How Much Dog Food Should I Feed My Dog?
February 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Dog Food Tips
Taking charge of your dog’s diet is a full-time job, especially since dogs seem to be constantly hungry! However, there are some common mistakes that many dog owners make in relation to feeding their dog. The most damaging of these mistakes is to feed your dog an incorrect portion size. There are many health and behavioral conditions in dogs that can be a result of over or underfeeding. To prevent this, it is essential that you are familiar with the factors that can influence how much food you should be feeding your dog.
AGE
Depending on how old your dog is, you will need to adjust their feeding portion accordingly. Though some dog food formulas have a general guideline that gives you an idea of how much food your dog will need, most only cite your dog’s weight as an influential factor. As a general rule, you will have to feed your dog less as a puppy, more as an adult, and less when they are over seven years of age. This is because as your dog ages, their metabolic rate will fluctuate slightly. It’s also best that you switch formulas in each of your dog’s life stages, since this will affect your dog’s development and caloric intake.
WEIGHT
The majority of commercial dog food formulas
include a weight chart that will allow you to figure out how much your dog should be eating each day. However, there is a general rule that you can use as far as portion size. If your dog weighs up to 10 lbs, you will want to feed them around one cup of food per day. If your dog weighs from 10 to 25 lbs, you need to feed your dog from 1 ½ to 2 ¼ cups per day. If your dog weighs from 25 to 50 lbs, they will require from 2 ¼ to 3 ¾ cups of food per day. Dogs that weigh from 50 to 75 lbs will need from 3 ¾ cups to 5 cups per day. If your dog weighs over 75 lbs, you will want to feed them from 5 to 8 cups of dog food per day. These are the general guidelines for dry food formulas, and should be adjusted when feeding your dog canned food formulas.
ACTIVITY LEVEL
Contrary to popular belief, the guidelines stated for your dog’s daily feeding portion should be adjusted according to your dog’s activity level. Some dogs that are highly active should be fed slightly more food per day. However, it is important not to overfeed your dog, since this will cause them to have a higher likelihood of becoming obese. If your dog has a low level of activity, and spends a significant amount of time indoors, you will want to feed them slightly less than their recommended daily portion. As stated before, you need to only use very slight adjustments when finding the proper portion of food for your dog. This will prevent your dog from gaining weight, or from becoming prone to malnutrition.
As always, we appreciate your comments!
Question: Do you adjust the amount of food your dog consumes based on their activity level?
HEY Eric-I have a question for you-I’m trying to figure out how many calories to feed my dog.She is a 5 year old Labrador she weighs around 70lbs-I give her 1 and a half cups of Before Grain for breakfast plus I add 2 tablespoons of fat free plain yogurt 3 tablespoons of fresh blueberries 8 baby carrots chopped and a raw egg.Then for dinner I give her a can of Turducken and a half a cup of kibble.I am getting around 1,130.00 calories are my calculations correct? I walk her a mile a day. Also she plays frisbee and runs after tennis balls. She has lost a little weight which she needed to and I expected since I switched her to grain free 2 months ago.How many calories should she be eating??
Hi Eric,I have a question for you- see the post above.
Thanks for the post Eric. I’m giving my dogs about two cups per day each, they weigh about 30lbs so its nice to know I’m in line. However, my problem is that one eats more of the food than the other because she takes bigger bites and eats more quickly. So that one is overweight while the other one is right where she should be. To make the problem worse, the lighter dog is more of a grazer and eats small bites here and there so I can’t really separate them just during eating time. Oh well.
Hello and thanks for the opportunity to ask questions. I own 2 small terriers and one bichon/poodle mix. My terriers are a bit overweight, they weigh about 24-25 lbs and probably should weight about 20 lbs; the poodle is smaller and weighs about 12-13 lbs. The problem is that I want to feed them all the same type of food but the bichon is a picky eater and only eats rice w/ chicken breast and avoids the kibble even when offered to her. I give them all a chicken breast jerky treat daily and the poodle seems to want to make a full meal of the treats, often begging for more. The Terriers’ meals consist of: (divided between all 3 dogs) 1 1/2 cups of high quality kibble, 1/2 a can of high quality canned dog food. (usually chicken, but occasionally venison or lamb), and 1 cup of cooked rice with chunks of cooked chicken breast. Again this is divided to feed all 3 dogs but the bichon gets mostly the chicken and rice with a little kibble which the other 2 finish off for her. I am exercising the terriers more frequently as my schedule is now permitting it. But the “boys” are still fat. Where should I cut back from? When they are fed at 6:00 pm they finish their dinners within about 5-10 minutes, then they start looking to eat the bichon’s meal since she take so long to eat. Any recommendations is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Laura
i cant say ive looked at the feeding recommendations on a bag of dog food in ages. it is far more critical to adjust up or down based on the dogs body condition. i see way too many fat dogs because people feed what the bag says instead of understanding what a healthy lean body shape looks like.
