How To Easily Balance Homemade Raw Dog Food

Does this sound familiar: How do I balance homemade raw dog food without having to buy a billion different things?

That’s what a K9sOverCoffee newsletter subscriber mentioned as their biggest raw feeding challenge.

And that’s fair, because many highly nutritious raw dog food bowls that you see online are made with a plethora of raw dog food ingredients.

So today, I’m sharing a few hacks that let you balance homemade raw dog food more easily.

Here’s my advice – and just FYI, I’ll include two different approaches – one for beginners, and one for more advanced raw feeders.

How To Easily Balance Homemade Raw Dog Food

What Is Balanced Raw Dog Food?

First off, what exactly IS balanced raw dog food?

Well, a balanced raw food diet for dogs refers to raw dog food that can be fed as is. That means, without the addition of any toppers or other supplements for raw dog food.

In short, it’s a complete raw food for dogs that doesn’t lack in any nutrients.

Now, many raw feeders don’t love this term.

That’s because what’s balanced for one dog may not be considered balanced for another dog.

For example, a dog with cancer who’s on a Keto diet won’t be eating more than 5% in starchy foods.

So that raw dog food bowl with the addition of 10-15% pumpkin puree and boiled sweet potato won’t work for him.

Likewise, a dog with purine intolerances has to eat a low-purine diet with white meats and no organ meats.

Of course that will look different from a dog who has no problems with purines.

You get the gist – balanced raw dog food can mean different things depending on the dog it’s made for!

So, you’ll have to take YOUR dog’s particular nutritional needs into consideration when you’re making balanced raw meals for them.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #1: Use Base Mixes With Meat And Oils

This is my first suggestion and the easiest one I can think of.

All you need for this is the following:

• A base mix that you rehydrate with water or bone broth. For example, Dr. Harvey’s Paradigm or The Honest Kitchen’s grain-free veggie, nut & seed base mix.
• Raw meat. This can be ground meats or chunked meat from the grocery store.
• Oils. Like a fish oil, olive oil, or sesame oil.

That’s the approach I used before I learned how to make raw dog food with a variety of different raw dog food ingredients.

Convenience Tip: You can also add base mixes to manufactured prey model raw dog foods.

You know, the kind you buy premade from brands that don’t have any synthetic supplements added to them.

Raw Paws Pet Food carries several of those:

• Signature Blend Beef Recipe: Beef Round, Beef Meat, Beef Bone, Beef Heart, Beef Tongue, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, Beef Spleen, Beef Suet (= fat).
• Signature Blend Chicken Recipe: Chicken Breast, Chicken Leg Quarters, Chicken Heart, Chicken Backs, Chicken Liver, Chicken Gizzard.
• Signature Blend Duck Recipe: Whole Duck, Duck Necks, Duck Liver, Duck Gizzards.
• Signature Blend Turkey Recipe: Turkey Meat, Turkey Breast, Turkey Frames, Turkey Heart, Turkey Liver, Turkey Gizzards, Turkey Fries (=testicles).
• Signature Blend Goat Recipe: Goat Meat, Goat Heart, Goat Tongue, Goat Bone, Goat Liver, Goat Kidney, Goat Spleen.
• Signature Blend Lamb Recipe: Lamb Meat, Lamb Heart, Lamb Tongue, Lamb Tail, Lamb Liver, Lamb Kidney, Lamb Spleen.
• Signature Blend Pork Recipe: Pork Meat, Pork Heart, Pork Tongue, Pork Bone, Pork Lung, Pork Liver, Pork Kidney, Pork Spleen, Pork Pancreas.
• Signature Blend Venison Recipe: Venison Trim.

Tip: Save 15% on anything from Raw Paws Pet Food with my affiliate discount code K9Savings.

Next up is an approach for making homemade raw dog food from scratch.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #2: Mix White Meats And Red Meats

White and red meats have different levels of nutrients, so it’s best not to feed just one type.

Here’s what’s considered white meats:

• Duck
• Quail
• Turkey
• Goose
• Rabbit
• Chicken

And the following are considered red meats:

• Pork
• Goat
• Beef
• Bison
• Lamb
• Beaver
• Camel
• Venison
• Kangaroo

To keep this as simple as possible and if I HAD to decide on just two for my dog, I’d pick turkey and venison because Wally does well with both.

Why might it work for YOUR dog?

Because both are lean meats and more than half of dogs in the US are obese, so there’s more than a 50% chance that your pup is, too.

Nutrients In Ground Turkey

Also, ground turkey is naturally rich in Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid) and less dogs are allergic to turkey than they are to chicken, for example.

Vitamin B9 is important for your dog’s DNA and their blood cells.

Note: Yes, rabbit is even richer in Vitamin B9, but it’s also a lot more expensive.

Plus any grocery store carries ground turkey, so it’s a lot easier to source than rabbit.

Nutrients In Venison

And regarding the nutrients in venison, it’s naturally rich in iron, zinc and choline.

Iron helps carry oxygen throughout your dog’s body and helps with energy production.

Zinc is important for a healthy immune system and your dog’s thyroid.

Choline is important for muscle contraction and cell membrane health.

You can either buy raw venison online from raw dog food retailers, hunt it yourself or get it FREE from wildlife processors if there’s any where you live.

