Dog Food Portion Calculator

Enter the dog's weight in pounds and pick the closest category: neutered/spayed adult, intact adult, inactive or obese prone, weight loss, active/working, or puppy under 4 months. Type the calories per cup from the bag, adjust the grams per cup if your kibble is lighter or denser than the 120 g default, and set the number of meals.

A 65 lb retriever that works in the field most weekends goes in as Active / working dog, on a 380 kcal/cup food, fed twice. The panel shows Resting energy (RER) 886 kcal, Daily calories (MER) 1,771 kcal, a daily portion of 4.66 cups (559 g) and 2.33 cups (280 g) per feeding.

The bar chart underneath shows the same dog under every category, which is useful in the off-season: the same retriever resting as a neutered adult would drop to 1.6 × RER, a fifth less food.

Weight: kg = lb × 0.45359237.

Resting energy requirement: RER = 70 × kg^0.75, the formula given in Box 1 of the AAHA 2021 Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines. The 0.75 power means a dog twice as heavy needs about 68% more energy, not twice as much.

Maintenance energy requirement: MER = RER × factor. The same AAHA box lists the canine factors as 1.4–1.6 neutered/spayed adult, 1.6–1.8 intact adult, 1.0–1.2 inactive or obese prone, 1.0 weight loss, 1.6–2.0 light work and 3.0 for growth under four months. The tool uses 1.6, 1.8, 1.2, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

Note that the canine weight-loss factor genuinely is 1.0. The feline one is 0.8, which is why the cat version of this calculator is not simply this one with smaller numbers.

Portion: cups per day = MER ÷ kcal per cup; grams per day = cups × grams per cup; per-feeding amounts divide both by the number of meals.

How precise is it? The WSAVA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines (2011) note that a dog's actual energy needs can differ from a formula estimate by about 30% in either direction. For the 30 lb neutered dog, that means anywhere from roughly 555 to 1,032 kcal, which is why the first few weeks of weigh-ins matter more than the starting number.

A 14-week-old Labrador puppy weighs 25 lb. On the Puppy (under 4 months) setting, with a 380 kcal/cup puppy food that weighs 110 g a cup and three meals, the calculator returns RER 433 kcal, 1,298 kcal a day, 3.41 cups (376 g) and 1.14 cups (125 g) per meal. That is 51% more cups than the 30 lb adult above, from a smaller body.

For breeds heading past about 70 lb as adults, how the puppy grows matters as much as how much it eats. The AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles treat growth of "large size dogs" (70 lb or more as an adult) separately and cap calcium in those foods at 1.8% of dry matter, because excess calcium and fast growth are linked to skeletal problems in big puppies. Choose a food whose label states it is complete and balanced for growth including large size dogs, and aim for a lean puppy rather than a round one.

The 3.0 factor only covers the first four months. The tool has no setting for older puppies, whose needs taper towards adult levels over the rest of growth, so ask your vet for a target from four months on rather than keeping the puppy number.

The WSAVA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines list snacks, treats and table food above 10% of daily calories as a nutritional risk factor, because treats are rarely complete and balanced. For the 30 lb neutered dog on 794 kcal, the treat budget is about 79 kcal.

If treats really do take that 10%, cut the kibble to match: 90% of the calories is 2.04 cups (245 g) instead of 2.27 cups. Training days are where this goes wrong. A pocket of small biscuits used over a long session can pass 79 kcal on its own, so count training rewards, dental chews and the crust from lunch against the same budget, or use part of the day's kibble as rewards.

WSAVA uses a 9-point body condition score, where 4 to 5 is the goal for most dogs: ribs easy to feel under a thin fat layer, a visible waist from above and a tucked belly from the side. The same guidelines note that disease risk rises above 6. A dog at 7 or more is a candidate for a vet-supervised weight-loss plan.

Take a 70 lb neutered dog that should weigh 60 lb, on a 350 kcal/cup food. At neutered maintenance it would get 1,498 kcal (4.28 cups). The Weight loss setting on its current 70 lb gives 936 kcal (2.68 cups). Entered at its 60 lb target, the same setting gives 834 kcal (2.38 cups), which is closer to how clinics usually build a diet from ideal weight.

The 2014 AAHA Weight Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats put a desirable rate of loss at 1 to 2% of body weight a week for dogs, which is 0.7 to 1.4 lb a week for this dog. Ten pounds therefore takes roughly 7 to 14 weeks. Weigh every two weeks on the same scale and adjust with your vet if the loss stalls or runs faster than that.

The factors are fixed starting points. The tool does not know breed, age beyond the puppy setting, muscle mass, climate, pregnancy or lactation, or medical conditions such as hypothyroidism, and it cannot score body condition for you. AAHA's table has no weight-gain row, so this calculator does not offer one: an underweight dog should have a calorie target set by a vet rather than by a multiplier. Senior dogs, dogs with a medical condition, pregnant or nursing bitches and any dog losing weight without trying need veterinary advice, not a formula.

If you also share your home with a cat, the Cat Food Portion Calculator uses feline factors and handles wet food by the can. To see which life stage your dog has reached, the Dog & Cat Age to Human Years Calculator converts age with size taken into account, which helps when deciding whether a large dog is still growing or already a senior. For the background on energy formulas and how vets turn them into feeding plans, read the pet food portion guide.