Raw Dog Food for Puppies: How Much and What?

In terms of raw dog food for puppies – how much do they need to eat, and what do they eat?

That’s what one of my readers, Lisa, recently asked me because she wants to transition her 3 month old Cane Corso puppy Amber to raw dog food.

It’s a legitimate question because raw feeding puppies is a little different than raw feeding adult dogs.

Puppies need more raw dog food because they’re still growing. Their daily food intake also needs to be balanced for that same reason.

I say that because it’s OK to balance adult raw dog food over the course of 7-10 days.

For example, it’s fine to feed adults more bone one day and none the next. For puppies, that approach doesn’t work.

Either way, I gave Lisa a customized answer with amounts of food that pertain to her puppy Amber’s weight, but this is the gist of it!

Raw Dog Food for Puppies: How Much and What?

Feed 10-2% Of Current Body Weight From 8 Weeks – 12 Months

There are a few different approaches of calculating puppy feeding amounts, but I personally think this one is the easiest to follow.

• 2 months old puppy: Feed 10% of your puppy’s current body weight
• 3 months old puppy: Feed 9.5%
• 4 months old puppy: Feed 9%
• 5 months old puppy: Feed 8%
• 6 months old puppy: Feed 7%
• 7 months old puppy: Feed 6%
• 8 months old puppy: Feed 5%
• 9 months old puppy: Feed 4%
• 10 months old puppy: Feed 3.5%
• 11 months old puppy: Feed 3%
• 12 months old puppy: Feed 2.5%

After that, your pup can be fed like an adult dog. That said, his daily food intake will be somewhere between 2-4% of his adult target body weight.

Why does the percentage vary between 2-4%?

Because the exact amount depends on your dog’s size and lifestyle.

A couch potato needs a lot less food than a dog who walks daily, an athlete working dog or pregnant pup.

Balanced Raw Food Diet for Puppies: What Does It Consist of?

OK, so the next step is to understand what those daily percentages consist of.

If you’re following the BARF approach, raw dog food for puppies consists of:

• 58% muscle meat (of that, 10% should be oily fish for the healthy fats)
• 17% raw meaty bone
• 14% secreting organs (7% liver, 7% other secreting organ)
• 11% plant matter (8% veggies & fruit, 2% nuts & seeds)

Note: Bone allowance typically tapers toward 10% by adulthood, so remember to work your way down gradually as your puppy turns older. Here’s how I did that at 9 months old with my Lab puppy Pepper.

Just FYI, the BARF raw feeding formula for adult dogs is the following:

• 70% muscle meat (10% of that is oily fish)
• 10% raw meaty bones (RMBs)
• 10% secreting organs (5% liver, 5% other secreting organ)
• 10% plant matter (8% veggies & fruit, 2% nuts & seeds)

That said, here’s 2 tips:

(1) Dogs don’t have the enzyme necessary to break down plant cell walls, so in order to properly digest plant matter, you need to feed it puréed (fruit) and lightly steamed (veggies like broccoli, kale, cauliflower).

(2) Until 16 weeks of age, you can add a mix of raw goat milk, some slippery elm syrup, a few drops of fish oil, a raw egg and a little yogurt.

The picture below features the very first raw dog food meal my 3 month old Labrador puppy Pepper had when she moved in with me. It’s a premade puppy formula that I added a little slippery elm to:

If you’re following the PMR approach, raw dog food for puppies consists of:

• 69% muscle meat 
• 17% raw meaty bone (including furry or feathered heads for fiber)
• 14% secreting organs (7% liver, 7% other secreting organ)

Remember to decrease the bone allowance as your puppy turns older. Once they hit adulthood, they only need around 10% of daily bone.

Just FYI, the PMR raw feeding formula for adult dogs is the following:

• 80% muscle meat (10% of that is oily fish)
• 10% raw meaty bones (RMBs)
• 10% secreting organs (5% liver, 5% other secreting organ)

Below’s my 3 month old Lab puppy Pepper with her 8 year old Feist-mix brother Wally:

Muscle Meat for Puppies

Muscle meat are cuts of meat like:

• Breasts
• Stew meat
• Hearts
• Lungs
• Gizzards
• Tongue
• Green tripe, and
• Trims

Raw Meaty Bones for Puppies

Raw meaty bones are cuts like:

• Heads
• Wings
• Feet
• Necks
• Frames
• Backs

For example, chicken feet, duck necks, and rabbit heads are raw meaty bones.

They consist of a certain amount of bone and muscle meat.

• Heads: 75% bone, 25% muscle meat
• Chicken and duck necks w/o skin: 50% bone, 50% muscle meat
• Chicken neck with skin: 45% bone, 55% muscle meat
• Turkey necks: 40% bone, 60% muscle meat
• Feet (duck and chicken): 60% bone, 40% muscle meat
• Pork feet: 30% bone, 70% muscle meat
• Rabbit front legs: 15% bone, 85% muscle meat
• Duck leg: 34% bone, 66% muscle meat
• Chicken wings: 45% bone, 55% muscle meat

Raw meaty bones that are great to feed for young puppies until 4 months of age are chicken wings and necks as well as duck feet and quails.

Here’s a wonderful video from veterinarian Dr. Tom Lonsdale where he feeds 4 toy poodle puppies raw meaty bones (quail) for the first time, and they instinctually know what to do.

Fun fact: I had a video conversation with Dr. Lonsdale and his vet friend Dr. Clarke-Williams about the benefits of raw meaty bones in general.

Secreting Organs for Puppies

These are organs that secrete a substance, like liver, pancreas, thymus, kidneys, uterus, and brains.

