How much should my pet eat?
Estimate your dog or cat’s daily calories and portion size from their weight, life stage, and activity, then fine-tune with your vet.
For weight-loss or weight-gain goals, use your pet’s ideal (target) weight.
Add the “kcal/cup” (or ME) from your food’s label to get cups per day.
Enter your pet’s weight to see an estimated daily calorie target and treat budget.
How the feeding calculator works
The calculator uses the same two-step method veterinarians use. First it finds your pet’s resting energy requirement (RER), the calories needed at rest, with the standard formula: RER = 70 × (body weight in kg) raised to the power of 0.75. Then it multiplies the RER by a life-stage and activity factor to estimate the maintenance energy requirement (MER), the total calories your pet needs in a normal day. Growing puppies and kittens have the highest factors, while neutered adults and pets on a weight-loss plan have the lowest.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories does my dog or cat need per day?
It depends on weight, life stage, and activity. As a starting point, a neutered adult dog needs about 1.6 times its resting energy requirement, and a neutered adult cat about 1.2 times. Enter your pet’s details above for an estimate, then confirm with your veterinarian.
How much should treats be?
Treats and human-food extras should make up no more than 10% of your pet’s daily calories, with the rest from a complete and balanced diet. The calculator shows that 10% treat budget for you.
How do I turn calories into cups of food?
Find the energy density on your food’s label (listed as kcal/cup or metabolizable energy) and enter it above. The calculator divides the daily calorie target by that number to estimate cups per day. Measuring with a standard measuring cup or a gram scale is far more accurate than guessing.
This calculator gives a general estimate based on standard veterinary energy equations. It is not a substitute for advice from your veterinarian, who can account for your pet’s body condition, health conditions, and specific diet.