Claims of life expectancy decline in dogs have recently flooded the internet. They are wrong. Maybe. No one knows. Bluntly speaking, without normalizing the dataset for breed and country, average and even median values are irrelevant.
Consider Chihuahuas and other equivalent sized breeds. With an average lifespan of 15 years, they make up 50% of the dog population in 2025. If by 2030 the popularity of these small breeds declines, ceteris paribus, the average lifespan will decrease. Would this imply a quality of life degradation? No, but it would certainly be used to relieve you of your fiat.
We all want what's best for our dogs. Unfortunately, the unabating CogSec onslaught we're exposed to makes curation a challenging task for all but the most determined first principles thinkers, and who among you has not been misled by an "expert"?
I recall in Europe, on a trip to the vet, being asked how much my dog ate. A strange thing to ask, but given previous episodes of gross negligence I actually knew the exact number of calories. "1,400 calories." The vet was dumbfounded. "I know nothing about calories, just tell me how many grams," which brings us to the topic at hand: Diet.
Before anything else, let's address the elephant in the room: raw vs cooked, which one is better? If nature is anything to go by, raw. Lindy. Easy prep. With two considerations: do you have access to fresh (fish should still be frozen for 48h) or flash frozen food? Do you know how to properly shift your dog's microbiome and gut pH to digest raw food optimally?
However, not all dogs want to eat raw after a lifetime of kibble or cooked food. The good news is that... it doesn't matter! Marginal digestibility improvements aside, hitting your micro and macronutrient targets is the crux of the matter. (But kibble? Big no no--sticks to their teeth, and is bland, homogenous slop!)
Formulating a Species Appropriate Diet
Nowadays, if you were to launch a dog brand there is one guideline to go by: the AAFCO. The AAFCO standardizes a lot of things, but perhaps the most important one is their nutritional guidelines.
The savvy pet owner of today looks for the AAFCO-compliant seal of approval. HOWEVER--yes, you knew it was coming--it might upset you to find out that, beyond specific micronutrient ratios, AAFCO's standards are largely useless, as they only establish what many consider to be the bare minimum for a pet food to be deemed "appropriate", while ignoring the existence of troublesome ingredients like our beloved seed oils and rancid fish oils!
So, if you're like me and you want to maximize both the life- and the healthspan of your replacement ch-, I mean dog, then look no further. I gotchu. It's "cheap" (within reason) too.
Ratios worth obsessing over
| Compound | AAFCO | Us |
|---|---|---|
| Calcium : Phosphorus | 1:1 to 2:1 | 1:1 to 2:1 |
| Omega-6 : Omega-3 | <= 30:1 | 4:1 to 1:1 |
| Calcium : kcal | 2.5-4.5 g Ca per 1,000 kcal | 2.5-4.5 g per 1,000 kcal |
| Methionine : Glycine | N/A | 1:2 |
| Zinc : Copper | N/A | 10:1 |
| Sodium : Potassium | N/A | 1:1 to 1:2 |
| Iron : Copper | N/A | 10 to 20 : 1 |
| Calcium : Magnesium | N/A | 10 to 12 : 1 |
| Vitamin E : PUFA | N/A | 1 mg per 1 g |
| Iodine : Selenium | N/A | 4 to 5 : 1 |
The fact that AAFCO only lists three (3!) of them is a testament to their incompetence.
Nutritional value aside, let's briefly touch on feeding frequency. My belief is that one meal a day is lindy. Dogs are scavengers. They go on long periods without eating, hunting down their prey. They are natural born fasting machines. No one talks about this, but personally I feed my dog once a day. It's (probably) better and a lot more convenient and lower effort than doing it multiple times a day. But I have yapped for too long.
So without further ado, the recipe, feat, a neat calculator for your DAWGS.
So how do we know how many calories? Simple. Pick a number that looks right based on your dog's average diet. Stick to it for a week and then weigh your dog. It's possible the dog's basal metabolic right will increase, but whatever happens, adjust from there. Dog lost 1 lb? Increase by 100 and repeat the experiment. Dog gained weight? Subtract.