Half has to be liver, and the other half needs to be a different secreting organ.

You can learn more about secreting organs for dogs here.

Daily BARF Feeding Amounts for a 4 Month Old Cane Corso Puppy Who Weighs 35 lb

The 4 month old puppy who weighs 35 lb will eat 9% of her body weight in raw dog food per day.

That’s 3.15 lbs or 50.4 oz in total raw dog food per day. Not sure what your own puppy’s numbers would look like?

You can feed 3 daily meals until the puppy’s 6 months old. At 6 months of age, I recommend feeding two meals per day.

Of that:

• 29.2 oz = 58% muscle meat (of that, 10% should be oily fish for the healthy fats)
• 8.6 oz = 17% raw meaty bone
• 7 oz = 14% secreting organs (7% liver, 7% other secreting organ)
• 5.6 oz = 11% plant matter (8% veggies & fruit, 2% nuts & seeds + kelp)

Example BARF Raw Dog Food Recipe

This is an example of what you can feed the puppy in one day:

• 10 oz beef heart
• 3.3 oz green lamb tripe
• 3 oz sardines
• 21.5 oz of turkey neck (= 8.6 oz bone & 13 oz muscle meat)
• 3.5 oz beef liver
• 3.5 oz beef spleen
• 5.6 oz The Honest Kitchen Veggie, Nut & Seed Base mix

Sardines are easy to source at most grocery stores. Canned sardines in water are fine!

You can find turkey necks, beef heart, beef spleen, beef liver and green lamb tripe at Raw Paws Pet Food.

Use my affiliate discount code K9Savings for 15% off anything you order from them.

Raw Dog Food For Puppies: Pre-Made or Homemade?

In a nutshell, this comes down to personal preference and/or budget.

Homemade Raw Dog Food

If you’re looking to save money on raw dog food, you’ll want to make your own raw meals for your puppies.

Especially if you’re feeding multiple pups because the price of raw adds up quickly when you feed more than one, especially large, pup.

Pre-Made Raw Dog Food

If you’re just getting started with raw, it’s easier to buy pre-made raw for the first few weeks while you’re figuring out homemade raw dog food.

That way, you don’t have to worry about the right nutritional balance.

But don’t skimp out on raw meaty bones because they offer so many awesome dental and also mental benefits!

That’s how I personally got started too when I switched my then Boxer mix pups Missy and Buzz to raw back in 2015.

I first fed Darwin’s and Raw Paws Pet Food.

Raw Food Diet for Puppies from Raw Paws Pet Food

I recommend Raw Paws Pet Food for your first few weeks of your puppy’s raw dog food needs.

They have a very convenient monthly supply pack for puppies up to 6 months of age, and break it down in weight, as they should.

So for example, they have a 30 day monthly supply pack for a:

• 10 lb puppy
• 20 lb puppy
• 30 lb puppy
• 40 lb puppy
• 50 lb puppy

These supply packs consist of ground beef and chicken that’s ready to be fed as is.

Note: You do have to add kelp and oily fish to make it complete. If you don’t want to feed the oily fish, you’ll need to use fish oil to balance out the Omega-3 fatty acids as well as cod liver oil as a Vitamin D source.

All that’s left to do is thaw and serve. Super easy and convenient.

Save 15% with my affiliate code K9Savings.

Ingredients of Signature Chicken:

Chicken Breast, Chicken Leg Quarters, Chicken Heart, Chicken Organ, Chicken Liver, Chicken Gizzard, Chicken Backs

Ingredients of Signature Beef:

Beef Round, Beef Inside Round, Beef Head Meat, Beef Heart, Beef Kidney, Beef Liver, Beef Spleen, Beef Tongue, Beef Bone

These packs only consist of meat and don’t feature any plant matter.

If you want to add some, you can purée and steam your own.

Or you can add some of Dr. Harvey’s grain-free Paradigm (includes kelp).

The Honest Kitchen’s Veggie, Nut & Seed Base Mix works too (also includes kelp).

It’s a dehydrated veggie and herb base mix. All you have to do is add water and serve.

Another alternative is Green JuJu (no kelp on the ingredient list though).

That one you don’t even have to rehydrate. Just thaw, scoop, and serve.

Super easy.

Raw Dog Food for Puppies: Bottom Line

Now you know why and how raw dog food feeding amounts are different for puppies than they are for adult dogs!

Remember that the ratio of raw meaty bones to muscle meat, secreting organs and optional plant matter is different for puppies than that of adult dogs.

If you skipped over the raw meaty bone feeding videos, I warmly recommend you scroll back up and watch them.

They’ll help you overcome the fear of feeding raw meaty bones to puppies, plus they’re just adorable to watch.

In the videos, they’re eating raw turkey necks and quail.

If you’re just getting started with raw feeding, it’s totally fine to feed premade raw dog food for puppies for the first few weeks while you’re learning how to make your own.

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

For more resources, visit my full homemade raw dog food guide.

Related Reading

• How to keep raw dog food affordable
• Raw dog food meal prep for beginners
• 10 easy ways to puppy-proof your home
• Raw dog food with vegetables: yes or no?
• Best training treats for tiny dogs & puppies
• How much raw dog food for sporting dogs?
• How to feed raw kidneys to dogs and puppies
• What does balanced raw dog food consist of?
• List of US dog breeders who feed raw dog food
• Easy raw dog food feeding charts & worksheets
• 6 ways to socialize your puppy for mental fitness!
• How to combine house-and crate training puppies
• How to figure out how much raw dog food to feed
• Raw feeding Dalmatians – can they eat raw dog food?

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.