Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet

For Adult Dogs And Puppies

This quick resource covers the exact nutrients your puppy needs, 85 ingredients you can use safely, and how to calculate your dog’s calories with one simple formula.

Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet

For Adult Dogs And Puppies

This quick resource covers the exact nutrients your puppy needs, 85 ingredients you can use safely, and how to calculate your dog’s calories with one simple formula.

Raw Food Recipe For Puppies

If you’re looking for a nutritious, beginner-friendly raw food recipe for your puppy, then this recipe is perfect for you.

 

This DIY recipe is nutritionally complete so you can be confident your puppy will get all the nutrients it needs to thrive. Includes easy-to-find ingredients you can get almost anywhere.

Enter your puppy’s weight and activity level and this recipe will automatically adjust!

Enter your puppy's information dog Icon

1st Ingredient: Ground Beef

Why ground beef?

In raw feeding, something like ground beef is deemed a “muscle meat.” Muscle meats are cuts of skeletal muscle that serve as the main source of protein in raw diets. Muscle meat also takes up the majority of a prey animal’s body. Generally, muscle meat should take up 41-45% of the entire diet.

What makes it important?

  • Builds strong muscles
  • Provides all essential amino acids (protein)
  • Provides fatty acids like EPA, DHA, and AA (fat)
  • Provides minerals like zinc and iron
  • Provides all B vitamins

Where to find it:

  • Chain grocery store
  • Local small grocery store
  • Butcher shops
  • Bulk stores
  • Asian markets
  • Farmers
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: 90/10 Ground Beef
Amount: 5.3 oz (150 g)
Percentage of Meal: 50%
2nd Ingredient: Chicken Heart

Why chicken hearts?

Hearts are an important part of a raw diet and are known as a “muscular organ.” Muscular organs are things like heart, lungs, green tripe, and gizzards, and they should take up 15-25% of the entire diet

What makes them important?

  • More nutrient-dense than regular muscle meat
  • Supports organ function
  • Provides minerals like zinc, iron, copper, selenium, and manganese
  • Provides all B vitamins

Where to find them:

  • Some chain grocery stores
  • Some local grocery stores
  • Butcher shops
  • Asian markets
  • Farmers
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Chicken Hearts
Amount: 3.7 oz (105 g)
Percentage of Meal: 21%
3rd Ingredient: Chicken Wing

Why chicken necks?

Raw bone is the natural, edible bone found in prey animals and is a key source of calcium for dogs. Chicken wings are a great meaty bone for puppies of all sizes thanks to their segments. Wing tips are perfect for small puppies, the tip plus flat for medium puppies, and the full wing is ideal for larger puppies. Raw bone should make up 15–18% of the diet.

What makes them important?

  • Keeps your puppy’s bones and teeth strong
  • Provides collagen which aids in joint health
  • Promotes mental stimulation and enrichment
  • Acts as a natural toothbrush
  • Keeps the stool firm
  • Provides minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sodium

Important Note:

When feeding raw meaty bones, the muscle meat attached to the bone plays an important role:

• The meat surrunding the bone makes it easier to chew
• It provides natural padding to help protect your puppy’s teeth from fractures

However, that meat should be counted as part of the muscle meat portion, not the bone portion of the recipe.

This article will help you figure that out for your own meals—but for now, just follow the quantities in this recipe!

Where to find them:

  • Chain grocery stores
  • Local grocery stores
  • Butcher shops
  • Asian markets
  • Bulk stores
  • Farmers
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Chicken Wing
Amount: 6.3 oz (179 g)
Percentage of Meal: 17%
4th Ingredient: Beef Liver

Why liver?

Liver is animal liver like beef, chicken, or duck liver, and is a vital part of a raw diet because it’s an amazing source of vitamin A – which our puppies can’t live without. Liver should take up 2-4% of the entire diet

Try to feed ruminant animal liver often — it's much higher in copper than poultry and rabbit liver. These come from animals like beef, bison, lamb, goat, and deer.

What makes it important?

  • Keeps your puppy’s vision sharp
  • Supports your puppy’s liver
  • Provides minerals like copper, iron, and selenium
  • Provides vitamins like vitamin A, D, and B vitamins

Where to find it:

 

  • Some chain grocery stores
  • Some local grocery stores
  • Butcher shops
  • Asian markets
  • Farmers
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Beef Liver
Amount: 0.6 oz (17 g)
Percentage of Meal: 4%
5th Ingredient: Beef Kidney

Why kidney?

Kidney is deemed a “secreting organ.” These are organs like kidney, spleen, brain, pancreas, thymus, testicles, and ovaries, and should take up 5-8% of the entire diet. Kidney, in particular, is easy to find and highly nutritious.

What makes it important?

  • Secreting organs are nature’s multivitamin
  • Loaded with minerals like copper, iron, selenium, and iodine
  • Provides all B vitamins

Where to find it:

  • Some chain grocery stores
  • Some local grocery stores
  • Butcher shops
  • Asian markets
  • Farmers
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Beef Kidney
Amount: 1.4 oz (40 g)
Percentage of Meal: 8%
⚠️

The Final Ingredients

Ok, we’ve created the main base of this recipe! This is a great start, but there are a few nutrients that are still a bit low:

  • Iron
  • Iodine
  • Manganese
  • Vitamin E
  • Vitamin D
  • Omega-3s

But don’t worry, we can add a few other foods to boost them!

Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet

For Adult Dogs And Puppies

Discover exactly what nutrients your puppy needs (and which raw foods provide them), so you can be confident your puppy will never deal with a nutrient deficiency.

6th Ingredient: Mackerel

Why mackerel?

Mackerel is a low-mercury fish that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which support skin, coat, brain, and joint health. It’s also a natural source of vitamin D, selenium, and iodine. 

If you're feeding canned mackerel be sure it's canned in water, and the sodium doesn't exceed 25mg per 1 oz.

What makes it important?

  • Packed with omega-3 fatty acids (like EPA and DHA), which is especially important for puppies as it support brain function.
  • Easy to find and can be fed raw or canned
  • Low in mercury due to being lower on the food chain

Where to find it:

  • Chain grocery store
  • Local small grocery store
  • Seafood markets
  • Bulk stores
  • Asian markets
  • Online retailers

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Mackerel
Amount: 1 oz (28 g)
Frequency: Daily
7th Ingredient: Blue Mussels

Why blue mussels?

Mussels are a rich natural source of manganese, which supports wound healing, joint health, and bone development. They’re also relatively high in iron and iodine.

Mussels should always be fed cooked or steamed to reduce the risk of Toxoplasma gondii - a parasite that can be present in raw shellfish.

What makes it important?

  • An amazing source of manganese, which isn’t high in many other meats
  • Naturally high in iron, which puppies require a lot of
  • Supports joint health

Where to find it:

  • Some chain grocery stores
  • Some bulk stores
  • Seafood markets
  • Asian markets

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Blue Mussel
Amount: 0.6 oz (17 g)
Frequency: Daily
8th Ingredient: Dulse

Why dulse?

Dulse is a red seaweed that’s naturally high in iodine.

What makes it important?

  • Naturally high in iodine, but not too high (seaweed like kelp can sometimes be too high)
  • Often harvested from cleaner, colder waters (less heavy metal contamination)
  • Can help the body naturally remove heavy metals by binding to them during digestion
  • Provides additional iron to the diet

Where to find it:

I really like and trust the brand Maine Coast Sea Vegetables (not sponsored). Their dulse is wild-harvested from the clean, cold waters of the North Atlantic, and they’re super transparent about where it comes from and how it’s processed. They even do 3rd party testing for things like heavy metals and radiation and share those results publicly, which I really appreciate.

  • Their website
  • Amazon
  • iHerb
  • Whole Foods
  • Walmart
  • Local health food stores
  • Local fish markets

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Maine Coast Sea Seasonings Dulse
Amount: 1/4 tsp
Frequency: Daily
9th Ingredient: Vitamin E Oil

Why vitamin E oil?

Vitamin E  is an essential nutrient to dogs, and it’s easiest to provide it through naturally derived vitamin E oil.

What makes it important?

  • Provides much more vitamin E than a whole food like sunflower seeds can
  • Doesn’t add unnecessary calories to the diet
  • This vitamin E oil is naturally derived, not synthetic
  • Is a “full-spectrum” vitamin E, which delivers the complete range of natural vitamin E found in foods

Where to find it:

I trust and recommend Kala Health Vitamin E T8 softgels (not sponsored). Their vitamin E is naturally derived through sunflower oil and contains all 4 tocopherols and all 4 tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Each tocopherol and tocotrienol has unique antioxidant properties, and they work together to protect the body.

If you can’t use Kala Health, I also recommend the brands NOW and Solgar. 

How much to feed:

Nature segments illustration
Ingredient: Kala Health Vitamin E T8
Amount: 1 softgel
Frequency: Every 5 days
Full Recipe
Your Puppy's Recipe
This is one day's worth of food
  • 90/10 Ground Beef – 5.3 oz (150 g)
  • Chicken Hearts – 3.7 oz (105 g)
  • Chicken Wing – 6.3 oz (179 g)
  • Beef Liver – 0.6 oz (17 g)
  • Beef Kidney – 1.4 oz (40 g)
  • Mackerel – 1 oz (28 g)
  • Blue Mussel – 0.6 oz (17 g)
  • Dulse – 1/4 tsp
  • Vitamin E – 1 softgel (every 5 days)

This recipe can be split into however many meals you fed your puppy daily.

Picture of Mariah

Mariah

Mariah is the founder of Paws of Prey. She’s been passionate about animals since childhood, with a special interest in wildlife, exotic pets, and species appropriate nutrition. Her mission is to help pet owners provide the best life for their animals through proper nutrition.

Picture of Mariah

Mariah

Mariah is the founder of Paws of Prey. She’s been passionate about animals since childhood, with a special interest in wildlife, exotic pets, and species appropriate nutrition. Her mission is to help pet owners provide the best life for their animals through proper nutrition.

Next Step:

Ready to Make the Switch?

Learn how to start making nutritious, homemade raw meals—broken down step by step!

Read the article →

Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet

For Adult Dogs And Puppies

I want my free

raw feeding cheat sheet!

Enter your email and we will send it your way!

view pixel

We process your personal data as stated in our Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any of our emails.

Are you experienced with building DIY Raw Meals?

Does your Dog Eat Raw Currently?