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Formulate raw dog food recipes to NRC guidelines with ChatGPT
PartialEvidence: Described by posterPosted Last checked
ChatGPT's first raw dog food recipes were wildly deficient; Kimberly Gauthier's detailed NRC prompt only partly fixed it.
How to use this
- Tap Copy prompt.
- Open ChatGPT.
- Paste it into the message box.
- Send it, then read the answer before acting on it.
New to this? What's a prompt?
A prompt is the message you send to the AI tool. Copy the one on this page, put your own details where it asks, and read the answer before you act on it.
Prompt
These are the person's own words, as shared in the source.
Please create 10 raw dog food recipes formulated using NRC guidelines. The recipes should include muscle meat, organ meat, bone, and other ingredients to balance the diet. These recipes should be based on a XX-pound, mixed-breed dog. It’s okay to use different animal proteins to balance the diet if needed. The recipes should use the following proteins (muscle meat, animal, bone): beef, chicken, turkey, pork, rabbit, venison, quail, pheasant, and lamb. There can be recipes that are based on a single protein, two proteins, or multiple proteins - whatever needs to be done to create NRC balanced recipes. Since I’m asking for 10 recipes, it’ll be important to create several protein combinations. Dog Profile Assumptions: For the XX-lb mixed-breed dog, please assume it is a healthy, adult, neutered/spayed dog that is not losing or gaining weight and has moderate daily activity. Feeding Format: Recipes should be calculated for 7- or 14-day batches. Supplements: The diet will incorporate whole-food supplements where needed, such as oily fish or fish oil, Vitamin E (sunflower seeds), iodine (kelp or whole fish), zinc/manganese via whole foods (oysters, mussels, etc.). Bone Format: Use raw meaty bones (e.g., chicken necks, wings, quail, rabbit parts), ground bone, eggshell powder (only if necessary). Stick with poultry and rabbit bones as they’re easiest to grind. Organ Definitions: I’m okay with 5% liver, 5% other secreting organs (kidney, spleen, pancreas, brain, etc.). Ingredients to Exclude: dairy, synthetic vitamins/minerals. Output Format: Please present recipes as a table (ingredients + grams/oz). Please feel free to ask me any clarifying questions before we start.
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Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about the details below and wait for my answers. Once I've answered, confirm the plan in one line and run the whole task start to finish. Goal: Draft home-made dog food recipes as a starting point that I will check in diet-formulation software and with my vet. Questions to ask me first: - How much does the dog weigh, and how old and active is it? - Does the dog have any health conditions, or is it a puppy? - Which proteins and supplements can you get, and what must be excluded? Inputs (fill in or confirm): - Dog's weight, age and activity: [WEIGHT / AGE / ACTIVITY] - Health conditions: [CONDITIONS OR 'NONE'] - Nutrient standard: [NRC / AAFCO / FEDIAF] - Proteins available: [PROTEINS] - Exclusions: [INGREDIENTS TO AVOID] - Batch size: [DAYS] Rules: - Give every ingredient in grams. - Show the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and flag any nutrient you're unsure about. - Don't claim a recipe is complete and balanced; mark each one as a draft to verify. - If the dog is a puppy or has a health condition, tell me to have a vet or veterinary nutritionist check the recipes first. Checkpoint: Show me one recipe and wait for my OK before writing the rest. If you get stuck: If you can't balance a nutrient with the ingredients I listed, say which nutrient and suggest options instead of guessing. Verify before you finish: Recheck each recipe's totals and list anything I should confirm in diet-formulation software. Output: A table per recipe with ingredients in grams, plus a list of nutrients to double-check. Done when: I have draft recipes ready to check in software or with a vet.
AI tool
Outcome
Kimberly Gauthier, who writes the Raw Feeder Life newsletter, first asked ChatGPT for seven balanced raw dog food recipes in one sentence. The recipes came back wildly deficient and full of uncommon ingredients, so Gauthier didn't publish them and blamed the vague prompt. Gauthier went back with a much longer prompt that set NRC guidelines, the dog's weight and activity, proteins to use, bone and organ percentages, whole-food supplements, exclusions and a table format, and invited clarifying questions. The new recipes came close to balanced, and most needed only minor adjustments in Animal Diet Formulator software. Gauthier has used the prompt alongside that software for several months but isn't comfortable relying on AI alone, especially for puppies or dogs with health conditions.
Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.
Known limitations
PartialThe source says it only partly worked, or had a significant problem a person had to deal with.
What went wrong: The first short prompt gave wildly deficient recipes; the detailed prompt came close but still needed fixes in diet-formulation software.
Source
- Posted
- by Kimberly Gauthier (Raw Feeder Life)
- Last checked
- Method:
- How we verify
https://rawfeederlife.substack.com/p/how-i-use-chatgpt-to-produce-raw
Context: Original prompt: Gauthier's improved prompt, quoted in the newsletter (XX is the dog's weight). Gauthier writes about raw feeding, a diet many vets advise against; this isn't advice to feed raw.
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