The Nutrient Profile of Popular Dog Food Ingredients
We’ve put together a useful table below for those making up their own raw dog food. It will be particularly useful to people formulating diets for dogs suffering kidney disease and pancreatitis.
For kidney disease in dogs, the key is to watch phosphorus contents. Low is good, high is bad. There are two columns with phosphorus in it, just use the one on the far right (phosphorus per 100Kcal of food item). Items below 150mg of phosphorus per 100kcal of food item is recommended. I’ve coloured them green (low phosphorus, below 100mg), orange (medium phosphorus, 100-150mg) and red (high phosphorus, 150mg+)
These figures should in no way be taken as an absolute. They are very approximate figures taken from the USDA Nutrient Database which will vary by cuts and sources of meat, if wild or farmed, how it’s handled etc. This database is a fabulous resource for looking up the nutrient content of practically any food item on the planet. I have included the most popular food items for dogs below. Values for protein, fat and carbs are grams per 100 grams. Values for Calcium and Phosphorus are milligrams per 100 grams.
I have included values for cooked meat also, largely out of interest to show you the difference cooking can make but also as I know some of you out there are cooking for your dogs. A point of note though, for anyone preparing food for dogs with kidney disease or pancreatitis, I urge you to feed the meat ingredients raw. Feeding them cooked meat is part of the cause of the issue in the first place.
| FOOD | PROTEIN | FAT | CARBS | KCAL | CALCIUM | PHOS | PHOS/ 100 KCAL |
| 100g of MEAT, RAW (i.e. with water) | |||||||
| Ground Beef (20% fat) | 17.2 | 20 | 0 | 254 | 18 | 158 | 62 |
| Ground Beef (10% fat) | 20 | 10 | 0 | 176 | 12 | 184 | 105 |
| Beef Tripe, Green | 13.3 | 12.8 | 1.7 | 212 | 100 | 130 | 61 |
| Chicken, Dark Meat and Skin | 16.7 | 18.3 | 0 | 237 | 11 | 136 | 57 |
| Chicken (breast meat) | 21.2 | 1.2 | 0 | 114 | 5 | 210 | 184 |
| Ground Turkey (7% fat) | 18.7 | 8.3 | 0 | 150 | 21 | 193 | 129 |
| Ground Pork (28% fat) | 14.9 | 28 | 0.1 | 314 | 16 | 132 | 42 |
| Ground Lamb | 16.6 | 23.4 | 0 | 282 | 16 | 157 | 56 |
| Ground duck meat and skin | 11.5 | 39 | 0 | 404 | 11 | 139 | 34 |
| Fish, white | 17.7 | 1 | 0 | 85 | 14 | 201 | 236 |
| Fish, oily (eg Sardine) | 22 | 10 | 0 | 158 | 57 | 236 | 149 |
| Salmon | 22.3 | 4.7 | 0 | 131 | 9 | 257 | 196 |
| 100g of MEAT, COOKED (i.e. with water removed) | |||||||
| Ground Beef (20% fat) | 24 | 15.9 | 0 | 246 | 26 | 205 | 83 |
| Ground Beef (10% fat) | 25.2 | 10.7 | 0 | 204 | 15 | 216 | 106 |
| Ground Turkey (7% fat) | 27.1 | 11.6 | 0 | 213 | 31 | 259 | 122 |
| Chicken, Dark Meat and Skin | 26 | 15.8 | 0 | 253 | 15 | 168 | 66 |
| Chicken Breast (skinless) | 31 | 3.6 | 0 | 165 | 15 | 228 | 138 |
| Ground Pork (28% fat) | 22.6 | 31.4 | 0 | 377 | 20 | 181 | 48 |
