Rheas Raw Knowledge Hub
What Does 80/10/10 Mean? Complete Raw Feeding Explained
80/10/10 is one of the first terms you will come across in raw feeding. Here is what the numbers actually mean, and why it matters when you are choosing a meal for your dog.
What does 80/10/10 mean?
80/10/10 describes the rough makeup of a meal: around 80% meat, 10% edible bone and 10% offal. It is a widely used model in raw feeding because that balance broadly mirrors what a dog would get from eating a whole prey animal, without needing to actually feed whole carcasses.
Why the ratio matters
Each part of the ratio does a different job. Meat provides the bulk of the protein. Edible bone supplies calcium and phosphorus in a naturally balanced form, which is important for a dog fed raw food day to day. Offal, particularly liver, is dense in vitamins and minerals that are harder to get from meat alone. Get the balance right across a meal, or across a week of meals, and you have the basis of a nutritionally complete diet.
Complete versus complementary, what is the difference?
This is where 80/10/10 really matters in practice. A meal labelled as complete, including most 80/10/10 recipes, is formulated to be fed as your dog's whole diet, on its own, day after day. A complementary product, tripe, mince, bone broth, single cuts and so on, is meant to be fed alongside other food rather than as a full diet by itself. Checking whether a product is labelled complete or complementary tells you how to actually use it, and it is worth checking on every product you buy rather than assuming.
Single protein or mixed protein 80/10/10?
You will find 80/10/10 meals made from a single protein, such as chicken or beef on its own, and mixed protein recipes that combine two or more meats in one meal. Single protein recipes are often a useful starting point if you are introducing raw food for the first time or checking for a sensitivity, while mixed recipes add variety once your dog is settled.
Getting started with 80/10/10
If you are new to raw feeding, an 80/10/10 meal is one of the simplest places to start, since the balance is already worked out for you. Our beginner's guide covers the basics of getting started, and our feeding amount guide will help you work out how much to feed based on your dog's weight and activity level.