How much to feed a puppy: calorie and meal chart

How much to feed a puppy depends on its current weight and age, not on what it will weigh as an adult. Up to 4 months a puppy needs roughly three times its resting energy requirement, and from 4 months to adulthood roughly twice that.

Below you'll find the formula, a chart for puppies weighing 1–4 kg, and how to turn calories into grams using the label.

How to work out how many calories a puppy needs

Start with RER, the resting energy requirement: the energy a dog uses lying quietly in a warm room. You calculate it from current body weight:

RER = 70 × body weight (kg)^0.75

You can do the 0.75 power on your phone. Cube the weight, then take the square root twice. For 2 kg: 2 × 2 × 2 = 8, the square root of 8 is 2.83, and the square root of 2.83 is 1.68.

A puppy is growing, so you multiply RER by a factor (NRC 2006):

• up to 4 months of age: × 3.0,
• from 4 months until adult weight: × 2.0.

Example: the puppy weighs 2 kg and is 3 months old. RER = 70 × 1.68 = 118 kcal. Daily need: 118 × 3 = 354 kcal.

For comparison, a neutered adult dog weighing 4 kg needs about 200 kcal a day. A puppy half that weight, at 3 months, needs 354 kcal, almost twice as much. That's how it should be: it's building bone and muscle, and its metabolism runs very fast.

Puppy feeding chart for small breeds

These are starting figures. A very active puppy may need more, a calm one less. The chart works from current weight, so after every weigh-in you read a new row and recalculate the portion.

How many grams: converting from the label

You turn calories into grams with one number from the label: kcal per 100 g (often listed as metabolisable energy). The formula:

grams a day = daily kcal ÷ kcal per 100 g × 100

Example with wet food at 100 kcal/100 g: a 2 kg puppy at 3 months needs 354 kcal, so 354 ÷ 100 × 100 = 354 g a day. Split into 4 meals, that's about 89 g per meal.

The same puppy on a dry food with, say, 370 kcal/100 g: 354 ÷ 370 × 100 = about 96 g a day. The difference in grams is water. Wet food has a lot of it, dry food very little, and the dog gets the same calories either way.

The feeding table on the pack is useful too, but it usually gives a wide range. A calculation based on your own puppy's weight is more precise. For adult portions, see how much to feed a dog.

How many times a day to feed a puppy

1. Up to 4 months: 4 meals a day, for example at 7:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 19:00.
2. From 4 to 6 months: 3 meals.
3. From 6 months to adulthood: 2–3 meals.

Split the daily portion evenly across meals. In toy breeds frequent meals have a concrete reason. Very small puppies have small reserves, so a long gap between meals can make their blood sugar drop (AKC). Don't cut the number of meals for the tiniest puppies faster than this list says. To see how the feeding rhythm changes with age, read how many times a day to feed a dog.

Weigh your puppy every week

Weigh your puppy once a week, at the same time of day, ideally before the first meal. A small one fits on kitchen scales. For a bigger one use bathroom scales: weigh yourself holding the puppy, then yourself alone, and subtract.

Weight alone isn't enough, so check body shape too. You should feel the ribs under your fingers without pressing, and see a waist behind the ribs from above. On a fluffy puppy your eyes are easily fooled, so check with your hand. If the ribs are getting harder to feel, cut the portion by about 10%. If they stick out clearly, add 10%.

My maltipoo Zuzi has never eaten dry or mass-market dog food. She's an adult now, weighs 4–4.3 kg and eats about one 180 g jar of ZoozyJars a day plus a few treats. An intact adult dog of 4 kg needs about 255 kcal a day, while a puppy of the same weight needs 396–594 kcal according to the chart.

A simple rule for the future: weigh your puppy at 16 weeks and double the result to get a rough adult weight. There's more on the first months in our article on the maltipoo puppy and in the maltipoo guide.