| Ground Lamb, broiled | 24.8 | 19.7 | 0 | 283 | 22 | 201 | 71 |
| Ground duck meat and skin | 19 | 28 | 0 | 337 | 11 | 156 | 46 |
| Beef Heart | 28.5 | 4.7 | 0.2 | 165 | 5 | 254 | 154 |
| 100g of ORGAN, RAW (i.e. with water) | |||||||
| Beef Heart | 17.7 | 3.9 | 0.1 | 112 | 7 | 212 | 189 |
| Beef Liver | 20.4 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 135 | 5 | 387 | 287 |
| Beef Kidney | 17.4 | 3.1 | 0.3 | 99 | 13 | 257 | 260 |
| Chicken Liver | 16.9 | 4.8 | 0.7 | 119 | 8 | 297 | 250 |
| Chicken Hearts | 15.6 | 9.3 | 0.7 | 153 | 12 | 177 | 116 |
| Turkey Liver | 18.3 | 5.5 | 0 | 128 | 20 | 279 | 218 |
| Turkey Hearts | 16.7 | 7.4 | 0.4 | 140 | 18 | 183 | 131 |
| Duck Liver | 18.7 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 136 | 11 | 269 | 198 |
| 100g of RAW MEATY BONES | |||||||
| Chicken Necks (with skin) | 12.7 | 16.7 | 0 | 267 | 700-840 | 420-870 | 242 |
| Chicken Necks (w/o skin) | 15.6 | 11.1 | 0 | 152 | 890-1580 | 500-1415 | 630 |
| Chicken Backs (with skin) | 15.4 | 15.8 | 0 | 208 | 740-1300 | 480-970 | 349 |
| Chicken Backs (w/o skin) | 16.1 | 7.2 | 0 | 137 | 1500 | 840 | 613 |
| Chicken Wings (with skin) | 17.5 | 15.3 | 0 | 244 | 620-1150 | 430-660 | 223 |
| Chicken Legs (with skin) | 17.2 | 11.4 | 0 | 187 | 770-1190 | 540-690 | 329 |
| Whole Chicken (with meat) | 13.8 | 12.3 | 0 | 192 | 723 | 456 | 237 |
| Turkey Necks (no skin) | 17 | 7.9 | 0 | 116 | 1190-2590 | 670-1390 | 888 |
| Rabbit (whole, skinless) | 17.8 | 5.8 | 0 | 125 | 500-800 | 370-690 | 424 |
| 100g of TINNED FISH (i.e. with water removed) | |||||||
| Sardines (canned in tomato, drained) | 18.6 | 9.3 | 0.7 | 166 | 214 | 326 | 196 |
| Tuna (canned in water, drained) | 23.6 | 3 | 0 | 128 | 14 | 217 | 170 |
| Pink Salmon (canned, drained) | 23.1 | 4.8 | 0 | 136 | 277 | 365 | 268 |
| Mackerel (canned, drained) | 23.2 | 6.3 | 0 | 156 | 241 | 301 | 193 |
| 100g COOKED VEGETABLES | |||||||
| Sweet Potatoes (boiled w/o skin) | 1.4 | 0.1 | 17.7 | 76 | 27 | 32 | 42 |
| Sweet Potatoes (baked, no skin) | 2 | 0.2 | 20.7 | 90 | 38 | 54 | 60 |
| Potatoes (boiled) | 1.7 | 0.1 | 20 | 86 | 8 | 40 | 47 |
| Winter Squash (Acorn, Butternut, etc) | 0.9 | 0.4 | 8.9 | 37 | 22 | 19 | 51 |
| Canned Pumpkin (plain) | 1.1 | 0.3 | 8.2 | 34 | 26 | 35 | 103 |
| Broccoli (boiled, drained) | 2.4 | 0.4 | 7.2 | 35 | 40 | 67 | 191 |
| Spinach (steamed, drained) | 3 | 0.3 | 3.8 | 23 | 136 | 56 | 243 |
| Carrots (boiled, drained) | 0.8 | 0.2 | 8.2 | 35 | 30 | 30 | 86 |
| Peas (boiled, drained) | 3.8 | 0.2 | 7.1 | 42 | 42 | 55 | 131 |
| 100g of DAIRY | |||||||
| Whole Milk Yogurt | 3.5 | 3.3 | 4.7 | 61 | 121 | 95 | 156 |
| Whole Milk Kefir | 3.3 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 61 | 120 | 100 | 164 |
| Cottage Cheese | 12.5 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 103 | 60 | 132 | 128 |
| EGGS | |||||||
| 2 large (100 grams approx.) | 12.6 | 9.9 | 0.8 | 147 | 53 | 191 | 130 |
