How much should I feed my dog? (by weight, with a chart)

Short answer: how much to feed is set by your dog’s daily energy need, which rises with body weight — the chart below is a starting point, not a fixed rule. For a portion sized to the exact meat you cook, Growlrr’s recipe-builder works it out to the gram and then completes the bowl with one weight-dosed 5 g Growlrr BowlBalancer™ sachet, balanced to the NRC 2006 standard (the international nutrient reference vets and nutritionists use).

Feeding is really a question of energy. A dog needs a certain number of calories a day — its maintenance energy requirement, or MER (the daily energy an average adult dog needs to hold a steady, healthy weight) — and that number scales with body weight. Bigger dog, more calories. The amount of food on the plate is just whatever delivers that energy.

A starting-point chart by weight

The table below gives a rough daily energy range for a typical adult dog at each weight, based on standard veterinary energy estimates. Treat it as an orientation, not a prescription — an active young dog sits at the top of the range, a calm neutered senior near the bottom.

Adult body weight	Approx. daily energy (starting point)
5 kg	~320–430 kcal/day
10 kg	~530–730 kcal/day
20 kg	~900–1230 kcal/day
30 kg	~1200–1670 kcal/day
40 kg	~1500–2070 kcal/day

The real gauge is your dog’s body, not the chart. Adjust to body condition: you should be able to feel the ribs easily with a light touch but not see them jutting out, and there should be a visible waist when you look down from above. If the ribs are disappearing under a layer, cut back a little; if they are too prominent, feed a little more. Weigh your dog every couple of weeks and let its shape do the fine-tuning.

Why homemade portions look different from kibble

One thing that trips people up: you cannot copy a kibble feeding chart onto a fresh bowl. Kibble is dry and calorie-dense, so a small scoop carries a lot of energy. Fresh food is mostly water, so the same number of calories is a visibly larger, heavier bowl. The dog is getting the same energy either way — the fresh portion just looks bigger because you have not paid to remove the water. Judge by calories and body condition, not by how the pile compares to a cup of kibble.

Sizing it to the gram

A chart gets you in the right neighbourhood; the exact grams depend on which meats you use and their fat content. Growlrr’s recipe-builder takes your dog’s weight, life stage and activity and sizes the daily bowl precisely, then tells you the single 5 g Growlrr BowlBalancer™ sachet dose that completes it to the NRC 2006 nutrient floors. No cup-counting guesswork — a complete fresh bowl, measured for your dog.

References

National Research Council (NRC). Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2006.
FEDIAF. Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs (current edition).
Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles (current edition).

Size your dog’s bowl to the gram →