Here at Visionary, we know that dogs should be powered by fat and protein - not carbs. This knowledge, along with our industry-leading research into canine diets conducted with our non-profit partner KetoPet, has led us to develop our range of products.

But sometimes such products aren’t an option - maybe finances are tight, maybe you’re on vacation away from your normal pet food store, or maybe you just want to know exactly what goes into your furry friend’s dinner!

Not to worry, because we’ve been studying what keeps dogs healthy and what doesn’t for years, and we’re ready to break down the best keto dog food recipes for you!

But first, the obvious:

Why Feed Dogs a Keto Diet?

First things first, and it’s an important one:

Dogs have zero nutritional need for carbohydrates.

Carbs don’t benefit dogs. Ever.

So why are the vast majority of dog foods high in carbohydrates?

There’s a simple, and frankly disturbing answer - carbs are cheap and easy to manufacture. And if you make cheap, high-carb dog food, people will buy it.

The simple fact is that most mainstream dog foods are the equivalent of giving your pet junk food, day in and day out. And even worse than that, many dogs are highly sensitive to carbohydrates, and eating them can cause symptoms such as:

• Bloating or gas

• Itchiness and skin issues

• Lethargy and loss of energy

• Frequent, runny poop

The ideal dog food should be adequate in protein, high in fat, very low in carbohydrates, 

Most homemade keto dog food recipes online give you an ingredient list and leave out the part that actually matters: how much, for what size dog, and whether the bowl is nutritionally complete.

This guide gives you four recipes with exact grams, the calorie and macronutrient breakdown for each, a scaling chart by dog weight, and an honest section on what a meat-and-fat bowl is missing.

We've been researching canine ketogenic diets since 2014 alongside our non-profit partner KetoPet, which fed and monitored ketogenic diets in hundreds of dogs. The recipes below use that work.

Quick answer

A ketogenic diet for dogs is roughly 70% fat, 25–30% protein, and under 5% carbohydrate, measured as a share of calories — not as a share of weight. For most dogs, that means fatty meat plus a small amount of added fat and a spoonful of low-carb vegetables.

A 50lb adult dog needs about 1,150 kcal a day. That's roughly 14oz (400g) of 80/20 ground beef plus a tablespoon of coconut oil.

Why feed a dog a keto diet?

Dogs have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates. They can synthesize the glucose they need from protein and fat, which is why the National Research Council sets no minimum carbohydrate requirement for dogs.

Most commercial dry food is nonetheless 30–60% carbohydrate by calories. The reason is manufacturing economics, not nutrition: starch is what holds an extruded kibble together, and it's the cheapest calorie in the bag.

For a fuller treatment of the evidence, see what the science says about carbs in your dog's diet and what ketosis actually is.

Talk to your vet first if your dog is a puppy, pregnant or nursing, has pancreatitis or a history of it, has kidney or liver disease, or is on medication for diabetes. Ketogenic diets are high in fat, and a dog with pancreatitis should not be started on one without veterinary supervision.

How much food does your dog need?

Start with the maintenance energy requirement:

RER = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75 MER = 1.6 × RER for a typical neutered adult dog

Every recipe below is written for a 50lb adult dog. Multiply each ingredient by the figure in the right-hand column for your dog.

These are starting estimates, not prescriptions. An active working dog may need 30% more; a senior couch dog 20% less. Weigh your dog every two weeks for the first two months and adjust. If you can't feel the ribs easily under light pressure, reduce the portion by 10%.

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This article is educational and isn't a substitute for veterinary advice. Talk to your vet before changing your dog's diet, especially if your dog is a puppy, pregnant or nursing, or has a history of pancreatitis, kidney, or liver disease.

Recipe 1 — Raw beef and coconut oil

The simplest place to start, and the one we'd recommend for a first attempt.

Ingredients (50lb dog, one day)

• 400g (14oz) ground beef, 80/20
• 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil
• 30g shredded red cabbage

Method: Combine in a bowl and mix evenly. Feed as one meal or split into two.

Per day: ~1,145 kcal · 75% fat · 24% protein · ~1% carbohydrate

Recipe 2 — Chicken thigh and ghee

Chicken thigh is leaner than 80/20 beef, so it needs more added fat to stay in keto range.

Ingredients (50lb dog, one day)

• 420g (15oz) boneless chicken thigh, skin on, raw or lightly cooked
• 2 tbsp (28g) ghee
• 30g green beans, finely chopped

Method If cooking, poach or bake gently — don't fry, and never feed cooked bones. Cool before serving. Stir the ghee through while the meat is still warm.

Per day: ~1,140 kcal · 72% fat · 27% protein · ~1% carbohydrate

Recipe 3 — Pork shoulder and beef tallow

A useful rotation protein for dogs that have been on beef or chicken a long time.

Ingredients (50lb dog, one day)

• 400g (14oz) ground pork shoulder
• 1.5 tbsp (20g) beef tallow, melted
• 30g broccoli, finely chopped or lightly steamed

Method: Melt the tallow, pour it over the pork, and mix it through. Chop the broccoli finely — large florets tend to come back up.

