A musher doesn't think of a bowl in percentages. They think "500 g of meat, a spoon of mineral supplement, and kibble to finish". And a meat-rich ration often lacks calcium without anything saying so.
What changes
Shares in fixed grams. In a dog's ration form, each food of the mix is set "in %" or in "fixed g". A fixed share is served as is, every day; one food carries "the rest" and makes up what is missing to reach the day's need. When the dog works harder, the rest goes up: the meat doesn't move.
A food's mineral composition. A food's form gains an optional "Mineral composition" section: calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, in grams per kilo. Labels often give percentages: type "2.1 %", MushMate stores 21 g/kg. You say whether the value was "read on the label" or "entered freely".
The balance on the Ration card. On the website, the card shows the calcium / phosphorus ratio against the advised range (1 to 2), then the five minerals: grams per day, and grams per 1,000 kcal against an adult dog's minimum — and against a ceiling where a source publishes one: sodium beyond 3.75 g (the NRC 2006 safety limit), calcium beyond 6.25 g and phosphorus beyond 4 g (FEDIAF 2025). On the phone, the card shows the calcium / phosphorus ratio and one sentence; the five minerals open from a link.
Who sees what
The balance is read where the ration is read: anyone in the kennel who opens the dog's page. It doesn't go on the printed ration sheet, nor outside the kennel.
What it doesn't do
- It prescribes nothing. A ratio outside the range warns — "check with your vet before changing the ration" — and never blocks saving.
- It doesn't guess a composition. A food without minerals gives a "partial balance" that names it: what it brings isn't counted, and the screen says so instead of staying silent. Filling compositions automatically, from public tables or a shared catalogue, was studied and set aside for later.
- No trace elements, no vitamins. Five macro-minerals only: on a label, vitamins listed as "additives" are what was added, not what the food contains.
- No invented ceiling. Potassium and magnesium have none: no source publishes one for dogs. And beyond 3.75 g of sodium, the screen doesn't say "too much": it says there is no more safety data.
- The minimums are an adult dog's: a puppy doesn't have its own thresholds yet.
Two choices against the obvious
Only one food makes up the rest. Two "rest" foods would share the gap in a proportion nobody chose. MushMate refuses to save and says why.
The balance is per 1,000 kcal, not per kilo of dog. A working dog eats more and so gets more minerals; what matters is the density of the bowl, which is how the reference minimums are written (FEDIAF).