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Dog Food Portion Calculator

Enter your dog's weight, life stage and the food's calorie density to get the daily ration and the amount per meal.

How it is calculated

The tool first estimates the resting energy requirement, RER = 70 × kg0.75, where kg is the dog's body weight. It multiplies this by a fixed factor for the chosen life stage: puppy under 4 months 3.0, puppy 4 months and older 2.0, adult neutered 1.6, adult active 2.0, senior 1.4, weight loss 1.0. The product is the daily calories (MER).

grams per day = MER ÷ kcal per 100 g × 100
grams per meal = grams per day ÷ meals

Food energy is entered as kcal per 100 g, as printed on most labels, not per gram. Weight must be above 0 and at most 150 kg, and meals must be a whole number from 1 to 12; a fractional number of meals, or values outside these ranges, show no result. Results are rounded to whole numbers. The factors are rule-of-thumb averages, not a veterinary prescription.

Worked example

A 20 kg neutered adult dog eats food with 350 kcal per 100 g, in 2 meals. RER = 70 × 200.75 = 70 × 9.46 ≈ 662 kcal. Multiply by 1.6: about 1,059 kcal per day. Grams per day = 1,059 ÷ 350 × 100 = 303 g. Split over two meals that is 151 g per meal.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the food's energy as kcal per gram (3.5) instead of kcal per 100 g (350). The ration then comes out about a hundred times too large: 30,264 g a day for the 20 kg dog.
  • Entering the weight in pounds. The field is kilograms, so a 44 lb dog is 20 kg.
  • Picking "puppy" for a dog that is nearly full-grown. The puppy factors (3.0, or 2.0 from 4 months) are higher than most adult values and will overfeed.
  • Entering 2.5 meals, or 13 or more. Meals are whole numbers up to 12, so these show no result; for a feeding that varies, use the average per meal by hand.
  • Forgetting treats and chews. They count towards the daily calories, so subtract them from the result.

Sources

About this calculator

Daily food portions for a dog start from its resting energy requirement (RER), estimated as RER = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75, which is then multiplied by a life-stage and activity factor: this calculator uses 3 times RER for puppies under 4 months, 2 times for puppies from 4 months, 1.6 times for a typical neutered adult, 2 times for a highly active working or sporting dog, 1.4 times for a senior and the same as RER for a dog on a weight-loss plan. Dividing the resulting daily calorie target by the food's calorie density (kcal per 100 g, which varies significantly between brands and formulas) gives the grams to feed per day.

Dog owners and veterinarians use this calculation because the feeding guidelines printed on food bags are often generic ranges based on weight alone, ignoring life stage and activity level, which can lead to overfeeding and weight gain in a mostly sedentary adult or underfeeding a working or growing dog. Splitting the daily total across the number of meals fed per day then gives the actual amount to serve at each meal.

From your dog's weight and life stage it works out the daily calories, then divides by the food's calorie density for the daily ration and the portion per meal.

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