The recipe for a puppy
Every other page on this site describes a bowl you can build and adjust. This one describes a bowl you should get signed off before you feed it.
Why this bowl is built this way
A puppy is building a skeleton, and the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio controls how that skeleton forms. Too little calcium causes developmental disease; so does too much, especially in large breeds, where over-supplementation is linked to painful growth disorders. You cannot fix this by adding a human calcium tablet — the ratio and the absolute amount both matter, and they change with the puppy's expected adult size.
Growing puppies also need more protein, more energy and different amounts of almost every mineral per kilogram than adults, and those numbers move month by month. This is the one case where 'a good home diet' is not good enough on its own: it needs a recipe calculated for the individual puppy by a vet or a nutritionist.
What goes in — by share of the bowl
Shares, not grams. The gram column is per kilogram of finished food, so it scales to any batch you cook. Your dog's actual portion comes from the calculator, because it depends on body weight and not on the recipe.
| Component | Share | Per 1 kg | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality animal protein | 45% | 450 g | No plant-only protein for a puppy; the amino acid profile has to be complete. |
| Carbohydrate | 22% | 220 g | Rice or well-cooked oats. |
| Vegetables | 15% | 150 g | Cooked and mashed. |
| Added fat | 8% | 80 g | Puppies need more energy per kilogram than adults. |
| Calcium and mineral completer — prescribed | 10% | 100 g | The critical component. Amount and ratio set for this puppy's expected adult size. |
Method
- Ask your vet or a board-certified nutritionist for a recipe calculated for your puppy's expected adult weight. Do not scale an adult recipe down.
- Weigh the puppy weekly and the food daily. Puppy requirements change fast.
- Feed three or four meals a day until about four to six months, then reduce to two.
- Do not add calcium, cod liver oil or any supplement on top of a completer that already contains them.
- Watch the growth curve rather than the scale alone — a puppy that grows too fast on a large-breed formula is at higher risk.
- Keep the recipe fixed through the growth period. Rotation makes it impossible to tell what is working.
What each part is doing
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| Calcium and phosphorus ratio | Controls skeletal development; both deficiency and excess cause disease. |
| Complete amino acids | Growth needs the full profile, which is why plant-only protein fails here. |
| Energy density | Puppies need more calories per kilogram of body weight than adults. |
| Weekly weighing | The only way to know whether the recipe still fits a growing dog. |
How much to feed
Per day, for this type of dog. Two meals a day is standard for adults; puppies and dogs recovering from stomach trouble do better on three or four smaller ones.
| Dog weight | kcal / day | Food / day | Per meal (2×) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kg (11 lb) | 585 | 450 g | 225 g |
| 10 kg (22 lb) | 984 | 757 g | 378 g |
| 20 kg (44 lb) | 1655 | 1273 g | 637 g |
| 30 kg (66 lb) | 2243 | 1726 g | 863 g |
| 40 kg (88 lb) | 2783 | 2141 g | 1071 g |
Calculated for a growing puppy. Your vet sets the real target — growth rate matters more than the number. Use the calculator for the exact grams.
What to watch for
- Never add calcium to a complete puppy diet. Over-supplementation in large breeds causes developmental bone disease.
- Do not feed an adult home recipe to a puppy. The mineral numbers are not transferable.
- Limping, reluctance to walk, or swollen joints in a growing large-breed puppy is a vet visit — it can be a growth disorder.