (2025). Companion Animal Nutrition Support Service. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://vmc.vet.osu.edu/services/companion-animal-nutrition-support-service

Perfectly Rawsome. (n.d.). Prey model raw diet (PMR): Adult dogs. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://perfectlyrawsome.com/raw-feeding-knowledgebase/prey-model-raw-diet-pmr-adult-dogs/