How much should I feed my dog, and how often?

Almost every dog feeding question comes down to the same thing: the packet gives a range for an average dog of a given weight, and your dog is not average. Activity, age, neutering and metabolism all move the real figure, sometimes by a third. So the number on the bag is where you start, and the dog's body is what tells you whether you got it right.

Safety

What you'll need

• Kitchen scales
• The feeding chart on the food packaging
• Bathroom scales, or the vet's weigh-in (optional)
• A measuring jug you keep for the food (optional)

Step by step

1. Find the dog's current weight, not your estimate of it.Most vet practices let you use their scales free without an appointment, and it takes two minutes. Guessing a dog's weight by eye is unreliable enough to throw the whole calculation out.
2. Read the feeding chart as a daily total.This is the single most common error. A chart saying 320g for a 20kg dog means 320g across the whole day — 160g twice a day, not 320g twice a day. Doubling it is how dogs quietly become obese.
3. Weigh the food rather than scooping it.A cup or a scoop varies by fifty per cent depending on how you fill it and how dense the kibble is. Weigh once, mark the level on a jug you keep for the job, and then you can scoop accurately.
4. Split it into two meals for an adult dog.Morning and evening. Puppies need more frequent, smaller meals — commonly four a day up to about four months, three until six months, then two. Very small breeds are prone to low blood sugar and often need more frequent feeding as puppies.
5. Take the treats out of the daily total.Treats, chews and training rewards should be no more than about a tenth of what the dog eats in a day, and that tenth comes out of the meals rather than being added on top. A handful of training treats is a meaningful part of a small dog's day.
6. Check the body condition every fortnight.Run your hands over the ribs — you should feel them easily under a thin covering, like the backs of your fingers rather than your knuckles or your palm. Look down from above for a waist behind the ribs, and from the side for a tuck-up in the belly line.
7. Adjust by about ten per cent at a time, not by halving.If the ribs are hard to find, drop the daily amount by roughly a tenth and reassess in two to four weeks. Body condition changes slowly, so anything faster than that is guesswork reacting to noise.
8. Recalculate when anything changes.Neutering typically reduces energy needs noticeably, and it is a common point at which dogs start gaining. Age, an injury that stops the walks, a new food with a different energy density and winter weather all change the figure.
9. Feed away from other dogs and after a walk, not before.Separate bowls in separate places prevents guarding developing. Leaving a gap either side of vigorous exercise is a sensible precaution in deep-chested breeds, where bloat is a real risk.

Tips

• Two foods with the same feeding weight can be very different — a dense, high-energy food needs a smaller portion than a bulky one, which is why you must reread the chart when you change brand.
• If several people in the house feed the dog, put the day's food in a labelled tub in the morning. It is the only reliable way to stop double-feeding.
• Weigh the dog monthly rather than annually. A gain of one kilogram on a ten-kilogram dog is the equivalent of a person putting on a stone.

Common mistakes

• Reading the chart figure as an amount per meal — It is the total for the whole day. Serving it twice feeds double, and it is the most common single cause of an overweight dog.
• Adding treats on top of full meals — Chews and training treats can add a large fraction of a small dog's daily intake. They have to come out of the meals, not be added to them.
• Free-feeding by topping up the bowl — You lose all information about how much the dog is eating, which is one of the earliest signs of illness, and most dogs eat more than they need.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask