A premix (or "balancer") is a measured powder that supplies everything home-cooked food can't — calcium at the top of the list, then vitamins, trace minerals, taurine and omega-3 — so a fresh-cooked meal can meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. If home-cooked is your dog's main diet, you need one. If your dog eats complete commercial food, you don't. Here's how to judge any premix, including ours.
I'm Teddy. The Premix is the thing my humans sell, so read this knowing that — but the category advice below holds whichever brand ends up in your cupboard, and we'd rather you use any proper premix than none.
The problem a premix solves
Meat and vegetables — even excellent ones — can't reach a dog's full nutrient profile. The famous gap is calcium: muscle meat is about 1:20 calcium-to-phosphorus, and dogs need that ratio the other way up; without added calcium, bones pay the bill slowly and silently. Behind calcium queue up vitamin D and E, iodine, zinc, copper, manganese, the B-vitamins, choline, taurine and omega-3 (DHA). Most home-cooked diets miss 6 to 10 essentials — the full anatomy of the gaps is in this guide. A premix is simply those missing pieces, weighed into one scoop.
Premix vs multivitamin vs "just add eggshell"
Words matter here. A generic dog multivitamin is a top-up for dogs already eating complete food — usually low-dose and, crucially, usually without meaningful calcium, so it cannot balance a home-cooked diet. Eggshell or calcium powder alone fixes exactly one nutrient and leaves the rest of the list open. A true premix/balancer is formulated against the AAFCO profile so that recipe + premix covers the lot. (The longer comparison lives in our multivitamins guide.)
How dosing works — and why it's per calorie
Good premixes dose by the calories of the finished food, not by the dog's body weight. Ours is 13.5 g per 1,000 kcal. The logic: nutrient needs track food intake, and food intake tracks energy — a sleepy 20 kg dog and an athletic 15 kg dog may eat the same calories, so they need the same nutrients. In practice you never do this maths: each recipe page states the premix grams for the batch, and the calculator states it for your dog — about 4.5 g a day for a 5 kg dog, 7.5 g for 10 kg, 10 g for 15 kg. One habit that matters: stir it through after cooking, into cooled food — heat damages vitamins and omega-3.
How to judge any premix (including ours)
Five questions, whoever makes it. One: does it publish a full per-dose nutrient table — every nutrient, with amounts — or just a vibe of "vitamins & minerals"? Two: is calcium front and centre, in grams-territory per 1,000 kcal? If calcium is missing or token, it's a multivitamin wearing a premix label. Three: is dosing per calorie (or per recipe), with the maths shown? Four: does it state which standard it's formulated against (AAFCO adult maintenance, in our case) and which life stage — adult-only is honest; "all life stages" from one powder deserves scepticism. Five: does it tell you what it doesn't cover? Ours, for instance, deliberately carries no phosphorus — your meat supplies that — and is for healthy adult dogs only.
Against that checklist: our full per-dose table is public — calcium 1,579 mg per 1,000 kcal, microencapsulated DHA, taurine, choline, the complete vitamin and trace-mineral set — formulated to align with AAFCO adult-maintenance profiles, dosed at 13.5 g per 1,000 kcal, AU$30 for a 250 g tin (which lasts about 8 weeks for a 5 kg dog, 5 weeks for a 10 kg dog).
Quick answers
What's the difference between a premix and a dog multivitamin?
A multivitamin tops up a complete diet and usually carries little or no calcium. A premix is formulated so that recipe-plus-scoop meets the full AAFCO profile — calcium included. For home cooking, only the second one does the job.
Can I just add eggshell powder to home-cooked food?
Eggshell is a legitimate calcium source — and that's all it is. It does nothing for vitamin D, E, iodine, zinc, copper, taurine, DHA or the B-vitamins. One nutrient down, many to go.
Do I need a premix if my dog eats kibble?
No. Complete commercial food is already fortified to the standard. Adding a premix on top risks exceeding safe levels of some nutrients.
Why doesn't your premix contain phosphorus?
Because meat is naturally rich in phosphorus — the premix's job is to supply the calcium and micronutrients meat lacks, bringing the whole bowl into balance rather than adding more of what's already abundant.
See exactly what's in The Premix
The full per-dose nutrient table is public — every milligram, and what it's there to do.
Ingredients & nutrients