How Much Should You Feed Your Dog? Calculating Daily Portions

Reading time: about 8 min

If your dog eats just one complete food, calculating their daily portion may seem easy: look at the feeding guide for the correct weight and put that amount in the bowl. In real life, however, many other things end up in that bowl. Kibble in the morning, wet food or meat in the evening, treats on walks and an occasional substantial chew. How can you tell whether your dog is eating too little, too much or just enough?

For years my own dogs have eaten what I call a combination diet. Kibble is a convenient foundation for our lifestyle, but they also receive wet food and raw food. My dogs have taught me that every day does not have to be identical. One thing I recommend, particularly when a dog’s weight is changing, is to work out the whole day’s intake first and only then decide on individual portions.

Why the feeding guide on the package is only a starting point

Dogs of equal weight do not necessarily expend the same amount of energy. Age, activity, body condition, ambient temperature, health and neutering can all matter. Neutering may reduce average energy requirements, but this does not mean every neutered dog should receive the same fixed percentage less food. The individual dog’s body condition and weight trend are what ultimately matter.

By ideal weight I do not mean a single number from a breed chart. Our three German Shepherds illustrate this perfectly. Fenton’s ideal weight is around 38–39 kg, Oscar’s 42–43 kg and Faddy’s 45–46 kg. For me, the breed standard has therefore been merely a practical starting point. Another dog of the same breed may have a different ideal weight. Look for a visible waist when viewed from above, an abdominal tuck from the side and ribs that can be felt with gentle pressure. If body condition is unclear or the dog has a medical condition, work out an appropriate target weight and feeding plan with a veterinarian.

I have written before that Faddy and Oscar often regulate their own intake: they eat more on some days and less on others. That is an observation about those individual dogs, not a claim that most dogs will avoid overeating. An owner of a Labrador or a highly food-motivated dog may have a completely different experience.

How to estimate daily calorie needs

Veterinarians often start with the resting energy requirement, or RER: 70 × body weight in kilograms raised to the power of 0.75. This is not the final daily food allowance but a baseline adjusted to the dog’s lifestyle and condition. For example, a 40 kg dog’s RER is approximately 1,113 kilocalories per day. Using a preliminary multiplier of 1.4–1.6 for a healthy adult gives a range of around 1,560–1,780 kcal daily. Some dogs need less and others substantially more.

Do not treat this number as unquestionable truth. The AAHA nutrition guidelines recommend comparing estimated needs with actual energy intake, then monitoring weight and body condition. It is especially important to count the whole day’s food, not only what was measured into the bowl in the morning. Chews and even liver used to make food tastier may supply considerable calories.

With mixed feeding, calculate percentages of energy, not grams

If you decide on 50% kibble, 20% wet food and 30% raw food, those percentages must refer to DAILY ENERGY, not the combined weight in grams of three different foods. Kibble contains far less water than wet food, so 100 g of dry food can supply three to four times as much energy as 100 g of wet food. Raw meat also varies in calorie density according to fat and bone content.

Consider an illustrative example. Let us say the dog’s initial daily target is 1,700 kcal, the kibble provides 360 kcal per 100 g, the complete wet food 100 kcal per 100 g and the balanced raw food 200 kcal per 100 g. These are sample figures, not verified values for any specific Winner Plus recipe.

The check is simple: 850 + 340 + 510 = 1,700 kcal. You can then recalculate each food’s weight if you change the product or its calorie density.

People often calculate combinations from package feeding recommendations because it is simpler, and I have done this for Faddy too. For example, daily allowances might be 465 g kibble, 1,600 g wet food and around 1,000 g raw food. Taking 50%, 20% and 30% of those amounts respectively produces 232.5 g + 320 g + 300 g. The arithmetic is correct, but the desired energy split is achieved only if each original full-day allowance provides roughly the same calories. Many dry and wet foods list energy needs that generally agree with their recommended portions. That cannot always be assumed for raw food. We therefore now recommend checking kilocalories first.

What if I add plain meat, turkey necks or chicken backs?

Raw feeders often use 2–3% of a dog’s body weight per day as an initial estimate. I have also used 2.5% for Faddy, which equals 1 kg for a 40 kg dog. This can give a rough sense of quantity, but it tells us nothing about the calories, calcium, phosphorus or other essential nutrients in that kilogram. Lean beef, fatty meat and meaty bones are not nutritionally interchangeable.

If 30% of a dog’s daily energy comes from plain meat or bones, we can no longer assume that the complete food balances the remainder of the diet. AAHA generally recommends limiting nutritionally unbalanced extras to 10% of daily energy. Integrative nutrition also includes more flexible approaches: for example, dog nutrition specialist Mary Straus has discussed providing up to around 25% of daily calories from fresh food without necessarily reformulating the entire diet. What matters is which foods are added. As fresh foods make up a larger share of the diet, nutrient balance and appropriate proportions become more important. Diets for growing puppies or dogs with special needs require particular care.

I would also assess raw meaty bones separately in terms of chewing behaviour. Which bone may suit an individual dog is covered in the FendaF article “Bones for Dogs: Which Bone and for What Purpose?”.

Kibble, wet food and the order of meals

My dogs often eat their kibble first and get wet food afterwards, almost like dessert. In our home this has helped avoid a cycle where the kibble needs ever-tastier toppings. I am not claiming that this order is physiologically best for every dog or that wet and dry foods should never be mixed in one bowl. If your dog enjoys them together and digests them well, there is no reason to worry simply because they are combined.

It is often said that kibble and wet food must not be mixed. Dr Conor Brady points out that the body adapts. Just as we humans can eat beef tartare with bread and digest the meal, dogs can handle different food types too.

I give raw meaty bones in a separate meal. This lets me observe my dog’s chewing behaviour and how they manage the bone. Some raw-feeding and integrative practitioners also suggest leaving at least 2–3 hours between kibble and raw meaty bones, citing different digestive demands and a desire to avoid overloading the digestive system. This is a practical feeding preference, not a requirement established for all dogs by clinical trials. I personally prefer to follow it.

I have sometimes recommended feeding kibble in the evening, but this is also a practical preference rather than a universal rule. For most dogs, total daily energy, suitability of the food and a consistent routine matter more than the specific time each food is served.

How do you know when to change the portion?

Once you have a plan, use kitchen scales and write down the portions initially. Recheck weight and body condition every two to four weeks, for example, and adjust in small steps based on the trend. If your dog becomes much more active, is recovering from illness or loses weight unexpectedly, reassess the plan. Rapid weight loss, loss of appetite or a change in thirst cannot be solved just by tweaking the grams.

When switching from Winner Plus Active to Light Senior or another recipe, the same measuring cup may not contain the same weight or calories. Recheck both the energy content and recommended daily allowance on the new package. Count chewing treats as real food, not invisible extras.

Calculating portions need not become a daily accounting exercise. One proper calculation at the outset, followed by watching your dog and knowing when to revisit the numbers, is enough. Mixed feeding can then be both logical and straightforward.

Sources

American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). Feeding Plans for Healthy, Appropriate Weight Cats and Dogs, 2021: https://www.aaha.org/resources/2021-aaha-nutrition-and-weight-management-guidelines/feeding-plans-for-healthy-appropriate-weight-cats-and-dogs/

FEDIAF. Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs, 2025: https://www.fediaf.org/self-regulation/nutritional-guidelines/

WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines and body condition scoring tools: https://wsava.org/global-guidelines/global-nutrition-guidelines/

FendaF. Bones for Dogs: Which Bone and for What Purpose?: Bones for Dogs: Which Bones and Why?