Daily Calorie Requirement Calculator
Calculate your dog’s calorie needs, combine multiple food types, customize portions and plan ahead: all customized to your dog’s unique requirements. Scroll down for detailed instructions.
This nutrition tool takes the guesswork out of mealtime by estimating your furry companion’s daily calorie needs to ensure optimal nutrition. Simply enter your dog’s details into the calculator to receive a tailored caloric recommendation that supports their optimal health and energy needs.
To determine your dog’s daily food portion, simply look up the calorie content of your dog’s food on the packaging or manufacturer’s website and enter it into the calculator (in kcal/100g, kcal/kg, kcal/cup, or kcal/can). The calculator will then provide feeding recommendations in cups, ounces, grams, or kilograms, making it easy to measure your dog’s food whether you’re using imperial or metric units.
Please note that the recommended daily calorie requirement is presented as a range. Every dog is unique, so we suggest starting with the midpoint of the range and then adjusting portions up or down based on your dog’s body condition score (BCS).
Checking Your Dog’s Body Condition
Monitoring your dog’s BCS is the best way to know whether to adjust feeding amounts:
- Ribs (by touch): You should be able to feel your dog’s ribs easily with light pressure, but they shouldn’t be visibly sticking out.
- Waist (from above): Viewed from above, your dog should have a visible waistline just behind the ribs.
- Tummy tuck (from the side): Viewed from the side, the belly should tuck upward behind the ribs. In overweight dogs, this tuck is reduced or absent, giving a flatter or more rectangular profile.
Adjusting Based on Body Condition
- Overweight (ribs hard to feel, waist disappearing): Adjust portions toward the lower end of the calorie range.
- Underweight (ribs prominent, waist overly pronounced): Adjust portions toward the higher end of the calorie range
- Ideal (ribs easy to feel, waist and tuck visible): Continue feeding at the current level within the range.
📌 For a clear visual guide, view the WSAVA Body Condition Score Chart, which provides images and scoring to help you assess your dog’s condition accurately.
Please note that the recommended daily calorie requirement results represent approximations to use as a starting point. Each dog is unique, so adjustments may be needed based on body condition and individual response. For the most accurate assessment of your dog’s weight and overall health, consult your veterinarian, who can help tailor feeding recommendations to your dog’s specific needs.
Advanced Features!
🍽️ Mix Up to 5 Different Foods
Our calculator allows you to enter up to 5 different foods, perfect for calculating mixed meals or factoring in treats as part of your dog’s daily caloric intake. Simply add each food item separately with its calorie content to see how much of each to feed. You can also label each food directly in the provided text box (like “Grain-free Salmon,” “Wet Food,” or “Training Treats”) for easier tracking. Use the convenient proportion slider to easily adjust what percentage of the total meal each food should represent, giving you complete control over your dog’s diet composition.
Pro Tip: 🔒 Need to maintain a specific amount of a particular food? Use the “lock” feature to fix the proportion of any food item while adjusting the others.
🥄 Per-Meal Portions
You can view feeding recommendations per day and per meal. Select how many meals you feed per day and the calculator will automatically split the daily total into per-meal amounts in your chosen units (cups, ounces, grams, or kilograms). This works seamlessly with mixed meals and locked proportions: each meal keeps the same food percentages so your daily totals still add up perfectly.
📆 Multi-Day Planning Tool
Planning ahead? Use the multi-day planning feature to calculate the total amount of each food needed for extended periods. Whether you’re preparing for a multi-day trip or just want to plan your shopping more efficiently, enter the number of days and the calculator will determine the exact quantities required.
Check out our blog post to learn about the story behind the calculator and to see a real-world example of how it helped me as a pet parent to optimize my own dog’s nutrition!