So true derek. Have you been to a dog park lately. Looks like the doggy fat farm on the weekends. My vet told me for appox. every pound a dog is over weight it is the equivalent of a human being 7 pounds overweight. That really says it all, keep your dog lean….But not skinny.
Hey Eric.
Great post. I’m feeding my bichon 1/4 cup dry and 1/4 cup my mixture of rice, chicken or beef and carrots twice a day. She’s a rescue and will not eat the dry alone so I bribe her with a mixture of regular food Any opinions ?
Jay
Just wandering what you think I should feed a 1 1/2 yr old mini schnauzer? I am now feeding her blue buffalo lamd and rice. Do you think she might need more protein? Their breed is known for pancreatits (sp) and kidney problems. She has none of these problems. Just would like som sugestions.
Thanks,
Michelle
I have a lab/collie who is about 9 years old.I am not sure right now of her weight but she is getting heavy lately. I am not sure if I overfeed or underfeed her but I give her a can of mighty dog mixed with dry food. She was getting Alpo dry food but I recently changed to Merrick senior dry. I feed her twice a day with the dry.She may be more then 25 LBS. She is not an active dog……………..Your advice would be appreciated..Barbara
1st off get her off the purnia. I would suggest finding a local pet store(not petco or petmart) and finding a good canned dog food such as Evanders, Fromm, Evo, Merrick etc. I feed a small amount of canned Innova puppy myself and only because he gets powdered Vitamins’s.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
Merrick is great. My last GSD got heavy latter in his life and I just gave him a little less. I was told once that for every pound a dog is overweight it is the same as a person being seven pounds overweight. So 7X25 is not a pretty picture for her health. Take her for a walk, start out with just short ones but be careful and don’t over do it.
Here is my dogs website I thought you might want to see him since you have a GSD. I saw that on your other post.
I guess I have to leave a link.
http://3toestony.shutterfly.com/
I have a 6 month 45lb. terrier/pit bull mix. I am confused as to how much I should be feeding him. Currently, I feed him more than the recommended 3 3/4 cups of food per day. I usually give him 1 1/2 – 2 cups 3 times/day. If I feed him less, he flips his bowl and brings it to my feet. I’ve had people tell me this is too much food and some tell me this is not enough. He is a very hyper dog and my vet says he is a healthy weight. How much is too much and should I let my dog be the judge of how much food he gets.
Michelle-The recommendation on the bag is just an estimate,all dogs are individuals.You should feed to proper body weight and adjust the amount accordingly.No one can tell you based on breed-size how much to feed.
First off, you should start getting dropping the middle meal. Go slowly, dropping a little at a time over about 6 week period. Secondly, what are you feeding?? The crappy dog foods like purnia, benicrap. Killer Roy, Pedagarbage. Royal trash, Eukanubad, Science lairs, abadgrappy you are gonna have to feed more, because a dog can’t digest whats in these products very well. Now when you feed a better product like these below you well feed much less. It really depends on how active your dog is. I feed my dog anywhere from 4 1/2-6 cups a day depending on how much exercise he gets. He is also 105 pounds. Just don’t let them get fat, all vets have a cart. For every one pound a dog is over weight it is like a human being 7 pounds over.
The A list
1. Orijen
2. Acana, Wild Prairie, Pacifica & Grassland only.
3. Wellness Core
4. Go, Natural Grain Free Endurance.
6. Blue Wilderness
7. Taste of the Wild, wetlands & prairie only, Grain free
8. Instinct
9. Artemis
10. Fromm
11. Acana, the rest of their products.
11. Evo
The B list
1. California Natural
2. Now
3. GO, chicken, salmon only
4. Merrick
4. Evangers
5. Timberwolf
6. Wellness
7. Solid Gold
8. Canidae
9. First Mate
10. Karma
11. Nature’s Logic
Hello,
I have a great dane pup that is 3.5 yrs old he was on royal canin, and have switched him to fromm 4star cuisine. he ways 45# now. I am wondering if the 3 cups/day the bag lists is enough food for this growing boy? how does fromm compare when it comes to other brands? I did alot of research and want to make sure he gets what is best
thanks jeremy
Usually the amount on bag is more than enough. You don’t want a large breed dog like that to grow to quickly. I have a GSD and he usually gets about 3/4 cup less than whats on his bag. As long as they dont seem hungry after feeding, than you should be feeding enough.
Also, better to keep your large breed on the lean side.
I hope you meant to say 3 1/2 months and not years. When feeding a puppy you should be very generous, but once he walks away from his food take it up. Are you still feeding 3 times or 2 times a day? And because your dog is very borne to bloat, 3 smaller meals is way better for them than once or twice. Be sure you goggle bloat and get a lot of information on this subject. Ann is correct, lean but not skinny.