Nutrient Requirements of Dogs

The one single reason many people are afraid to feed a home prepared diet, even if they believe that overall their dogs would benefit from it, is the insecurity about what nutrients are required in what quantity to keep them healthy.

Resources and guidelines for this do exist, such as for example provided by the National Reasearch Council (NRC) in their new 2006 book Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats.

There are also excellent analyzing tools available online, like nutritiondata.com for instance, of which you can make use to compose a feeding plan you can feel comfortable with.

If you are a regular reader, you will know that there used to be reference table on this page, displaying the minimum nutrient requirements for adult dogs per kilogram of body weight, taken from the now outdated version of "Nutrient Requirements of Dogs" published by the NRC in 1985.

The new publication no longer expresses nutrient requirements as a linear increase per kilogram of body weight, but in a curve based on total body weight and as minimal requirements as well as daily recommended allowances. Due to this a static table with amounts that are simply multiplied with the individual dog's body weight no longer makes sense.

If you would like to obtain this nutritional information for your dog, I will be happy to provide it for you as part of a detailed consultation through my service site.

For reference, the old 1985 values are still available here.