Most raw food brands hand you a bag and hope you work out the rest. A generic feeding chart on the side of the pack, a rough "2-3% of bodyweight" rule of thumb, and you're on your own for the maths. We built the raw dog food meal planner because we think that's backwards: your dog's breed, age, activity level and health goals should decide the plan, not the other way around. This is ardam, formerly CDK9 Raw, and our planner is the same tool we use internally to match real Australian dogs to real packs, not a marketing gimmick bolted on top of a generic dog food calculator Australia shoppers usually find. It takes about 60 seconds, asks real questions, and hands you a personalised raw dog food plan built from ardam's actual catalogue, not a made-up number. Here's what you're about to see: exactly how the maths works, why we ask what we ask, what happens behind each screen, and what your dog's plan looks like once it's translated into real packs on your Sydney doorstep or anywhere else in Australia.
What's actually going on under the hood
When you tell the planner your dog's breed, we pull from a reference table of more than 75 dog breeds (plus mixed-breed size bands) to prefill a sensible starting weight range. Pick "Border Collie" and the weight slider jumps to a 14-20kg range before you've touched anything. This isn't guesswork. It's the same category of breed-weight data used by veterinary resources like the MSD Veterinary Manual, cross-referenced against our own breed table. You can always drag the slider if your dog sits outside the typical range.
From there, the daily amount is calculated using the same physiological logic vets use to estimate energy needs. The standard veterinary starting point is Resting Energy Requirement, RER = 70 x (bodyweight in kg ^ 0.75), then Maintenance Energy Requirement is MER = RER x an activity factor that reflects life stage and how active the dog is. This is the same approach outlined by the MSD Veterinary Manual and taught in WSAVA's global nutritional guidelines. Our planner applies that same energy-scales-with-size logic through our own percentage-of-bodyweight tables tuned for raw feeding, adult dogs typically sit around 2-3% of bodyweight a day, puppies considerably higher because they're growing.
Activity level shifts that range by plus or minus 7%. Tell us your dog has "constant zoomies" and two things happen: the daily gram range nudges up, and the pack-size recommendation bumps to the next weight band, because a genuinely high-energy dog eating a higher-activity range deserves a pack sized for it, not just a wider number on the same pack. Life stage matters too. A puppy between two and four months old needs 8-10% of bodyweight a day across three to four meals; a fully adult dog needs 2-3% across one to two meals. We ask your dog's age band specifically so this isn't a one-size-fits-all guess.
Health goals feed into which blend we recommend, not into the maths itself. If you flag "sensitive stomach," we lean toward a gentler blend. Flag "joints & mobility" and we lean toward a blend built with joint support in mind. We won't reveal our exact recipe logic here (that's the part that stays behind the curtain), but the mapping is real, not decorative. Allergies work as a hard filter: if your dog is allergic to chicken, every chicken-based option, including the frozen range which is entirely chicken-based, is removed from your results altogether rather than quietly recommended anyway. And whatever number comes out the other end gets rounded to a pack size we actually sell, not an arbitrary decimal you'd have to eyeball with a kitchen scale. It's the difference between a generic raw feeding calculator and a raw dog food meal planner that actually knows what's in the warehouse.
Meet the four core blends
The planner doesn't just spit out a gram figure, it matches you to one of ardam's Complete range blends based on what you told it about your dog's health goals and allergies.
Complete Proactive Health is our all-rounder and best seller, a chicken and beef base built for dogs with no specific health flag, everyday wellbeing done properly. It's the default premium pick whenever the planner doesn't detect a more specific need.
Complete Digestion Support is chicken-free, built around duck and beef with pumpkin and paw paw, and it's what the planner suggests when you flag a sensitive stomach or skin sensitivity as a goal.
Complete Mobility Care is our leanest complete mix, chicken and kangaroo with sweet potato, beetroot and devil's claw root worked in. It's the pick when you flag "joints & mobility," and it's also the quiet default for senior dogs, since ageing joints are such a common focus area we don't make you tick the box.
Chicken Proactive Health is the single-protein version of our all-rounder, chicken only, for dogs that do best on one clean protein source rather than a mixed base.
The 14 steps, in plain English
The planner's progress bar moves through roughly 14 real questions depending on your dog's life stage and delivery choice, no filler steps just to pad out a progress bar. Here's what's actually happening at the screens that matter most, and if you want to try the raw dog food meal planner alongside reading this, open it in another tab.
The landing screen sets expectations before you commit a click: about 60 seconds, a reward at the end, next-day delivery. No email wall up front, because asking for an inbox before you've delivered any value is a fast way to lose someone at question one.
We ask your dog's name second, before anything technical. It's a small thing, but every screen after this one addresses your dog by name instead of "your pet," and that single design choice changes how the whole quiz feels to fill in.
Activity comes with plain-language labels, "takes it easy," "nicely active," "constant zoomies," rather than asking you to self-report a percentage you'd have to guess at. Behind the scenes each option maps to a precise plus-or-minus adjustment, but you never have to know that number to answer honestly.
This is the step we're most careful about. If your breed has a typical focus area, joints for a Labrador, skin for a French Bulldog, that option is listed first as a soft hint, but nothing is ever pre-ticked. The screen says plainly that this helps us suggest the right mix and is not a diagnosis. You decide what applies to your dog, we never assume it on your behalf.
