Not veterinary advice

Honest Dog Nutrition is an information tool. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace a veterinarian. Please talk to your veterinarian, or a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, before you change what your pet eats — especially before you start a homemade diet.

What the numbers are

• Targets come from published references: the National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006) first, and the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles only where the NRC book is silent. Food composition comes mainly from USDA FoodData Central.
• Everything is an estimate. Real foods vary from batch to batch, ingredient amounts you enter can be off, and cooking changes nutrient content. Where a value is a guess, a label guarantee, or missing, the app says so (“Estimated”, “Label minimum”, “Incomplete data”). A missing value is not the same as zero, and a green result does not prove a diet is complete.
• We do not claim any recipe is “complete and balanced” in the regulatory sense. That claim needs feeding trials or a formulation reviewed against the current AAFCO profiles by qualified professionals.

Talk to a professional first if your pet is…

• a puppy or kitten, or pregnant or nursing (the margins for error are small and mistakes can cause lasting harm);
• a senior, underweight, overweight, or losing or gaining weight unexpectedly;
• living with any medical condition (kidney, liver, heart, pancreatitis, allergies, diabetes, urinary stones, and others) or on medication;
• showing any change in appetite, stool, energy, coat, or behaviour after a diet change.

Emergencies

If your pet is unwell, contact your veterinarian or an emergency clinic now. Do not use this site to diagnose or treat an animal. Some foods and supplements are toxic to pets; check anything you are unsure about with a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.

Your responsibility

You are responsible for the ingredients you choose, the amounts you actually feed, food safety and preparation, and for checking the results with a professional who knows your pet. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for harm that results from relying on the estimates shown here. See our Terms of Service for the full terms.