80/20 diet What is 80/20 dog food? A plain-English guide to the ratio

80/20 dog food is a recipe made with roughly 80% meat and fish ingredients and 20% other ingredients, such as vegetables, fruit, herbs, and botanicals. The percentages are measured by weight as the ingredients go into the recipe, before cooking, which is why two "80/20" foods can look quite different once you read the label closely.

Here's what the numbers measure, how to read them, and how to tell whether an 80/20 recipe suits your dog.

The short answer

• The 80 is meat and fish ingredients. That can include fresh meat, dried meat, fish, and animal fats or oils.

• The 20 is everything else. Usually vegetables, fruit, herbs, botanicals, vitamins, and minerals.

• It isn't 80% protein. It's an ingredient ratio, not a nutrient figure.

• It isn't a legally defined term. It's a description recipe makers use, so the label tells you more than the name.

• It isn't the same as raw feeding. "80/20" started in raw feeding, but it's now used for dry, cold-pressed, and wet food too.

How the 80% is actually counted

Pet food in the UK follows what's known as the mixing bowl principle. Each ingredient is declared by its weight at the moment it's added to the recipe, before any cooking (FEDIAF, 2019). Dried or concentrated ingredients are declared at their dried weight.

That has a knock-on effect. Fresh meat is mostly water, and much of that water cooks off when dry food is made. So the 80% describes the recipe going into the bowl, not the finished food in your dog's bowl.

It also explains a line you'll see from us: it takes around 2.5kg of raw ingredients to make 1kg of our dry food. The weight that disappears is mostly water, not meat.

Why "80% meat" and "60% fresh" can both be true

You might see a food described as 80% meat that also mentions a smaller "freshly prepared" figure. Both can be accurate. The fresh figure counts only the fresh meat, while the 80 also includes dried meat or fish, which is already concentrated before it goes in.

Fresh vs dried meat: reading the split on a label

Ingredients on UK pet food labels are listed in descending order by weight, and any ingredient a recipe highlights must show its percentage (UK Pet Food). That makes the first few ingredients the place to look.

Here's our Free Run Chicken dry recipe as a worked example:

• Chicken (66%) is fresh chicken, weighed raw. Much of its water leaves during cooking.

• Dried Chicken (14%) has already had most of its water removed, so gram for gram it carries far more chicken protein than fresh chicken does.

• Together, they make the 80. The split shows you the meat is coming from both forms, not from one ingredient doing all the work.

When you compare foods, look for named meats ("chicken" rather than "meat and animal derivatives") and whether fresh and dried forms are listed separately. Our Salmon dry recipe follows the same pattern, with Salmon (64%) and Dried Salmon (16%).

What makes up the other 20%

In our dry recipes, the 20 is our Superfood Blend™: fruits, vegetables, herbs, and botanicals such as sweet potato, apple, cranberry, blueberry, carrot, parsley, and seaweed. It also includes the vitamins and minerals that round out the recipe.

The 20 isn't filler. It supplies fibre, carbohydrate for energy, and a range of plant compounds, and its makeup still shapes how a recipe performs. Our dry recipes also contain peas and chickpeas within that 20. If you've read about pulses and heart health, our guide is grain free better for dogs? sets out where that research stands. You can read more about what goes into the blend in our Superfood Blend™ guide.

Does 80/20 mean 80% protein?

No. The 80 tells you about ingredients, while protein appears separately on the label as "crude protein" under analytical constituents. Crude protein is a lab estimate of total protein, worked out from the food's nitrogen content.

Comparing protein between wet and dry food can mislead, because wet food contains far more water. The fair way is the dry matter basis, which means comparing foods as if all the water had been removed:

Dry matter protein = crude protein % ÷ (100 − moisture %) × 100

A hypothetical example:

• A dry food with 30% protein and 8% moisture: 30 ÷ 92 × 100 = about 33% protein on a dry matter basis.

• A wet food with 10% protein and 78% moisture: 10 ÷ 22 × 100 = about 45% protein on a dry matter basis.