Seven common allergens as tap-to-select chips (chicken, beef, lamb, kangaroo, fish, grain, dairy), plus a free-text "other" field for anything unusual. Whatever you select here is a hard exclusion further down the pipeline, not a soft preference the engine can override.
If you choose a variety plan rather than one fixed blend, this screen lets you allocate your dog's weeks across different mixes, useful for dogs who get bored of the same flavour, or owners who want to rotate proteins for the sake of it.
Your plan, translated into groceries
Take a 15kg adult dog on medium activity as an example. The planner works out a daily range of roughly 430 to 640 grams, which comes out to about 3.7kg a week. That range then snaps to the nearest real pack size we sell, in this case a 4-pack weekly box rather than an oddly specific decimal you'd have no way of actually buying. The range itself isn't sloppiness, it exists because body condition varies dog to dog even at the same weight and activity level; use the lower end if your dog tends to carry a little extra condition, and the higher end if you can see ribs a bit too easily. Either way, you're never staring at a number with no product behind it.
Why we ship it as fresh weekly instead of one big freezer drop
The planner defaults most dogs toward a fresh weekly delivery rather than a single bulk freezer drop, and that's a deliberate call, not a default nobody thought about. Fresh weekly means your dog's food arrives close to when it's actually eaten, with less time sitting in a freezer drawer and less risk of a chest freezer dying on you mid-month with a month of meat inside it, whether you're in Sydney or shipping regionally anywhere in Australia. You can read the full breakdown of pickup windows and postcode cutoffs on our delivery information page, and if you want the longer case for fresh over frozen generally, or why raw feeding matters at all, we've covered both in detail: why feed raw dog food and switching to raw, what to expect.
What happens after you finish the planner
Once you hit submit, your results land in your inbox within minutes, your matched blend, your daily and weekly numbers, and a code, WELCOME20, as a thank-you for finishing the whole thing (this reward is email-delivery only, so check your inbox rather than the results screen itself). If you flagged that your dog currently eats kibble, another raw brand, or home-cooked meals, you'll also get transition tips tailored to that starting point, because switching a dog's diet too fast is the most common way a genuinely good plan goes sideways in week one. If you're planning for a puppy specifically, our puppy feeding guide covers the age-band transitions in more depth than the planner's results screen has room for. Many first orders also include a small sample pack so your dog can try the recommended blend before you commit to a full weekly rhythm.
FAQ
Real questions we get about the raw dog food meal planner, answered straight.
How accurate is the raw dog food meal planner?
It uses the same energy logic vets use to estimate maintenance needs: bodyweight, life stage and activity level, then rounds to a real pack size. It's a strong starting point, not a lab-tested individual prescription, so keep an eye on your dog's body condition and adjust from there.
What if my dog's weight changes?
Run the planner again. Because the maths is based on current bodyweight and life stage, a new weight produces a new gram range and a new recommended pack size within seconds.
Can I change my plan after I get my results?
Yes. Your plan is a starting recommendation, not a lock-in. You can switch blends, change pack size, move between fresh weekly and bulk, or adjust portions any time from your account or by contacting the team.
What if my dog's allergy isn't listed?
Use the free-text "Other" field in the allergy step. It's captured with your results, and the team can help you pick a safe blend even if it falls outside the seven listed allergy chips.
Does the planner work for puppies and seniors?
Yes. Puppies get an age-banded step (2-4, 4-6, 6-8 or 8-12 months) with a higher percentage of bodyweight and more meals a day, and seniors are weighted toward joint-support blends by default, since ageing joints are a common focus area.
How is this different to a generic online dog food calculator?
Generic calculators usually stop at a gram figure. Ours also knows ardam's real product catalogue, so it rounds your result to an actual purchasable pack size and matches you to one of four specific blends based on your dog's health goals and allergies.
Is this the same formula vets use?
The underlying physiological logic is the same one taught in veterinary nutrition: energy needs scale with bodyweight to the power of 0.75, then get adjusted for activity and life stage. Our percentage tables are ardam's own implementation of that logic for raw feeding, not a substitute for individual veterinary advice.
Is the planner suitable for dogs currently eating kibble?
Yes. The planner asks what your dog eats now specifically so it can hand you free transition tips alongside your results, whether you're coming from kibble, another raw brand, or home-cooked meals.
Build your dog's plan now
You've seen how it works under the hood, the breed-aware prefill, the activity-adjusted maths, the allergy safety filters, the real pack sizes at the end of it. The only thing left is to actually run our raw dog food meal planner for your own dog. It takes about 60 seconds and there's a reward waiting at the end. Build your dog's plan now. Not ready to commit to a full week yet? Start smaller with a sample pack and see how your dog takes to it first, no pressure, no big freezer commitment, just a taste of what a proper personalised raw dog food plan looks like for your dog specifically.
This is a feeding guide based on the details you provide, not veterinary advice. K9 Raw food supports healthy pets but does not treat, cure or prevent disease.
Reviewed by the ardam team. For veterinary advice on your individual dog, contact Dr. Anna Huynh at Greystanes Veterinary Clinic (26 Carnation St, Greystanes NSW 2145, (02) 9609 1500).
