How much should you feed your dog?
Enter your dog’s weight and activity to get a daily calorie target — and the cups per meal for your food. Built on the vet RER/MER formula.
The typical maintenance level for a desexed adult dog.
Daily calories to feed
— kcal
Resting need (RER) — kcal · ×— for activity
With your food
— cups/day
about — per meal, 2× a day
Across the day
— cups dry + — cans wet
Check the numbers
Good to know
General guidance only — an estimate, not veterinary advice. Always check with your vet about your pet’s growth, weight and diet.
How this was calculated
We use the standard veterinary formula. First the resting energy requirement: RER = 70 × (weight in kg)^0.75 kcal/day. Then the maintenance energy requirement — what to actually feed — by multiplying RER by a factor for your dog’s life stage and activity (a neutered adult is ×1.6, an active dog ×2.0, weight loss ×1.0 on the target weight). Enter your food’s calories-per-cup and we convert the target into cups per meal.
Source: WSAVA & AAHA nutrition guidelines. Full method on our methodology page.
Built by the PawGauge team, reviewed against cited veterinary sources. Last reviewed 29 June 2026.
About our figures →How to check your dog’s body condition
Run both hands over the ribs and look at your dog from above and the side. Match the shape from above to the closest picture — at an ideal 4–5/9 you can feel the ribs easily and see a waist.
Based on the 9-point body condition score — WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines. A guide only; your vet can score your dog precisely.
How dog calorie needs work
Every feeding chart is really doing two sums. The first is your dog’s resting energy requirement (RER) — the calories it would burn just lying still — which scales with body weight as 70 × (weight in kg)0.75. The power of 0.75 matters: a dog twice as heavy doesn’t need twice the calories, only about 1.7×.
The second sum turns that into a real feeding amount, the maintenance energy requirement (MER), by multiplying RER by a factor for how your dog lives. A couch-loving neutered adult sits around ×1.6; an intact or busy dog needs more; a dog on a weight-loss plan is fed the resting amount for its target weight. These are starting points — the real test is body condition, so feel for the ribs and adjust over a few weeks.
Homemade and weight-loss feeding
The calorie target works for any food, including homemade — you just need to know how many calories your recipe provides, then divide as usual. But portion size is the easy part: a home-cooked diet also has to be complete and balanced in protein, fats, vitamins and minerals, which is genuinely hard to get right by eye. Build the recipe with your vet or a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
For weight loss, feed the calorie target for the weight you want your dog to reach, not the weight it is now, and lose it slowly. Crash dieting is dangerous. Your vet can set a safe target and rate, and rule out medical causes of weight gain.
Dog feeding questions
- How many calories does my dog need a day?
- Start from the resting need, RER = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75 kcal, then multiply by an activity factor — about 1.6 for a typical neutered adult, 1.8 if intact, 1.4 for a less active or senior dog, and 2.0 for a very active one. That maintenance figure is what to feed.
- How much food is that in cups?
- Divide the daily calorie target by your food’s calories-per-cup (printed on the bag, usually about 300–600 kcal). For example, 800 kcal of a 400 kcal/cup food is 2 cups a day — 1 cup per meal if you feed twice.
- How do I help my dog lose weight?
- Feed to the calorie target for your dog’s TARGET (ideal) weight rather than its current weight, and do it gradually under your vet’s guidance. Rapid weight loss is unsafe, especially for cats and small dogs.
- How much homemade food should I feed?
- The same calorie target applies — you just need to know your recipe’s calories. Homemade diets also have to be complete and balanced, so work with your vet or a veterinary nutritionist on the recipe itself, not just the portion size.
- How many times a day should I feed my dog?
- Most adult dogs do well on two meals a day; puppies need three or four smaller meals. Splitting the daily amount helps digestion and stops them feeling hungry.