Per day: ~1,150 kcal · 74% fat · 25% protein · ~1% carbohydrate

Recipe 4 — Salmon and avocado oil

Higher in omega-3s than the others. Good for dogs with dry skin or dull coats. Use once or twice a week rather than daily, and use farmed or previously frozen salmon — never raw wild Pacific salmon, which can carry the parasite responsible for salmon poisoning disease.

Ingredients (50lb dog, one day)

• 400g (14oz) salmon, skin on, boneless
• 2 tbsp (28g) avocado oil
• 30g cabbage or green beans

Method: Bake or poach the salmon, check carefully for pin bones, flake, and mix with the oil and vegetables.

Per day: ~1,150 kcal · 73% fat · 26% protein · ~1% carbohydrate

The part most recipe articles leave out: completeness

Every recipe above is nutritionally sound in macronutrients and will keep a dog in ketosis. None of them is a complete diet on its own.

A bowl of muscle meat, added fat, and a green vegetable is reliably short on:

• Calcium — the single biggest gap. Muscle meat contains almost none, and the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in a meat-only bowl is badly inverted. Long-term, this causes skeletal problems, and it occurs most rapidly in growing dogs.
• Iodine — no common ingredient above supplies it
• Vitamin E — and the requirement rises as dietary fat rises, so keto diets need more, not less
• Zinc, manganese, and copper — muscle meat is a poor source of all three
• Vitamin D — dogs can't make meaningful amounts through their skin the way humans can

Fed for a week or two, this doesn't matter. Fed as the everyday diet for months, it does.

Three honest options:

1. Add a canine vitamin-mineral balancer formulated for homemade diets. Follow the dosing on the product for your dog's weight.
2. Have a recipe formulated for your dog by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist. This is the gold standard, costs a few hundred dollars once, and gives you something you can feed indefinitely.
3. Feed a complete commercial keto food and use homemade bowls as a topper, a travel option, or a fallback.

We're going with option 3, so treat that as a disclosed interest. But we'd rather tell you the bowl is incomplete than let you feed it for a year, assuming otherwise.

What to avoid entirely

• Grains of any kind — corn, wheat, rice, oats, maize
• Potatoes and sweet potatoes
• Fruit and any added sugar
• Peas, lentils, and chickpeas — high-carbohydrate, legume-heavy diets are the ones implicated in the grain-free and DCM discussion
• Onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, xylitol, macadamia nuts, and chocolate — these are toxic to dogs, not merely high-carb
• Cooked bones of any kind

Approved substitutions

Proteins: ground beef (80/20 or 85/15), ground pork, chicken thigh with skin, turkey thigh, lamb, duck, salmon, sardines, beef heart. If you switch to a leaner cut, add fat to compensate — that's the whole trick.

Fats: coconut oil, beef tallow, ghee, unsalted butter, duck fat, avocado oil, olive oil, MCT oil. Introduce MCT oil slowly; too much, too fast, can cause loose stools.

Vegetables (keep to roughly 5% of the bowl): broccoli, green beans, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, spinach, and asparagus.

How to transition your dog

Switch over in 7–10 days rather than overnight. Day 1–3, 25% new food. Day 4–6, 50%. Day 7–9, 75%. Day 10, fully switched.

Loose stools during transition are common and usually mean the fat increase outpaced the dog's adjustment. Back off a step for a few days.

You can confirm your dog has entered ketosis with a blood ketone meter — the same type used by humans. Above roughly 0.3 mMol indicates nutritional ketosis. Most dogs get there within three to seven days.

Frequently asked questions

How much keto food should I feed my dog per day? Start at 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75 × 1.6 calories per day, then adjust based on body condition after two to four weeks. For a 50lb dog, that's about 1,150 kcal.

Can I cook the meat, or does it have to be raw? Either works. Cooking doesn't meaningfully change the macronutrient ratio. Cook gently rather than searing hard, cool before serving, and never feed cooked bones.

Is a keto diet safe for puppies? Growing puppies have stricter, less forgiving calcium and phosphorus requirements than adults. Don't feed a homemade keto diet to a puppy without a formulated recipe from a veterinary nutritionist.

How long before I see a difference? Most owners report energy and stool changes within two to three weeks. Coat changes take longer, usually six to eight weeks, because that's how long the coat takes to grow.

Can I feed this to a dog with pancreatitis? Not without veterinary supervision. These are high-fat diets recognized as triggers for pancreatitis in susceptible dogs.

Is homemade cheaper than commercial keto food? Usually not, once you include a balancer. Homemade wins on control over ingredients, not on cost.

Closing

If you want to make it yourself, use the recipes above, scale them to your dog, and add a balancer. If you'd rather not weigh meat every morning, our ketogenic dog food range is formulated to the same macronutrient targets, with micronutrients already included.

Questions on any of this — email us at info@visionarypet.com, and we'll help.

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Veterinary disclaimer
The content on this page is provided for general educational purposes and reflects our research and experience formulating ketogenic diets for dogs. It is not veterinary advice, diagnosis or treatment, and it isn't tailored to any individual animal.

Always consult a licensed veterinarian before making changes to your dog's diet, particularly if your dog has an existing health condition or is taking medication. The homemade recipes here are not formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles for complete and balanced canine nutrition and are not intended as a sole diet without added supplementation, as described above. If your dog shows signs of illness, contact your veterinarian.