PAWSMENU · PRACTICAL GUIDE
Dog food and feeding: from meals to the diary.
Track homemade meals, dry dog food, wet food and treats in one diary. PawsMenu also uses your dog’s profile to calculate homemade menu quantities. Planning and recording consumption are separate tasks.
Open the dog meal plannerThe meal planner is available in English and Turkish.
Make each food entry understandable
Choose the matching food
For homemade dog food, select the ingredient or saved menu and check its preparation description. For commercial pet food, match the exact product and market. A similar name is not enough to establish that the label values are the same.
Record the eaten grams
Log consumed amounts, including treats, under the appropriate meal. Exclude leftovers. Enter individually weighed homemade ingredients in eaten grams; the diary adds them together.
Check the source values
Match the energy unit: kcal per 100 g and kcal per kg are different label formats. Enter the stated value with its matching unit. Record protein only when appropriate source information is available; missing values should remain unknown.
Dry food, wet food and homemade meals
These foods share a diary, but their weights are not interchangeable. Select the corresponding record. If a commercial product is absent from the catalog, save a personal label record with its exact name, source and available values.
Keep the dog’s profile current
For a young, adult or senior dog, use current weight, age, life stage and activity details. Growth profiles require additional information shown in the planner. Update the profile when these details change instead of carrying an old estimate into a different stage.
What the nutrition calculation means
PawsMenu uses NRC energy and protein references for supported dog profiles. Food-composition records describe the selected ingredients. These calculations support meal review within animal nutrition; they do not confirm that every nutrient requirement is met. Generated menus are not verified as complete and balanced and must not be the sole daily food.
Before you use the diary
- Can I use this for cat food?
- PawsMenu’s calculator is for dogs. It does not provide cat menus or cat requirement formulas. Do not use a dog’s calculation as a feeding target for a cat.
- What if a label has incomplete information?
- Do not fill gaps by guessing. Missing energy or protein makes the corresponding diary total incomplete. For protein fields, use manufacturer-declared typical values on an as-fed basis; do not substitute guaranteed minimums or dry-matter figures.
Understand the quantities in your bowl
Read daily and per-meal amounts, then record what your dog actually ate.
Sources and calculation scope
Requirement references and food composition come from different sources. Read how PawsMenu applies them and where the calculation has limits.