Dog Nutrition: A Guide to Essential Dog Food Nutrients

What is a ‘complete and balanced’ dog food?

A complete and balanced dog food contains all the necessary nutrients in the correct proportions for a specific life stage, such as growth or maintenance.

This definition is tied to nutrient standards and labeling regulations set by:

• AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) in the U.S. and Canada.
• FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation) in Europe.

Both draw on scientific research and are based on data from the NRC (National Research Council).

What nutrient standard should dog foods meet? AAFCO, FEDIAF, or NRC?

Nutrient standards from recognized authorities help ensure that commercial dog foods provide the essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients dogs need for each life stage

• AAFCO – A nonprofit that sets uniform definitions, labeling rules, and nutrient profiles for pet food. While it doesn’t regulate or test products directly, most U.S. states adopt AAFCO standards into law.
• FEDIAF – Europe’s counterpart to AAFCO. Its nutrient tables often differ slightly, sometimes setting higher allowances for certain vitamins and minerals, reflecting additional research and a more conservative nutritional approach.
• NRC – A scientific authority, not a regulatory body. Publishes the Nutrient Requirement of Dogs and Cats, which is considered the gold standard by many nutritionists and veterinarians. This publication is the basis for the AAFCO and FEDIAF publications and nutrient profiles.

Despite numerical differences, AAFCO, FEDIAF, and NRC all aim to ensure that a dog’s diet delivers every essential nutrient in the correct amounts for its intended life stage.

While WSAVA does not set nutrient standards, its Global Nutrition Guidelines help veterinarians assess whether a food is formulated and manufactured to high-quality, evidence-based standards.

How foods prove “complete and balanced” status

States often adopt AAFCO’s standards and guidelines when creating their pet food regulations. AAFCO compliance can be achieved through two primary methods:

• Nutrient Formulation: This method involves a laboratory analysis to ensure that the food's recipe contains the required levels of each nutrient. While this approach is often faster and less expensive, it does not inherently prove the bioavailability of nutrients or the food's real-world performance in animals.
• Feeding Trials: This method involves feeding the food to a group of dogs under controlled conditions for a specified period to ensure it supports their health and well-being. This approach provides real-world validation of nutritional adequacy but is more costly and time-consuming due to specific protocols.

Many experts consider NRC’s recommendations to be the gold standard, with AAFCO and FEDIAF functioning as region-specific regulatory baselines.

Life stage nutrition and special feeding needs

A dog's nutritional needs change significantly over its lifetime, requiring different caloric and nutrient profiles at each stage of growth.

Puppies

Puppies require roughly twice the calories per pound of body weight compared to adult dogs due to rapid growth. They also need more protein, fat, and specific minerals to support development.

Large and giant breed puppies have more restrictive nutritional needs, even compared to other puppy breeds sizes. For example, there is narrower limits for calcium levels in the food, to avoid bode malformations. 

Additionally, large and giant breeds puppies should not grow as fast as they can to avoid bone malformation. While this might be counter intuitive, slowing their growth means that they will take longer to reach adult weight and size, but they will have well formed bones, instead of bone issues.

Adult dogs

Adult dog's needs are also somewhat variable. This means that depending on the dog's activity level, body weight, spay or neutered status, and other healthy issues the amount of food provided needs to be adjusted to prevent weight gain.

Large vs. small breed dogs

• Large/Giant breeds: Mature more slowly (up to 2 years), requiring careful calcium and phosphorus management during extended growth.
• Small breeds: Reach adulthood sometimes before 1 year of age and often present dental issues later in life due to having a longer life span

Overweight dogs

There are many over-the-counter weight maintenance diets and veterinary diets for weight loss. 

The main nutritional strategy of these diets is to decrease the amount of fat (since it is the most energy density macronutrient in the food) and increase the fiber (since is the one of the lowest calorie macronutrient in the diet). 

There are some challenges that pet parents experience when feeding these diets to dogs. Usually these diets aren't as palatable, which causes food refusals or decreased food intake because of the different flavor and aroma profile of these diets compared to non-specialized dog foods.

Dogs with health conditions

Specialized diets may be necessary for dogs with sensitive stomachs, allergies, or other health concerns.

Additionally, there might be the need to feeding a veterinary diet (prescribed by your dog's veterinarian) to address specific diseases your dog might have.

Senior dogs

Senior dogs are not a life stage currently recognized by AAFCO.

Nutrient density, which is the amount of essential nutrients per calorie, is essential at every life stage. An optimal diet provides the right balance of protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals without overfeeding or underfeeding calories.

How much should I feed my dog?

A dog’s feeding needs depend on weight, activity level, neutered/spayed status, environment the dog is in, and the body condition of the dog. 

A good starting point is to follow the recommended feeding guidelines on the back of the package of the dog food. From there, you should watch your dog's weight and if your dog loses weight, you can increase the amount of food by 10% to 20%, if your dog gains weight, you can adjust the amount by 10% less.

