What is an 80:20 dog food?

The term 80:20 is very commonly seen on premium dog food labels. It describes the proportions of the recipe. These recipes usually contain 80% flesh meat and 20% fruit and vegetables. They are high protein and low carbohydrate.

These diets are usually based on the ‘ancestral diet’ which closely resembles what our dogs’ ancestors would have eaten. Prior to domestication, Grey Wolves would have eaten a high protein diet, low in grains with a small amount of fruit and veg, usually from the prey’s digestive tract. Even though Wolves would sometimes shake out the contents of the stomach, they would still be consuming a small amount of the fruit, veg and possibly grain.

80:20 diets are based on the fact that despite domestication, many characteristics and body functions still remain. Dogs and Grey Wolves still share a similar carnivorous digestive tract and therefore 80:20 diets have mimicked this to give pet owners a highly digestible food that tends to suit most breeds of dog.

Akela Dog Food

Akela offer a high quality 80:20 kibble in a range of different flavours. This helps to further mimic the ancestral diet as the Grey Wolf would have hunted various different types of prey, depending on what was available.

Typically, prey would have been fattier in the Autumn than in the Spring time. Akela offers varieties with slightly varying fat contents to help reflect this.    

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