# BARF calculator: how much raw meat, bone and offal to feed a dog > BARF calculator: daily grams of meat, tripe, offal, bones, vegetables and fruit by age, weight and activity, with a check of FEDIAF nutrients. How much meat, bone, offal, vegetables and fruit a day, with a nutrient check Before you start: where the numbers come from - **Calories**: resting energy 70 × weight0.75, multiplied by factors for age, neutering and activity (the same method as our kibble calculator). Puppies, pregnancy and nursing use the equations of the National Research Council (NRC, 2006). - **Split of the bowl**: the most common BARF scheme in Europe, 80% animal part (50% meat, 20% tripe, 15% offal, 15% raw meaty bones) and 20% plant part (75% vegetables, 25% fruit). - **Food values**: the official database of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, Standard Reference 28); iodine from the 2020 USDA, FDA and NIH database. The calcium in raw meaty bones is an estimate. - **Reference requirements**: FEDIAF 2021 guidelines, values per 1000 kcal (adult, growth, pregnancy and nursing). The calculator needs JavaScript. Without it, you can do the sums by hand with the formulas below. ## After the calculation: how to read the results - **Nutrient status**: compared with the FEDIAF minimum per 1000 kcal. «Ok» = covered; «borderline» = between 90% and 100% of the minimum; «missing» = below 90%; «too much» = above the FEDIAF maximum. - **Suggested additions**: eggshell powder for calcium (about 38% calcium), cod liver oil for vitamin D, salmon oil for omega-3, in amounts worked out to reach the minimum. Iodine, zinc, copper and vitamin E should be added with a product chosen with your vet: the calculator says how much is missing. - **Limits**: USDA values are averages, and your butcher's meat may differ. The calcium in soft raw meaty bones is estimated at 1.2 g per 100 g, the average of the 1 to 1.5 g given by German BARF tables. Where the database has no iodine figure, the calculator counts zero. The check covers 12 nutrients, not all the ones a dog needs. Foods added with «Other…» have average values estimated by an artificial intelligence (Claude by Anthropic) on the same databases: they are marked «AI estimate» and should be checked. **Disclaimer.** This calculator is a free information tool. It is not a prescribed diet and does not replace your vet. The amounts are estimates based on average values and on a general scheme: every dog is different, and a home-made raw diet should be written and checked by a veterinary nutritionist, above all for puppies, pregnant or nursing bitches, and old or sick dogs. The Del Piccolo Diavolo kennel is not responsible for the use made of the results, nor for any harm to the health of dogs or people arising from raw feeding. How much raw meat should a dog eat? The calculator above starts from the calories the dog needs and splits them across seven foods: muscle meat, tripe, liver, other offal, raw meaty bones, vegetables and fruit. An adult's calories are 70 times the weight raised to 0.75, times a factor for age, neutering and activity; for puppies and for pregnant and nursing bitches it uses the National Research Council equations. Then it adds up the nutrients of each food, taken from the USDA database, and compares them with the FEDIAF minimums per 1000 kcal. Where calcium, vitamin D or omega-3 fall short, it suggests an addition. If you don't have a food today, the shares of the others go up. The calculator comes from the [Del Piccolo Diavolo kennel, which has bred Staffordshire Bull Terriers](/en/) in Ostellato (Ferrara, Italy) since 2013: we use BARF for a few dogs and for short periods. ## The formulas - **Adult** = 70 × weight0.75 × 1.8 (entire), 1.6 (neutered), 1.4 (senior) or 1.3 (neutered senior) × activity: 0.85 calm, 1 normal, 1.25 very active, 1.6 sport or work - **Shape seen from above**: +10% if thin, −10% if overweight - **Puppy** = 130 × weight0.75 × 3.2 × (e−0.87 × p − 0.1), with p = today's weight ÷ expected adult weight; without today's weight, it is estimated from the age - **Pregnancy**, from week five = 132 × weight0.75 + 26 × weight - **Nursing** = 145 × weight0.75 + weight × (24 × puppies up to 4 + 12 × puppies beyond 4) × 0.75, 0.95, 1.1 or 1.2 from the first to the fourth week - **Grams per day** = calories ÷ average calories of the bowl, that is the sum of each food's kcal times its share This is why, when you leave out a low-calorie food such as vegetables or tripe, the total grams go down: the calories stay the same, but the meat that takes their place has more of them. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why does the calculator add eggshell and cod liver oil? Because without additions a BARF bowl usually has little calcium compared with phosphorus, and little vitamin D. Meat is rich in phosphorus and poor in calcium, and the calcium in raw meaty bones varies a lot from piece to piece. Eggshell powder brings about 38% calcium; cod liver oil brings vitamin D and vitamin A. The calculator doses these additions to reach the FEDIAF minimum without going over the maximum ratio of calcium to phosphorus. In puppies this matters more: too much calcium or too little causes problems in growing bones. ### Can a puppy or a nursing bitch be raw fed? Yes, but this is where mistakes cost most, because needs are higher and change quickly. For them the calculator uses the growth and reproduction columns of the FEDIAF guidelines, with higher minimums and tighter limits on calcium and phosphorus. A German study of 95 home-made raw rations for adult dogs found minerals or vitamins out of range in about six cases out of ten. So with puppies and nursing bitches the diet should be written and followed by a veterinary nutritionist: the calculator helps you understand the orders of magnitude, it does not replace one. ### Why is there no pork? Raw pork can pass Aujeszky's disease to dogs, and in dogs it is always fatal. In Italy the virus still circulates in wild boar and in some pig farms, so we left it out of the list on purpose. Home freezing is not enough to make it safe, and the same goes for raw cured pork and scraps of uncooked pork. In its place the calculator offers beef, chicken, turkey, duck, lamb, horse, rabbit and venison, to be bought from a butcher you trust and frozen before use, as explained in the article on BARF. ## The number is checked on the dog As with kibble, no formula knows the dog in front of it. You should feel the ribs with a flat hand without pressing. If you can no longer feel them, cut the ration by 10%; if you can see them, raise it by 10%. Weigh a puppy every week, on the same scales. [ BARF: when we use it and when we don't Why kibble stays our base, the meat, hygiene and the mistakes to avoid. ](/en/barf-raw-feeding-staffordshire-bull-terrier/) ### Related articles - [BARF: when we use it and when we don't](/en/barf-raw-feeding-staffordshire-bull-terrier/) - [Kibble calculator](/en/dog-food-calculator/) - [Initial feeding: how much and how often](/en/puppy-initial-feeding/) ### Sources - [FEDIAF, nutritional guidelines for cats and dogs, 2021](https://europeanpetfood.org/self-regulation/nutritional-guidelines/) - [National Research Council, Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006)](https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/10668) - [USDA, National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 28](https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/composition-foods-raw-processed-prepared-usda-national-nutrient-database-standard-reference-release-28-0) - [USDA, FDA and ODS-NIH, Database for the Iodine Content of Common Foods (2020)](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/methods-and-application-of-food-composition-laboratory/mafcl-site-pages/iodine/) - [Dillitzer, Becker, Kienzle, British Journal of Nutrition 2011](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/intake-of-minerals-trace-elements-and-vitamins-in-bone-and-raw-food-rations-in-adult-dogs/7520574DA173F4DB29330A6F858DE0E0) ## A question about your dog's raw diet? Write to us: we will tell you how we do it, and when we prefer kibble. [Write to us on WhatsApp](/wa/393924635584?text=Hello%20Paolo%2C%20I%20used%20the%20BARF%20calculator%20and%20I%20have%20a%20question) --- Fonte: https://delpiccolodiavolo.it/en/barf-calculator/