Homemade Food Calculator
Build a home-cooked or raw recipe for your dog or cat, then get the exact gram amounts and the supplement stack needed to balance it to AAFCO & FEDIAF nutrient profiles.
Who are you cooking for?
Cats and dogs have very different needs. Cats are strict carnivores and need taurine every day.
matters most for puppies
Cautions for your life stage and size — growth diets, large and giant breeds — appear with your ingredient choices in step 3.
Please enter a valid body weight.
for weight loss we feed for this, not the current weight
How will you prepare the food?
Choose how you will prepare the food. Raw mode adds raw-only ingredients and asks how you will supply calcium.
What will go in the bowl?
Pick one main protein, then add the extras. Liver/organ is powerful for micronutrients but capped for safety. We balance the rest around what you choose.
Here is the balanced recipe
Your daily recipe, the supplement stack that balances it, and how to prepare it.
Your recipe will appear here
Balance the recipe from the ingredients step to see:
- Your daily recipe
- The supplement stack
- How to prepare it
Your daily recipe
| Ingredient | Per day | Calories |
|---|
Tap Copy recipe above, then open the Shopping List & Meal Prep Calculator. It converts every ingredient to real purchase weights for your selected batch, checks supplement supplies, and helps build the freezer plan.
How to prepare it
The supplement stackmakes it balanced
Meat and veg alone are dangerously low in calcium and several micronutrients. These additives are what turn a nice-looking meal into a complete & balanced diet formulated to AAFCO & FEDIAF profiles.
Nutrient analysis (per 1000 kcal ME)
This is the maths behind the recipe: how the balanced diet (food + supplements) compares to the published minimums. Green = meets profile.
| Nutrient | Your diet | AAFCO min | FEDIAF min | Status |
|---|
Values are calculated from typical cooked-ingredient composition and rounded. Real ingredients vary, which is exactly why a calculated calcium source and a mineral premix matter.
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Feeding home-cooked? Track it properly.
This balancer gets the recipe right. ASK A VET™ helps you keep it right — log weight, body condition, stool and diet changes, store your recipe, set supplement reminders, and message a certified vet if something looks off. The health platform built by a vet, for real animals.
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Important: This tool is educational and gives a strong, standards-based starting point. It does not replace a consultation with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, which is recommended before long-term home feeding — especially for growing, pregnant, or sick animals. Homemade diets cannot be "FDA approved"; the correct standard for a complete pet diet is the AAFCO (US) or FEDIAF (EU/UK/AU) nutrient profiles, which this tool formulates to.
How the homemade recipe is balanced
Never feed these
Toxic to dogs and cats — no "small safe amount" worth risking. Keep them out of the bowl and off the bench.
If any of these get eaten, call your vet or an animal poisons hotline immediately — don't wait for symptoms.
Homemade pet food — common questions
Straight answers from a practising emergency vet.
How much homemade food should I feed my dog?
It depends on your dog's weight, life stage and activity, not a one-size chart. Daily energy need is calculated from resting energy requirement (70 × weight in kg to the power 0.75) multiplied by an activity factor, then converted into grams of your actual ingredients. A typical 10 kg neutered adult dog needs roughly 600–650 kcal a day — about 400 g of a balanced chicken-based cooked recipe. This calculator does that maths for your exact dog.
Is homemade dog food healthier than commercial food?
It can be excellent — but only if it's balanced. Studies of homemade recipes found online show most are deficient in calcium, zinc, vitamin D or other nutrients. Meat and veg alone are never enough: a proper homemade diet needs a calcium source and a vitamin-mineral supplement, formulated to AAFCO or FEDIAF profiles. Done right, home cooking gives you full control over ingredient quality.
What supplements does homemade dog food need?
The non-negotiables: calcium (calcium carbonate, eggshell powder or raw meaty bone), omega-3s (fish oil or oily fish), vitamin E, and iodine. Cats also need taurine every single day. For long-term feeding, a complete canine or feline vitamin-mineral premix is the safest way to cover zinc, copper, selenium, vitamin D and the B vitamins.
Is raw feeding safe for dogs and cats?
It can be done, but the risks are real: Salmonella, Campylobacter and parasites can affect pets and spread to people in the house. If you feed raw: deep-freeze meat for three weeks first, use separate boards and utensils, never feed cooked bone, and skip raw entirely in homes with infants, elderly or immunocompromised people. Major veterinary bodies advise caution — feed it informed, not blind.
Can cats eat homemade food?
Yes, but cats are obligate carnivores and far less forgiving than dogs. A homemade cat diet must be meat-based and supplemented with taurine daily — deficiency causes blindness and fatal heart disease (DCM). Cats also need animal fat, higher protein, and proper calcium balancing. This calculator handles all of that in cat mode.
Do vets approve of homemade dog food?
Most vets support home cooking when the recipe is genuinely complete and balanced to AAFCO or FEDIAF profiles and the dog is healthy. We push back when calcium is missing, recipes are guessed, or a pet has a medical condition that needs a therapeutic diet. For growing puppies — especially large breeds — have any homemade diet checked by a veterinary nutritionist.
© ASK A VET™ · By Dr Duncan Houston
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