On the label, the wet food looks lower in protein. Once the water is taken out of the equation, it's higher.

80/20 across different food formats

Raw feeders also use other ratios. Our guide to 80/10/10 raw dog food explains that model, and what is raw dog food? covers raw feeding more broadly.

Whatever the format, the word that matters most is "complete". A complete food is designed to be enough for a daily ration on its own, while a complementary food only works alongside other food (FEDIAF, 2019).

Why feed a meat-led recipe?

When dogs from five breeds were offered foods they could mix freely, they settled on a diet providing about 30% of energy from protein, 63% from fat, and just 7% from carbohydrate (Hewson-Hughes et al., 2013). That points to a natural pull towards meat-rich, fat-rich food.

Two caveats keep this in proportion:

• Preference isn't a prescription. The study was run at a pet food manufacturer's research centre, used small groups, and measured choice, not long-term health.

• Dogs digest carbohydrate well. They've evolved more copies of a starch-digesting gene than wolves have (Axelsson et al., 2013), so plant ingredients have a proper place in the bowl.

Meat-led recipes can also suit dogs who do better when they know exactly what they're eating. Most food reactions in dogs are triggered by proteins such as beef, dairy, and chicken (Mueller et al., 2016), so a recipe built around one named meat or fish makes it easier to spot and avoid a trigger. Our guide to the best protein for dogs compares the options.

Some dogs need a different approach, including those with kidney or liver conditions. If your dog has a health condition, check with your vet before changing their food.

How to choose an 80/20 food

• Named proteins first. Look for a specific meat or fish with a declared percentage.

• Fresh and dried listed separately. It shows how the 80 is made up.

• The word "complete". And check it matches your dog's life stage.

• A protein your dog does well on. One named protein makes this easier to manage.

• A feeding guide in grams. Meat-rich recipes are nutrient-dense, so weighing beats scooping.

How AATU's ratios work

• 80/20 dry recipes: 80% Meat and Fish Ingredients and 20% Superfood Blend™, cooked in small batches using our Low and Slow™ method, which helps lock in nutrients.

• Wet recipes: up to 90% Meat and Fish Ingredients for dogs who enjoy a wetter meal.

• A named protein at the heart of each recipe, such as Free Run Duck or Free Run Turkey.

Explore our dry recipes, wet recipes, or the full high protein dog food collection. If you'd like to try a few proteins before choosing one, the wet variety pack is a good place to start.

FAQs

Is 80/20 dog food good for dogs?

It can be a good choice for many healthy dogs, as long as it's a complete food suited to their life stage. The ratio tells you a recipe is meat-led, but ingredient quality and how your dog does on it matter more than the number alone.

Is 80/20 dog food complete?

Not automatically. 80/20 describes the ingredient ratio, while "complete" means the food provides everything your dog needs as a daily ration. Check the label for the word "complete" before feeding it on its own.

Is 80/20 dog food suitable for puppies?

Only if the label says it's formulated for puppies or for all life stages. Puppies need a recipe made for growth, and large-breed puppies need carefully controlled calcium and energy. Our puppy recipes and guide to feeding large breeds are a good starting point.

Is 80/20 dog food good for fussy eaters?

Some fussy dogs take to meat-led recipes more readily, though every dog is different. Trying a small bag or a mixed pack first is a sensible way to see which protein your dog prefers before committing to a larger bag.

How much 80/20 food should I feed my dog?

Follow the feeding guide on the pack and weigh portions in grams, as meat-rich recipes are nutrient-dense and scoops can be inaccurate. Keep an eye on your dog's body condition and adjust with your vet's guidance if needed.

What is the difference between 80/20 and 80/10/10?

80/20 usually means meat and fish ingredients plus plant ingredients, while 80/10/10 is a raw feeding model of 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat with no plant ingredients. 80/10/10 meals are often complementary rather than complete, so they may need other foods added to balance them.

Can I mix 80/20 dry food with wet food?

Yes, as long as both are complete and the combined portion suits your dog's daily needs. Many owners use a little wet food as a topper for flavour and moisture, reducing the dry portion to keep the total in balance.