Puppy feeding calculator

It depends on weight and age, and the maths is standard veterinary practice rather than anything proprietary. First the resting energy requirement: RER = 70 x (bodyweight in kg)^0.75. Then a growth multiplier on top: three times RER under four months, twice RER from four months.

The calculator does both and converts to cups if you tell it the calories per cup on your bag.

Because the growth multiplier steps from 3 x RER to 2 x RER. That is a real, published step rather than a gradual taper, and it is large.

A puppy still being fed at its three-month rate at seven months is getting roughly a third more food than it needs. This is one of the most common reasons a puppy quietly becomes overweight during adolescence.

It depends entirely on your food. Two puppy foods can differ by 150 kcal per cup, which changes the portion by nearly half.

Look for “kcal/cup” or “calorie content” on the bag, usually near the guaranteed analysis. Enter it and the calculator converts. If you leave it blank we give you the calorie target instead of guessing, because a guessed density is worse than no answer.

Four a day under 12 weeks, three from 12 weeks to about six months, then two from six months onwards for life.

Toy and small breeds stay on three meals for longer, usually until six to eight months. That is not fussiness: small puppies are prone to low blood sugar when meals are spaced too far apart.

Use both and expect them to disagree a little. Bag charts are built around a breed-average puppy at a given weight and tend to be generous, partly because underfeeding generates complaints and overfeeding does not.

Neither the bag nor this calculator can see your puppy. Body condition is the tiebreaker, and it is the thing your vet assesses by hand at every visit.

Yes, and it matters more than most people realise. Large breed puppy formulas control energy density and calcium specifically to slow growth, because growing too fast is associated with developmental orthopaedic problems in bigger dogs.

AAFCO caps calcium for large-breed growth formulas at roughly 4.5 grams per 1,000 kcal, and concerns have been reported above about 3.6. Crucially, puppies from weaning to around six months absorb calcium passively and cannot down-regulate when intake is high, which is why adding a calcium supplement on top of a complete food is actively harmful rather than merely wasteful.

Most puppies act hungry regardless of how much they have eaten. Appetite is a poor guide to adequacy.

Judge by body condition and growth instead: ribs easily felt under a thin layer of fat, a visible waist from above, and a steady line on a growth chart. If all three look right, your puppy is being fed enough however convincing the performance at the bowl.

Around the point where growth flattens, which is earlier for small dogs than large ones. Small breeds are often ready by nine to twelve months; large and giant breeds usually stay on puppy or large-breed-puppy food until twelve to eighteen months.

Switch gradually over about a week, mixing increasing proportions of the new food. Your vet can time it to your individual dog rather than a birthday.

Count them. The usual guidance is that treats should stay under about 10 percent of daily calories, with the rest coming from a complete and balanced food.

Training treats add up faster than people expect. If you are doing a lot of training, take the treat allowance out of the meal portions rather than adding it on top.

The formulas are the standard veterinary ones and the arithmetic is exact, but every dog has its own metabolism. Published energy requirements carry meaningful individual variation, which is precisely why the guidance is to start from a calculated figure and then adjust.

Treat the number as a starting point, weigh regularly, and let body condition decide the rest. Our methodology page sets out exactly which source each figure comes from.