Recipe Calculator
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
This is the non-negotiable part of your dog's diet. The goal is to get a full spectrum amino acid profile with a low glycine:methionine ratio for proper methylation, as well as all complete B-complex, retinol, and DHA from omega-3. While it also contains a high density of minerals, we finetune it later on. | |
Despite being a complete source of protein, as joint-adjacent tissue, chicken gizzards are rich in collagen and elastin (reads: glycine and GHK-Cu), joint-friendly building blocks that will push your dog's healthspan to the maximum. | 320 g |
This is the mitochondrial support food. Period. Yes, it packs a decent amount of B-complex vitamins, all of them here do. Yes, bioavailable iron, but the mitochondrial boosters I want to highlight are CoQ10, Taurine, and selenium. Hearts provide the full cofactor set for complex I through IV and cytochrome activity. As you would expect from the most mitochondria-rich organ in the body. | 220 g |
Your foremost source of retinol and minerals, the liver. It has retinol, but not in absurd amounts like other livers, so toxicity is not really a concern. It is also loaded up with iron, copper, zinc, manganese, selenium, chromium, and molybdenum. It is nature's multivitamin and full spectrum mineral supplement all-in-one. | 50-100 g |
DHA. EPA. Calcium and phosphorus in the correct ratio (hydroxipatite). These are the compounds we care about here. DHA is life. Mitochondria thrive on it. Opsins too. Immunoregulation (not suppression, sorry peaters!). DHA. In the sn-2 position. Consume it. | 100 g |
Choline. More DHA. Tasty. Why not? | 1 egg |
Oil to cook. Do not do too much and do not try to saute with extremely high heat. Medium is excellent. It boosts the metabolism and is low deuterium. Gud fat. | 1 tbsp |
| Additions | |
To taste. With a 2:1 potassium to sodium ratio, season as you would your own food. We want to intensify the flavor but also provide our doggos with potassium. Don't be shy. Make it tasty. | To taste |
In the days of old, canines would meet their fiber requirements via fur. Personally, I am partial to bunny ears. Unfortunately, they are nearly impossible to find in most American pet stores, so we do sprouted chia instead. Not a must have but a good to have. | 1 pinch |
Variable, very important. The thing about dogs is that they're extremely sensitive to the ratio between calcium and phosphorus, so see the accordion notes below before you go full send. | 5 ml |
| Supplements | |
Dogs do not synthesize their own vit D from the sulfation of cholesterol, they get it by consuming animals that do. This is extremely important to ensure your dog can actually utilize the high amounts of calcium you gave them. | 2000 IU |
Blocks lipid peroxidation from PUFA without wiping out ROS signaling and upregulates both angiogenesis and osteoblast activity. Beautiful fur AND strong bones? Great. Try to space it out from Vit K as E may in some cases precipitate dumping of K. Unlikely to happen at this dose. | 100 mg |
It's a great source of sulfur, it decreases joint inflammation, and is a core building block of fur. Just do it. | 2 g |
You already know. It's great. Spam it. Methylation, joint health, tranquility. | 5 g |
Parsley/Cilantro/Cumin/Oregano/Basil/Turmeric. Any permutation depending on what the doggo likes. Switch it up. Don't. Up to you. And the dog. | 1 pinch |
Putting it all together
- 1.Frying pan. Reasonable amount of coconut oil goes in. Medium heat. Throw in the hearts and gizzards. Season with your LoSalt and herbs. Cover.
5 mins.
- 2.Add liver(s). Cover.
3 mins.
- 3.Add egg. If you have smelts instead of canned fish, add them too. Cover.
1.5 mins. Cooked whites, sunny side up almost raw yolk is what you're looking for.
- 4.Remove!
- 5.On a plate, add your bone meal, glycine, MSM. Pour the food on top. If you're using canned fish, add it too. Add your vitamin D3+K2 and your sprouted chia.
10 mins. Serve.
If you're a top tier dog master, you will further give your dog a small serving of yogurt. Probiotics and shit.
Cook's notes, stool checks, and other paranoia
Calcium
- Start bone meal at 5 ml per 1,200 kcal and adjust only after reading stool quality the next morning; firm stools mean dial it down by 1 ml, loose stools mean add 0.5 ml.
- If diarrhea persists for 3+ days go to the veterinarian immediately and ask for treatment for pancreatitis using corticosteroids or the dog may develop EPI.
Dental health
- This diet is considerably better for dental health than zogslop pet food. However, there are no miracles. Or if there are, I've personally never witnessed one. So since we don't use intact bones, it is imperative that you give your dog a raw bone, bully stick, or some non-raw-hide, non-plastic chewable AT LEAST every other day.
