See the math behind your dog’s homemade food.

Your recipe. Our math. Real answers.

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Real USDA Data
Marks which numbers are exact and which are estimates
Honest Dog Nutrition badge: a happy dog with its paws up on a food bowl, surrounded by real ingredients like beef, salmon, carrots, and spinachOur approach →
Real ingredient data
Search the USDA Foundation Foods and SR Legacy database directly — typo-tolerant, ranked by relevance, and scoped to whole foods rather than branded products.
Foundation + SR Legacy
NRC 2006 comparison
Every recipe is compared against published NRC requirements for your dog’s actual life stage, sorted by what needs attention first.
Life-stage specific
Confidence, not false precision
Every ingredient weight is tagged known, worked out or guessed — and that honesty carries through to the nutrient summary.
Known / Worked out / Guessed
A real report

See what the engine actually finds

The recipe as written
Turkey, brown rice & sweet potato
27 of 40 targets met
Calcium : phosphorus 0.15:1 (too low)
Calcium15% of targetBelow NRC minimumi
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)78% of targetBelow NRC minimumi
Vitamin D13% of targetBelow AAFCO minimum*i
Zinc58% of targetBelow AAFCO minimum*i
IodineNot listedi
Protein (crude protein)295% of target✓ Meets targeti
Add ½ tsp eggshell powder
Same recipe, plus calcium
28 of 40 targets met
Calcium : phosphorus 1.30:1 (in range)
Calcium131% of target✓ Meets targeti
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)78% of targetBelow NRC minimumi
Vitamin D13% of targetBelow AAFCO minimum*i
Zinc58% of targetBelow AAFCO minimum*i
IodineUnder 1%Partly countedi
Protein (crude protein)295% of target✓ Meets targeti

* AAFCOi minimums are used only where NRC 2006 gives no minimum for the dog's life stage. They come from AAFCO's 2014 nutrient profile table and haven't yet been checked against the current AAFCO Official Publication.

These are samples, not feeding advice. Sample recipe for a 30 lb adult dog. Calculated by the Honest Dog Nutrition engine from USDA FoodData Centrali and NRC 2006i · updated Oct 21, 2026.Try it yourself →

Not sure what a label means? See what each label means.

How to read your results

  1. Below NRC minimumfix
  2. Below AAFCO minimum*fix
  3. Below recommendedworth fixing
  4. Almost thereclose
  5. ✓ Meets targetgood
  6. Near limitdon’t add more
  7. Over limitchange it

Where the targets come from

NRC (National Research Council): the main scientific reference for how much of each nutrient dogs need. Our main source.

AAFCO*: the standard commercial dog foods use. We use its minimums only where NRC doesn’t set one for your dog’s life stage.

More about our sources →

Partly counted / At least X%
An ingredient doesn’t list this nutrient, so we count what we know and show “At least X%”. Not a pass and not a fail.
Not listed
None of the ingredients list this nutrient, so there is no number to show.
Your vet’s limit
A limit your vet gave you, used in place of the standard safe upper limit for your dog.
Check first
The block at the top of a summary: anything near or over a limit, and a balance out of range. Look at it before the gaps.

See all labels →

How it works

From pet profile to a nutrient-checked recipe

01
Set up a pet profile
Weight, body condition, life stage, and activity level determine the actual calorie and nutrient targets your dog needs — not a generic average.
02
Build the recipe
Search or paste an existing recipe, confirm each ingredient match yourself, then enter each amount in ounces, or in cups and spoons as well as grams.
03
Check the nutrient summary
See exactly where the recipe stands against real targets — what’s adequate, what’s low, and what’s close to a safe upper limit.
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