How Much Should I Feed My Dog? A Guide to Calculating Calories
If you look at the back of any dog food bag, the feeding guidelines are often incredibly broad. They might say, "For a 30-50 lb dog, feed 2 to 4 cups daily." That is a massive range that could easily lead to underfeeding or canine obesity!
To know exactly how much your dog should eat, you have to do a little bit of math.
Step 1: Calculate Resting Energy Requirement (RER)
Your dog's RER is the number of calories they would burn if they did absolutely nothing all day (just breathing and digesting). The formula used by veterinarians is:
RER = 70 x (Dog's weight in kilograms)^0.75
Step 2: Apply an Activity Multiplier (DER)
Once you have the RER, you multiply it by a factor that matches your dog's lifestyle to get their Daily Energy Requirement (DER).
- Inactive / Weight Loss: RER x 1.0
- Typical Neutered Adult: RER x 1.6
- Intact Adult: RER x 1.8
- Highly Active / Working Dog: RER x 2.5
- Growing Puppy: RER x 2.0 to 3.0
Step 3: Convert Calories to Cups
Once you know exactly how many calories (kcal) your dog needs per day, look at your dog food bag to find the "kcal/cup" metric. Simply divide your dog's daily calorie requirement by the kcal/cup to get the exact number of cups to feed them.
Example: If your dog needs 700 kcal per day, and the food is 350 kcal/cup, you feed exactly 2 cups.
Skip the Math
Want to figure this out in three seconds? Use our free Dog Food Calculator. Just enter your dog's weight, select their activity level, and input the calories from your dog food bag to get an exact daily feeding recommendation.