Raw feeding, BARF and homemade diets are often discussed together, but they do not mean the same thing. They may describe how a meal is prepared, where it comes from or a popular feeding style. None of these names, by itself, confirms that the complete daily ration meets a dog’s or cat’s needs.
The key distinction is simple: a feeding-style name tells you how food is chosen or prepared; only evaluation of the whole ration shows what it provides.
Different names, overlapping ideas
Discussions about dog and cat diets often mix three separate questions:
- preparation method — foods may be served raw, cooked or steamed;
- source of the meal — a diet may be prepared at home or bought as a finished product;
- nutritional adequacy and labelling — the whole ration needs to be evaluated, while a commercial product also needs the appropriate statement on its label.
These categories can overlap. A homemade diet may be raw, cooked or steamed, while raw food may be sold as a commercial product. “Homemade” therefore does not tell you whether a meal is raw, and “raw” does not tell you who prepared it.
Nor does either term establish nutritional adequacy. Two diets described as BARF may use different foods and provide very different amounts of calcium, iodine, vitamins or fatty acids. A feeding-style name is best treated as a description, not an analysis result.
Raw feeding and BARF
Raw feeding is a broad category that includes meals made with uncooked animal products. BARF is a recognisable term used for some raw-feeding approaches, but there is no single universal, regulated BARF recipe. Its meaning and the proportions used under that name vary between communities and markets.
A popular food pattern or percentage split may describe an idea for a diet, but it does not prove nutritional adequacy. Nutritional value depends on the exact foods, their amounts, the composition data, the animal’s profile and the full daily ration. Keeping the same share of meat, organs or bone-containing ingredients can produce a different result when the specific food changes.
The evaluation by Stockman and colleagues supports a similarly limited conclusion: it assessed 200 published recipes for home-prepared maintenance diets for adult dogs, and only a small minority met all of the essential-nutrient recommendations evaluated [1]. The study was not about cats, did not compare raw with cooked diets and does not show that every homemade diet is inadequate. It does show why a name or published recipe cannot replace evaluation of the whole ration.
Homemade cooked and steamed diets
A homemade diet is one assembled or prepared by the owner. It may be raw, cooked or steamed. Heat treatment changes the preparation method and can affect food weight and the available composition data, but it does not automatically make a recipe nutritionally complete.
Cooking or steaming does not replace sources of calcium, iodine, vitamins or other elements needed across the ration. It also does not make the appearance of the bowl a reliable assessment. Each version still requires the actual foods and amounts to be calculated, while available estimates of preparation changes should be treated as estimates rather than a laboratory measurement of the finished meal.
The reverse is also true: being raw does not determine a diet’s nutritional value. Preparation style and nutritional adequacy are separate questions.
Complete versus complementary food
Product-label terms depend on the market. In the European Union, “complete pet food” and “complementary pet food” describe a product’s role in the daily ration. Current FEDIAF guidance cites the EU definition of complete pet food as sufficient for a daily ration and complementary pet food as sufficient only in combination with other feeds [2]. The statement should relate to the declared species and physiological state.
In the United States, the FDA describes the separate “complete and balanced” statement. It can be substantiated through an applicable AAFCO nutrient profile or a feeding trial conducted under AAFCO procedures [3]. This is a different regulatory and labelling context from the EU complete and complementary categories; the terms are not one universal label.
A product label and analysis of a homemade recipe are also different things. A calculator result does not give a home-prepared meal EU complete-pet-food status or a US “complete and balanced” statement. It helps evaluate a calculated ration, but it does not certify it.
Hygiene and practical limits
Raw animal products can carry harmful germs to pets, people and household surfaces. For that reason, the CDC does not recommend raw pet food for dogs or cats [4]. Freezing, dehydrating and freeze-drying do not kill every germ, so a frozen product should not be treated as sterile.
If an owner still chooses raw feeding, washing hands and surfaces, storing the food separately, thawing it in a sealed container in the refrigerator and promptly discarding uneaten leftovers can reduce exposure. These steps do not remove the risk. Extra caution is needed in households with young children, pregnant people, older adults or people with weakened immune systems, and around young, ill or immunocompromised pets.
WSAVA notes that raw meat-based diets have no demonstrated health advantage over commercial diets or properly balanced homemade cooked diets [5]. Microbiological risk, risks associated with bones and nutritional adequacy remain three separate issues. Nutrient analysis is not a microbiological test, and careful hygiene is not evidence of nutritional adequacy.
How to use a diet calculator
BARFLAB is primarily a tool for building and revising a diet yourself. Its current calculator scope covers healthy adult dog and cat profiles. Puppies, kittens, pregnancy, lactation, illness and therapeutic diets require individual professional assessment.
- Select a healthy adult dog or cat profile.
- Start with an empty diet and add the foods you actually intend to use.
- Enter the real amounts and record the preparation method: raw, cooked or steamed.
- Evaluate the full daily ration, not the feeding-style name, one ingredient or the appearance of the bowl.
- Review the analysis, the reference values available from the relevant source and each food’s contribution to nutritional results, then adjust foods or amounts.
- If you want, use the optional generator proposal later as an editable starting point — every food and every amount can still be changed.
BARFLAB covers 68 analysis parameters, not “68 nutrients”. They include energy, macronutrients, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids and ratios. Not every parameter has a threshold in every reference set; BARFLAB displays values only where the source provides them.
The result supports checking and revising a recipe. It is not a diagnosis, individual veterinary advice, a certificate of nutritional adequacy, a product label or a microbiological safety test.
Sources
- Stockman J et al. (2013). Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs. Publication record
- FEDIAF (2025). Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs. FEDIAF guidance
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Complete and Balanced” Pet Food. FDA explanation
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Pet Food Safety. CDC guidance
- WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee. Raw Meat Based Diets for Pets. WSAVA guidance