Different dogs have different dietary needs. For example, you may need a food that is very high in calories for working dogs, hunting dogs, sled dogs, puppies, or gestating/lactating moms. However, for most dogs, that spend their days deciding if they sleep on the couch or the bed, their energy needs aren't as high and don't need a food that is nutrient dense (especially high calorie foods). 

The benefit of foods that aren't calorie dense for these low activity level dogs is that they need to consume higher quantities of food to meet their energy needs. This helps them to feel satiated and decrease the begging behaviors, since their bellies are full. 

Some strategies to help these pets is to feed high moisture foods, like wet or fresh foods. These foods are highly palatable and because of their high moisture, they help these pets to feel satiated.

How often should I feed my dog?

Feeding frequency should be adjusted based on a dog’s age, lifestyle, and health, as it impacts digestion, metabolism, and even behavior. 

Most adult dogs thrive on two meals per day, spaced 8–12 hours apart. For young puppies, it can be recommended to feed them more meals a day. This is because puppies have a very high energy need to support their growth, and don't have a fully developed stomach. 

Puppy feeding schedule (by age)

Because puppies are growing rapidly and have smaller stomachs, they need to eat more often than adult dogs. A feeding schedule helps them get the energy and nutrients they need without overwhelming their digestive system:

• 6–8 weeks: Every 2–3 hours once able to eat mom’s food. It is a common practice to feed mom's food to very young puppies, but the food should be mixed with a lot of water. 
• 8 weeks–3 months: Feed the puppy 4 to 5 times a day. This is when the pet parents should start to decrease the amount of water in their puppy's food until no water is added to their food.
• 6–10 months: Transition to 2 meals a day. For large and giant breed puppies it might be beneficial to continue 3 meals a day until they are at least 8 months old.
• 10+ months: 2 meals a day.

Adult dog feeding frequency

Adult dogs usually do well with two meals per day – one in the morning and one in the evening. This routine supports stable energy levels and digestion throughout the day.

• Typical schedule: Two meals per day, morning and evening.
• Large breeds: Two smaller meals are especially important because they can help reduce the risk of gastric dilatation-volvulus (bloat), a serious medical emergency.

Senior dog feeding needs

As dogs age, their nutritional needs and eating habits change. Many senior dogs benefit from diets that are easier to digest and tailored to support joint health, energy balance, and overall well-being.

• Nutrient support: Senior formulas often include higher protein, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and joint-support supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin.
• Meal preferences: Older dogs, especially small breeds, may prefer softer foods if they’re missing teeth or have gum sensitivity. Smaller, more frequent meals can also support digestion.

Why a consistent feeding schedule matters

Keeping a regular feeding schedule supports digestive health, weight management, and behavioral stability. Irregular feeding times can lead to stomach upset, and habits like excessive begging. A consistent routine helps regulate metabolism and promotes overall well-being. Routine feeding times also help with routine bathroom breaks, helping pet parents with potty training and house training.

Fresh dog food vs. raw vs. kibble

The choice of feeding format – fresh, raw, or kibble – directly affects a dog’s nutritional intake, and digestibility. Each option comes with unique characteristics, benefits, and trade-offs that pet owners should understand before deciding.

Kibble

Kibble is the most common and widely available dog food format. It is usually made through extrusion, but it can also be made through baking. When extruded, the ingredients are subjected to high temperatures and pressures. When baked, the ingredients are subjected to high temperatures only.

• Pros: Shelf-stable, convenient, widely available, generally lower cost.
• Cons: Kibble can be less palatable than other pet food formats. It might not be the most appropriate food in cases of dogs that have sensitive gums or don't have all their teeth in good condition.

Raw food

Raw diets are made from uncooked, minimally processed whole ingredients like muscle meat, organ meats, and bones.

• Pros: Highly palatable diets.
• Cons: Requires careful handling for food safety reasons. Because the ingredients aren't cooked, if they contain any microorganism (pathogenic or not) it is not killed. These food formats have a shorter shelf life to help ensure food safety.

Fresh food (gently cooked)

Fresh pet foods are cooked foods that should be refrigerated or frozen

• Pros: Highly palatable and easy to chew.
• Cons: Requires refrigeration, and if the food is not consumed in less than 30 minutes it should be disposed of to prevent digestive upsets due to spoilage of microorganisms.

Understanding digestibility and bioavailability in dog food

• Digestibility of the food is measured by estimating how much nutrients were consumed in the food minus how much was eliminated in the poop. For example, if the dog ate 100g of protein and there was 10g of protein in the poop, that means that 90% was digested. Digestibility is usually measured for protein, fat, and energy, and does not measure if the nutrients were absorbed by the animal.
• Bioavailability refers to how much of a nutrient is actually utilized by the dog — meaning digested, absorbed, and put to use.

The use of the amino acids to build muscle, make enzymes, hormones, or neurotransmitters combined with the digestibility and absorption is what we call bioavailability.