Raw Dog Food Retailers Who Carry Venison

In the States, I’m aware of the following raw dog food retailers who carry venison:

• Raw Paws Pet Food. Their wild-caught ground venison trim is muscle meat. Get 15% OFF with my affiliate discount code K9Savings.
• Raw Feeding Miami. They have chunked venison trim and boneless ground venison. Get 10% OFF your first order with my referral discount link.
• Hare Today. They have a variety of different cuts of venison.

Wildlife Processors

Wildlife processors aren’t allowed to sell you their deer and other wild game, but they are allowed to give it away.

Back when I lived in the States, I made friends with a wildlife processor in NC who gave me deer organ meats like heart and liver, and also legs.

I wouldn’t feed the bone on the legs because they’re pretty tough and too hard for dog teeth, but you can cut the flesh off and feed that.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #3: Add Oily Fish

If you won’t be feeding any secreting organs like brains and eyes that are naturally rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, you’ll have to feed your dog an oily fish.

This can be herring, mackerel, salmon, (canned) sardines or anchovies.

Regarding the salmon and other fish from the Pacific Northwest, make sure you freeze it for 3 weeks prior to feeding it.

That gets rid of a potentially deadly parasite. To be on the safest side, avoid fish from the Pacific and feed Atlantic fish instead.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #4: Add Lamb Liver

Lamb liver has the highest amount of Vitamin A in comparison to liver from chicken, beef, pork, duck and turkey.

So if you want to use only one type of liver, go for lamb liver.

You can obviously use raw lamb liver, or treat your pup with dehydrated or freeze-dried lamb liver (Bundle Deal: 3 for the price of 2).

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #5: Add Pork Kidney

You’ll need to feed a second secreting organ besides the liver.

And since pork kidney is fairly easy to source from ethnic grocery stores (Asian and Mexican), that’s easy enough.

It also has a decent amount of B Vitamins.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #6: Add Turkey Necks or Chicken Wings

Your homemade raw dog food diet still needs a calcium and phosphorus source in form of a raw meaty bone.

Of course you can also grind it too, but that means that your pup won’t get the all the oral benefits of eating whole raw meaty bones.

But that’s a choice you have to make.

Either way, both turkey necks and chicken wings are very easy to source as any grocery store has them.

Turkey necks are going to be a better option for medium to large dogs, and chicken wings will be better for smaller dogs.

Balancing Homemade Raw Dog Food Tip #7: Add Spinach, Ground Almonds, Eggs & Kelp

Spinach and almonds are a great source of iron, Vitamin A (spinach) and Vitamin E (almonds).

Eggs are naturally rich in Vitamin D and choline. You can either feed chicken eggs, quail eggs or duck eggs. Even goose eggs, but those are much harder to source.

When you can, opt for eggs from pastured hens as their Vitamin D content is a lot higher than eggs from hens who are never exposed to sunshine.

And what about kelp? Well, kelp is a great source of fiber and iodine as well as other essential trace minerals. Now, if you feed whole raw fish on a regular basis, you won’t need to add any kelp, just FYI.

How To Easily Balance Homemade Raw Dog Food: Bottom Line

So there you have it!

To recap, the absolutely easiest way to balance homemade raw dog food is going to be with a base mix.

For example, the kinds from Dr. Harveys or The Honest Kitchen. There are also options from Sojos and Grandma Lucy’s.

Just do a search for base mix online or ask at your local pet food retailer.

All you need to do with those is to rehydrate them with water or bone broth, add your type of protein in the form of raw meats, and top them off with a healthy fat.

If you’re looking to be more involved in making homemade raw dog food, here are the 7 ingredient ideas I had for as few raw dog food ingredients as possible:

• Oily fish (mackerel, herring, sardines, anchovies, salmon)
• Turkey necks and chicken wings
• Raw turkey and venison
• Ground almonds
• Pork kidney
• Lamb liver
• Spinach
• Eggs
• Kelp

But please remember that balancing homemade raw dog food is always going to depend on what foods and protein sources your dog does well on.

If they can’t have turkey because it makes them itch and scratch, replace it by another white meat. The same goes for venison (replace it with a different red meat).

If your dog can’t have chicken eggs (like my pup Wally), replace them with quail eggs or duck eggs. Etc.

Now have fun balancing your homemade raw meals!

Please leave any comments or questions in the comment section below this blog post.

Related Reading

• Raw dog food for puppies: how much and what?
• Gizzards for dogs: How (much) to feed & more
• Do raw-fed dogs need synthetic supplements?
• How to do an elimination diet for dogs
• 2024 Animal Formulator Diet Review
• Homemade raw dog food
• Raw liver for dogs

Barbara Rivers

Barbara Rivers is the founder of K9sOverCoffee and a raw feeding educator with over a decade of hands-on experience.

She has fed raw in the US and Europe since 2015, after her Boxer mix Missy’s cancer diagnosis led her to move away from processed kibble and commit to species-appropriate nutrition.

As a former professional dog walker, she developed deep insight into canine behavior, conditioning, and the essential link between proper exercise and long-term health.

Barbara completed online training with veterinarian Dr. Marion Smart and Labrador breeder Dana Scott and works for one of Germany’s leading raw dog food brands, BARFER’S.

In 2026–2027, she is completing a year-long raw nutrition certification for dogs and cats at THP School, founded by raw feeding pioneer Swanie Simon.

Through her blog and weekly newsletter, she provides clear, experience-based guidance to help dog owners feed raw safely and confidently.