Vitamin C
- Unlike us, dogs synthesize their own vitamin C. However, it doesn't hurt to add a bit of it to the diet if you're concerned about joint health or fur quality (it is a known collagen synthesis booster) in the form of a kiwi every now and then.
Macro Snapshot
The table below is an estimate. Food's nutritional content is not hard coded in nature and prone to variation, but it is a good approximation. Your meal column is normalized to 1,000 kcal (originally ~1,200 kcal).
On top of this, the water that your dog drinks is not included in the table below. Personally, I spike mine's water with a pinch of magnesium chloride for good measure, 500mg of L-theanine if I'm anticipating a stressful day for her. Try it! Oh, and NO tap water unless you have a powerful filtering system.
| Nutrient | AAFCO ADULT | Your Meal |
|---|---|---|
| Calories (kcal) | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Protein (g) | 45 | ~115-120 |
| Fat (g) | -- | ~32-35 |
| Calcium (g) | 1.25 | ~0.9-1.6 |
| Phosphorus (g) | 1.00 | ~1.4-1.6 |
| Ca:P (ratio) | 1.0-2.0 | ~0.6-1.1 |
| Sodium (g) | -- | variable (iodized LoSalt) |
| Potassium (g) | -- | ~1.3-1.7 |
| Magnesium (mg) | -- | ~150-180 |
| Manganese (mg) | -- | ~0.8-1.7 |
| Zinc (mg) | 20 | ~15-20 |
| Iron (mg) | 13-20 | ~17-21 |
| Copper (mg) | 1.8 | ~7.5-8.5 |
| Selenium (mcg) | 80 | ~150-200 |
| Iodine (mcg) | 300 | variable (iodized LoSalt) |
| Vitamin A (mcg RAE) | 375 | ~2,600 (~8,600 IU) |
| Vitamin D (IU) | 125 | ~1,400-1,600 |
| Vitamin E (mg) | 5.625 | ~83 |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone, mcg) | -- | low |
| Vitamin K2 (MK-4, mcg) | -- | ~25-50 |
| Thiamin (B1, mg) | 0.56 | ~0.75-0.9 |
| Riboflavin (B2, mg) | 1.30 | ~3.0-3.8 |
| Niacin (B3, mg) | 3.40 | ~33-42 |
| Pantothenic acid (B5, mg) | 3.00 | ~8-12 |
| Pyridoxine (B6, mg) | 0.38 | ~2.1-2.9 |
| Biotin (B7, mcg) | 7.5 | ~125-170 |
| Folate (B9, mcg DFE) | 90 | ~380-460 |
| Vitamin B12 (mcg) | 7.0 | ~55-63 |
| Choline (mg) | 340 | ~750-920 |
| Fiber (g) | -- | ~3.3 (1 tbsp chia seeds) |
| Taurine (g) | -- | ~0.25-0.4 |
| Methionine (g) | -- | ~1.5-1.8 |
| Cystine (g) | -- | ~1.0-1.3 |
| Met + Cys (g) | -- | ~2.5-3.1 |
| Glycine (g) | -- | ~6.7-8.3 |
| Arginine (g) | -- | ~5-6.5 |
| Leucine (g) | -- | ~8.5-10 |
| Lysine (g) | -- | ~7.5-9.2 |
| Threonine (g) | -- | ~4.2-5.0 |
| Tryptophan (g) | -- | ~1.1-1.3 |
| Phenylalanine + Tyrosine (g) | -- | ~7.5-9.2 |
| Histidine (g) | -- | ~2.5-3.3 |
| ALA (g) | -- | ~0.08-0.25 |
| LA (g) | -- | ~2.5-5.0 |
| AA (Arachidonic acid, g) | -- | ~0.17-0.33 |
| EPA (g) | -- | ~0.6-0.8 |
| DHA (g) | -- | ~0.7-0.9 |
| Omega 3 (g) | -- | ~1.3-1.7 |
It might look like a lot of work, but it's quick as most of it is spent waiting around (doing other things). It costs me roughly $130/mo to do this. Could probably do it for $100. I have a 32 lb high energy working Border Collie that requires 1,200 kcal/day. Your mileage may vary!
You might not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like. And if made this your own diet, you would probably peak too.