Dog & Cat Food Calculator: How Much to Feed
Enter your pet's weight and the calories printed on the food label. You get cups or grams per day and per meal, wet and dry splits, a treat allowance and how long a bag will last.
- Cups and grams from your own food label
- Wet and dry mixes, treats subtracted, bag duration
- Same AAHA numbers as our calorie calculator
🥣Food calculator
Fill in the pet, then the food.
Your result
How it works
How to use the dog and cat food calculator
- Enter your pet's weight, life stage and goal. Leave body condition at 5 if your pet looks and feels well proportioned.
- Look at the food bag. Type the calories per cup (and per kg if listed). The label may call it kcal ME/cup.
- Add treat calories, wet food and meals per day if they apply.
- Read the daily amount, then weigh your pet every two to four weeks and nudge the portion up or down by 10%.
The daily calories come from the same AAHA formula as our calorie calculator, so the two tools always agree.
Reading the label
Cups, grams and calories: what the numbers on the bag mean
Pet food labels give energy as kcal per cup or kcal per kg (sometimes per can). Calories per cup differ from one food to the next, so a "cup" is not a standard amount. That is why a fixed chart on a bag is only a starting point and why this tool asks for your food's own number.
Cups
Calories per day divided by calories per cup. Use the same measuring cup each time, or better, a kitchen scale.
Grams
Calories per day divided by calories per kg, times 1,000. Grams are more consistent than cups.
Wet food
Give the share of daily calories that come from cans or pouches. We subtract it from the dry food.
Treats
AAHA says treats should be no more than 10% of daily calories. Anything you enter is subtracted from the meal amount.
Switching foods? Recalculate, because the cups change even when the calories do not.
The method
How daily calories are worked out
The AAHA 2021 guidelines give a two-step method: resting energy requirement RER = 70 x (body weight in kg)^0.75, then maintenance energy MER = RER x a life-stage factor.
| Life stage | Dog factor | Cat factor |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, spayed or neutered | 1.4 to 1.6 | 1.2 to 1.4 |
| Adult, not neutered | 1.6 to 1.8 | 1.4 to 1.6 |
| Inactive or obese-prone | 1.0 to 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Weight loss | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Growth | 3.0 under 4 months, 2.0 from 4 months | 2.5 |
| Pregnancy | 3.0 (last 21 days) | 1.6 to 2.0 |
Multipliers of resting energy from the 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines. Our calculator uses them as written and shows the range.
| Pet | RER (kcal) | Daily calories (MER) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 lb (4.5 kg) neutered dog | 218 | 305 to 350 |
| 25 lb (11.3 kg) neutered dog | 433 | 605 to 690 |
| 50 lb (22.7 kg) neutered dog | 727 | 1020 to 1165 |
| 10 lb (4.5 kg) neutered cat | 218 | 260 to 305 |
| 15 lb (6.8 kg) neutered cat | 295 | 355 to 415 |
AAHA's own worked example is the first row: a 10 lb neutered dog has an RER of about 216 kcal and, at 1.4, a MER of about 302.
AAHA calls these "general guidelines", notes that sedentary and indoor pets may need less, and says to adjust intake by monitoring body weight and body condition score. The tool therefore shows a range and asks you to adjust.
From Reddit
What owners ask on Reddit
Quotes are copied word for word from public Reddit threads. They are single people's accounts, not evidence, and we use them only to show the questions the tool is meant to answer.
“Note that the amounts listed will be per day, not per meal, and also assume that you are only feeding one type of food.”
r/puppy101, Feb 2026, a thread about mixing kibble and a wet pouch · Reddit thread
Our take. That is the usual mix-up. Our tool gives a daily total and then splits it by the number of meals, and its wet-food box subtracts the calories you feed as cans or pouches from the dry portion.
“I was a victim of the bag recommendations. My vet had to educate me but it makes sense the same way it does for humans. I have a golden retriever that was overweight because I was following the bag recommendations.”
r/DogAdvice, Jul 2026, a thread about family members overfeeding an obese dog · Reddit thread
Our take. Several commenters in that thread say bag tables overshoot. We cannot confirm that for any one brand, which is why this tool starts from your pet's own calorie need and your food's kcal per cup, then asks you to adjust by weighing every few weeks and checking body condition.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How much should I feed my dog?
How much should I feed my cat?
How do I convert calories to cups?
How do I mix wet and dry food?
How many treats are too many?
Should I feed puppies and kittens differently?
Why does my vet's number differ from this?
Keep going
More tools for your pet
Read next
Related guides
Sources
Where the numbers come from
- AAHA 2021 Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines, energy requirement box — RER formula, life-stage factors, worked example
- AAHA weight management guidelines page — treats at no more than 10% of daily calories
- University of Guelph OVC Pet Nutrition, Scoring for Health (2021, updated 2025) — each point above 5 is an additional 10 to 15% body fat; the weight conversion on this page is our approximation
- Merck Veterinary Manual, body condition score scales — ideal on the 9-point scale: 4 to 5 for dogs, 5 for cats
Estimates for healthy dogs and cats. Not a substitute for veterinary advice. Last reviewed October 2026.