Dog Food Portion Calculator
Convert your dog's daily calorie needs into grams or cups of the exact food you buy, and see how long a bag will last.
20 products with manufacturer-published calorie figures.
On the bag, often written as ME kcal/kg. Typical dry food is 3,300 to 4,000.
Leave blank to get grams only, which is the more accurate measure.
To work out how long a bag lasts.
Feed per day
303 grams
- Daily energy requirement
- 1,059 kcal
- Per meal (2 a day)
- 151 g
- A bag lasts
- 40 days
Weigh the food on kitchen scales rather than scooping. A cup of one food can hold a third more calories than a cup of another, and eyeballed scoops are the single most common reason dogs gain weight on a "correct" portion.
How this is calculated
Portion size is two steps: how many calories the dog needs, then how much of this particular food supplies them.
RER = 70 × (weight in kg)^0.75
MER = RER × life stage factor
grams per day = (MER ÷ food kcal per kg) × 1000 Worked example
A 20 kg neutered adult: RER = 70 × 200.75 = 662 kcal. MER = 662 × 1.6 = 1,059 kcal. On a food supplying 3,500 kcal/kg that is (1059 ÷ 3500) × 1000 = 303 g per day, or about 151 g per meal fed twice daily.
Foods with a checked calorie figure
The calculator can fill the energy field from any of these 20 products. Every figure below was read from the manufacturer's own product page on the date shown, not from a retailer listing and not estimated from a guaranteed analysis. If your food is not here, enter the kcal/kg from your bag instead — that is the more accurate number anyway, because it is the batch you actually own.
| Brand | Product | Form | kcal/kg | kcal/cup | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Naturals | All Life Stages Chicken & Rice Formula | dry | 3,708 | 421 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Diamond Naturals | Extreme Athlete Adult Chicken & Rice Formula | dry | 4,107 | 466 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Diamond Naturals | Large Breed Adult Chicken & Rice Formula | dry | 3,499 | 397 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Diamond Naturals | Small Breed Adult Chicken & Rice Formula | dry | 3,683 | 418 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Fromm | Classic Adult | dry | 3,718 | 409 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Fromm | Gold Adult | dry | 3,735 | 418 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Hill's Science Diet | Adult Chicken & Barley Entrée (canned) | wet | 996 | — | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Hill's Science Diet | Adult Chicken & Barley Recipe | dry | 3,675 | 365 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Hill's Science Diet | Puppy Small Bites Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe | dry | 3,747 | 393 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Merrick | Grain Free Adult Real Chicken & Sweet Potato Recipe | dry | 3,592 | 381 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Nulo | FreeStyle Limited+ Turkey Recipe | dry | 3,535 | 427 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| ORIJEN | Original | dry | 3,940 | 473 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Royal Canin | Large Adult | dry | 3,755 | 360 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Royal Canin | Medium Adult | dry | 3,616 | 340 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Royal Canin | Small Adult | dry | 3,744 | 359 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Taste of the Wild | Ancient Prairie Canine Recipe with Roasted Bison & Roasted Venison | dry | 3,920 | 445 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Taste of the Wild | High Prairie Canine Recipe with Roasted Bison & Roasted Venison | dry | 3,719 | 422 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Taste of the Wild | Pacific Stream Canine Recipe with Salmon in Gravy (canned) | wet | 924 | — | checked 2026-09-08 |
| Taste of the Wild | Pacific Stream Canine Recipe with Smoke-Flavored Salmon | dry | 3,600 | 408 | checked 2026-09-08 |
| VICTOR | Hi-Pro Plus | dry | 3,815 | 406 | checked 2026-09-08 |
Manufacturers reformulate without renaming products, so treat these as a shortcut to be checked against your bag rather than as the last word.
Why the same dog needs different amounts of different foods
Energy density varies more than most owners expect. A typical dry food runs from about 3,000 to 4,200 kcal/kg, so switching brands can change the correct portion by a third without changing anything about the dog. Wet food is lower again, often around 900 kcal/kg, because most of it is water. This is why "one cup twice a day" is meaningless advice without naming the food.
Sources
- WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee. Global Nutrition Guidelines and toolkit.
- National Research Council. Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2006.
- German AJ, Holden SL, Mason SL, Bryner C, Bouldoires C, Morris PJ, Deboise M, Biourge V. Imprecision when using measuring cups to weigh out extruded dry kibbled food. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2011;95(3):368–373. Accuracy ranged from an 18% under-estimate to an 80% over-estimate of portion size.
- Coe JB, Rankovic A, Edwards TR, Parr JM. Dog owner's accuracy measuring different volumes of dry dog food using three different measuring devices. Vet Rec. 2019;185(19):599.
Getting the measurement right
Weigh the day's total in the morning and take treats out of that total rather than adding them on top. If you use food for training, the training food is part of the ration, not an extra.
Recheck the figure whenever the dog's weight changes by more than about 5%, after neutering, when activity changes with the seasons, and at every life stage boundary. A portion that was right at eighteen months is rarely still right at eight years.
Common questions
How much should I feed my dog per day?
Work out the daily calorie requirement first, then divide it by the energy density of the food you actually buy. A 20 kg neutered adult needs about 1,065 kcal a day, which on a 3,500 kcal/kg food is roughly 305 g. The same dog on a 4,200 kcal/kg food needs only 254 g.
Why does the bag say to feed more than this?
Bag guides are written for an average intact adult dog at maintenance, and they are generous. Most pet dogs are neutered and less active than that average, so following the bag typically overfeeds by 20 to 30%. Use the bag as a starting point and adjust on body condition.
Should I measure in cups or grams?
Grams. A cup is a volume measure of a product whose density varies by brand and even by batch, and studies of owners using scoops find errors of up to 80% in a single serving. Kitchen scales cost very little and remove the problem entirely.
Where do I find kcal per kg on the bag?
Look for a line reading "metabolizable energy" or "ME", usually near the guaranteed analysis or the feeding chart. Some brands print kcal per cup instead, and a few print nothing at all, in which case estimate it from the guaranteed analysis with our label calorie calculator.
How many meals a day should my dog have?
Two for most adult dogs. Puppies under four months need three or four. There is some evidence that once-daily feeding suits certain adult dogs, but large deep-chested breeds should not have one big meal because of bloat risk.
How do I know the portion is right?
Feed it for four weeks, weigh weekly, and check body condition. You should feel the ribs easily under a thin fat layer and see a waist from above. Adjust by 10% in whichever direction the trend says, then wait another four weeks.