How Much Should I Feed My Dog? (Vet-Formula Feeding Chart)

The honest answer: the chart on the bag is probably overfeeding your dog. Bag charts assume active, unneutered dogs — most pets are neither. Here's the math vets actually use, and a chart built from it.

The formula behind every vet's answer

1. RER (Resting Energy Requirement) = 70 × (weight in kg)^0.75 — calories burned just existing.
2. MER (Maintenance) = RER × a life-stage factor:

A worked example

Take a 40 lb neutered adult dog, moderately active.

1. Convert: 40 lb ÷ 2.2 = 18.1 kg
2. RER: 70 × 18.1^0.75 ≈ 70 × 8.8 = ~616 kcal
3. MER: 616 × 1.6 = ~985 kcal/day
4. Your bag says 380 kcal/cup: 985 ÷ 380 = ~2.6 cups/day
5. Split into two meals: ~1.3 cups morning, 1.3 cups evening
6. Treat budget: 10% of 985 = ~98 kcal, subtracted from the meals

Step six is the one people skip, and it is the reason a dog fed "exactly what the chart said" still gains weight.

Quick chart (neutered adult, moderate activity)

*Assumes 380 kcal/cup — check your bag's kcal/cup, which ranges 320–550.

That range is the whole reason cup counts do not transfer between foods. Moving from a 320 kcal/cup food to a 550 kcal/cup one without changing the scoop is a 70% increase in calories, delivered invisibly.

Want it exact for your dog's weight, age, and activity? Use our Food Portion Calculator — it runs this formula with your food's real caloric density.

Check the dog, not the chart

The formula gives you a starting point. Your dog's body tells you whether it was right. Vets score this from 1 to 9, where 4–5 is ideal:

Run your hands over the ribs with light pressure — it should feel roughly like the back of your hand, not like a padded surface. Check every two or three weeks, and adjust portions by about 10% at a time in the direction you need.

Weigh it, don't scoop it

Cups are convenient and imprecise. Two people scooping the same cup from the same bag land meaningfully far apart, and that gap repeats twice a day for years. A cheap kitchen scale removes the variable entirely, and grams-per-day is also a number that carries over correctly when you change foods.

If you stay with cups, at least use the same cup every time, level it rather than heaping it, and recalculate whenever you switch food.

The adjustments that matter

• Treats count. Cap treats at 10% of daily calories — the most common cause of slow weight gain is "just a few" 40-kcal biscuits.
• Watch the dog, not the cup. You should feel ribs easily under a thin fat layer and see a waist from above. Adjust portions ±10% every two weeks toward that.
• Spayed/neutered dogs need ~10–15% less than intact dogs — this is the adjustment almost everyone misses after the surgery.
• Activity is not what most people think. A twenty-minute lead walk twice a day is a moderately active dog, not a working one. Genuine working and sporting dogs sit well above these numbers; most house dogs sit at or below.
• Winter and summer differ for dogs living outdoors or exercising hard in cold weather. For an indoor dog, the seasonal change is usually the amount of exercise it gets, not the temperature.

Multi-dog households

Feed dogs separately, in different rooms or crates, and take bowls up when the meal is done. Free-feeding in a multi-dog house makes portion control impossible and hides the single most useful early illness signal you have: one dog going off its food.

It also removes the competition that makes a fast eater faster.

Puppies, seniors and dogs on a diet

Puppies are on a different curve entirely, eating more per pound and more often, with large breeds needing a deliberately slower growth rate — see the puppy feeding schedule for that version.

Seniors usually need fewer calories but the same or more protein, and the drop in activity often arrives before anyone adjusts the bowl.

Weight loss deserves its own note: crash-dieting a dog is genuinely dangerous, and the target is a slow, steady loss set by a vet against your dog's ideal weight rather than its current one.

When to ask a vet instead

Sudden appetite changes, feeding for weight loss (crash-dieting is dangerous), puppies under 8 weeks, and any dog with a medical condition. This guide covers healthy adults — your vet's numbers always win.

A dog that is eating normally and still losing or gaining weight is a medical question, not an arithmetic one. Book the appointment rather than adjusting the bowl again.