Owning a Dog seems straight forward, but there are a lot of things that people don’t tell you. For instance, how much Food to feed your dog. It may sound simple, but the amount a dog eats depends on the dog’s age, weight, activity levels and the food itself. See below to figure out how much food and how often you should feed your dog.
How much food to feed my dog?
How much food you feed your dog depends on several factors including weight, age, pregnancy and exercise levels. Our calculation method below starts with a standard dog (adult dogs that aren’t pregnant) and adjusts according to these other factors.
Standard feeding guidelines (non-pregnant adult dogs)
Adult dogs eat roughly 50 calories per pound of body weight per day. This usually equates to about 1 cup per 10 lbs to hit their daily caloric intake.
Each dog food is different, so be sure to calculate how much food they need with every kind of food.
Here is a table to help with your calculation.
table
Varying factors
After calculating the standard amount of food you need for your dog, we can move on to dog’s lifestyle adjustments and other varying factors.
Age
Puppies grow fast, so they need a lot of food. In fact, puppies often eat 2-3 times as much food as an adult dog of the same body weight.
If your dog is under 4 months old, take the standard calculation from above and double it.
For instance, if your dog weighs 10 lbs and is younger than 4 months old, they would require about 1,000 calories per day.
To make this easy, many dog food brands have a product line specifically designed for puppies. Review the feeding chart on the puppy food bag for a more detailed recommendation.
Senior dogs, on the other hand, require less food than food than adult dogs. As dogs mature, their metabolism and activity levels slow down, so they need less food to function.
As a rule of thumb, senior dogs often need 20% less food than adults. To calculate this, take the standard calculation and multiply that by 0.8.
For example, if your senior dog weighs 30 lbs, the standard calculation would say they need 1,500 daily calories. Take 1,500 times 0.8 and you get the adjusted recommendation of 1,200 calories per day.
Exercise levels
The average dog gets about 20-30 minutes of exercise.
If that sounds about right for your dog, the standard calculation should be close to their caloric needs.
If they get more or less exercise than that, try lowering or increasing their food slightly to account for that.
Body fat composition
These calculations are all well and good when your dog has a healthy weight to start.
However, if your dog is overweight, you may have to reduce their calorie intake lower to get them to a healthier body weight. Start by reducing their calorie intake by 100 calories a day and see if that does the trick.
The same is true in the reverse. If the dog is far too skinny, they will need more food than the standard to gain weight. Increase their food by 100-200 calories per day until they get to a healthy weight.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy is where these calculations all go out the window.
Not completely, but you get the point.
Pregnant dogs can eat 25% – 50% more calories than other non-pregnant dogs.
But it can be tough to tell if they’re gaining healthy weight or putting on excess fat sometimes. The best path is to check with your vet and see what they recommend.
How often should I feed my dog?
The frequency of mealtimes will also depend on the dog’s age.
Young puppies (under 3 months) usually do best with 4 meals a day. Between 3-6 months old, you can reduce it down to 3 meals per day.
After they turn 6 months old, you can start feeding them only twice a day.
And remember how I said that pregnancy messes the whole calculation up? Well, it also messes up their feeding frequency.
Many vets recommend a free feeding schedule when dogs are pregnant. This simply means that you will leave food out for them to eat as they please. But again, check with your vet to see if this is the right thing for your dog.
Things to keep in mind
When figuring out how much food to feed your dog, you should keep a few things in mind.
Every food is different
The calories of a dog’s food can vary a ton between kinds of food.
Some may be 500 calories per cup while others may be 400 or 700. Always read the label and recalculate how much food your dog will need when switching.
And be very careful when switching from dry food to canned food (and vice versa). Dry food can have four times as many calories as wet food.
Monitor your dog’s weight
This guide (or any guide for that matter) will work well for most dogs.
But your dog may be different than most other dogs.
Take note of how many calories you are feeding your dog, and monitor their weight frequently. If they are putting on more pounds than they should, dial back their food rations or get more exercise.
If your dog seems to be losing weight when they shouldn’t be, increase the amount you are feeding them.
There’s no exact formula that will get it right 100%. You have to be the advocate for your dog’s health.
Medical conditions and allergies
Speaking of health…
Many dogs have health concerns that affect the way they eat or digest food.
For instance, dogs with Cushing’s disease have a higher than normal metabolism due to the high levels of cortisol in their body. They will eat more food than most adult dogs of the same weight.
If your dog has any health issues that affect their digestive system or metabolism, the best course of action is to speak with your vet. They may recommend a particular food or specific amount of food to feed your dog.
If you do end up switching foods and your vet didn’t give a recommendation on the amount of food to feed your dog, be sure to recalculate how much they should have based on the new food’s nutrition label.
The post Feeding Your Dog: How Much Food and How Often? appeared first on Elegant Furball.
