How much should I feed my dog?
Updated 2 August 2026 · 8 min read
By the Bowlful editorial team — independent pet-nutrition writers. Published 2 August 2026 · Last updated 2 August 2026.
Written against published veterinary sources (NRC Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats, AAFCO life-stage profiles, WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines). Not individually reviewed by a veterinarian — see the disclaimer below.
The feeding chart on the back of the bag is a starting point, not an answer. It is written for an average dog of a given weight — not for your neutered six-year-old Labrador who walks twice a day and gets two biscuits at bedtime.
The honest method has three steps: estimate the calories your dog needs, convert those calories into cups or grams of the specific food you buy, then adjust every few weeks based on what the scale and your hands tell you.
Key takeaways
- •Start from calories (kcal), not cups — every food has a different calorie density.
- •Resting Energy Requirement (RER) = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75.
- •Multiply RER by a lifestyle factor to get the daily maintenance requirement (MER).
- •Treats should stay under 10% of total daily calories.
- •Re-weigh every 2–4 weeks and adjust by roughly 10% at a time.
Step 1 — Work out the calories, not the cups
Veterinary nutritionists start with Resting Energy Requirement (RER), the energy a dog burns doing nothing at all. The formula used in the NRC and AAHA literature is RER = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75.
A 20 kg dog therefore has an RER of roughly 662 kcal per day. That is the floor, not the target — a resting dog in a cage. Real dogs move.
Multiply RER by a factor that reflects your dog's life stage and activity to get Maintenance Energy Requirement (MER):
- —Neutered adult, typical pet activity — RER × 1.6
- —Intact adult — RER × 1.8
- —Prone to weight gain / very sedentary — RER × 1.2 to 1.4
- —Active working or sport dog — RER × 2.0 to 5.0
- —Puppy under 4 months — RER × 3.0
- —Puppy 4 months to adult — RER × 2.0
- —Senior, low activity — RER × 1.2 to 1.4
Step 2 — Turn calories into a real scoop
Every bag lists a metabolisable energy figure, usually as kcal per kilogram and kcal per cup. Divide your dog's daily calories by the food's kcal per cup to get cups per day, then split that across meals.
A weight of food beats a volume of food. Kibble settles, cups get heaped, and a 15% scooping error compounds into a kilogram of body weight over a year. A $15 kitchen scale is the single cheapest accuracy upgrade in dog feeding.
If you feed wet food alongside dry, count both. A 400 g can of typical adult wet food can carry 350–450 kcal — a meaningful share of a small dog's day.
Step 3 — Budget for treats (the 10% rule)
Treats, chews, training rewards, and the crust off the toast all count. The widely used guideline is that treats should supply no more than 10% of daily calories, with the remaining 90% coming from a complete and balanced diet so vitamins and minerals stay in ratio.
For that 20 kg dog on roughly 1,060 kcal a day, the treat budget is about 106 kcal — one medium dental chew, or a handful of training pieces, not both plus dinner.
Step 4 — Let body condition overrule the maths
Every formula is an estimate with a wide error bar; individual dogs vary by 20% or more in real energy needs. Body Condition Score (BCS) is the correction.
Run your hands along the ribcage. You should feel ribs easily under a thin layer of fat, without pressing. Looking down from above, there should be a visible waist behind the ribs; from the side, an upward tuck to the belly.
If ribs are hard to find, cut the daily amount by about 10% and re-check in three to four weeks. Safe weight loss in dogs runs at roughly 1–2% of body weight per week — faster than that and you risk losing muscle instead of fat.
Rough daily calorie ranges by weight
Use these as sanity checks on your own calculation, not as prescriptions. They assume a neutered adult dog with typical pet activity.
- —5 kg (small terrier) — roughly 375 kcal/day
- —10 kg (Beagle-ish) — roughly 630 kcal/day
- —20 kg (Border Collie-ish) — roughly 1,060 kcal/day
- —30 kg (Labrador-ish) — roughly 1,435 kcal/day
- —40 kg (German Shepherd-ish) — roughly 1,780 kcal/day
- —60 kg (giant breed) — roughly 2,415 kcal/day
When to ask a vet instead of a calculator
Growth, pregnancy, and illness change the rules. Large-breed puppies in particular need controlled growth and a calcium-appropriate diet; overfeeding during growth is linked to developmental orthopaedic disease.
Any unexplained weight change, a dog who is always hungry, or a dog refusing food for more than a day is a veterinary question, not a portioning one.
Common questions
How many times a day should I feed my dog?
Most adult dogs do well on two meals a day, spaced roughly twelve hours apart. Puppies under four months typically need three to four smaller meals, because they cannot hold enough food at once to meet their energy needs.
Should I feed my dog by weight or by cups?
By weight in grams. Kibble density varies between foods and scoops are inconsistent, so weighing is far more accurate than measuring by volume.
My dog always acts hungry — am I underfeeding?
Not necessarily. Begging behaviour is learned and some breeds, notably Labradors, are genetically predisposed to food motivation. Judge by body condition and weight trend, not by enthusiasm, and see a vet if appetite changes suddenly.
Next article
A puppy feeding schedule that changes as they grow →