How Much Should I Feed My Dog?
How Much Should I Feed My Dog?
Let’s discuss a couple different ways you can calculate how much you should be feeding your dog per day! I’m going to reference 2 different methods. One is very precise according to calories according to Dr. Karen Becker, the other is more of an approximate according to Dr. Judy Morgan.
Either way I would suggest weighing your dog and determining if they are underweight, ideal, or overweight. This is an important starting point as you want to feed your dog based on their ideal weight, not on where they currently are.
For example, if your dog is currently 60 pounds, but a little overweight you may need to feed them as according to a 50-pound dog. This will help put them in a caloric deficit and shed those pounds so they can get to their ideal weight.
This is exactly what we did with our golden retriever, Savannah. A few years ago, she weighed in at 60 pounds! For her this was way too heavy and she even developed some joint pain periodically. This was when we took her off of kibble and switched to homemade meals and starting feeding her based on a 40-pound dog. She is now at her perfect weight, full of energy and no longer occasionally limps from joint pain due to being overweight.
Calorie counting
This is the most precise way to measure caloric intake. There are great apps you can download on your phone, meant for human calorie counting, but you can use it for your pup too. “My fitness pal” is a good example, I believe they have free and paid options. This may be ideal for if you cook raw or gently cooked homemade meals. Most kibble should have calorie content on the bag for you to calculate yourself instead of trusting their recommended guidelines.
To calculate how many ounces of food to feed your pet, divide the number of calories your dog needs per day by the number of calories per ounce of food. For example, a 60-pound adult active canine is recommended to have 1312 calories per day. The Beef Bourguignon with Mussels we previously posted a video about, has 42 calories per ounce.
1312 / 42 = 31.2 ounces of food per day.
We personally choose to break this up into 2 meals per day, breakfast and dinner. So that would be 15.6 ounces of that specific recipe for each meal. Please keep in mind that this amount would vary for each recipe you make, this is just an example.
Here is a guide from the Forever Dog Life for approximate caloric requirements based on weight and activity level.
Body weight % feeding
Even though calorie counting is the most precise way to calculate exact calorie consumption, this often times isn’t the easiest or most convenient way to figure things out. So, Dr. Judy Morgan in her book Yin and Yang Nutrition for Dogs, suggests to feed your dog based on 2-3% of their total body weight. She explains that dogs will consume an average of 2-3% of body weight per day, which converts to 20-30 calories per pound of body weight, depending on activity level, age, lifestyle and breed. Dogs over 100 pounds tend to be closer to 1.5% of body weight on daily consumption.
Let’s use our dog Malibu as the example here. She is a 50-pound mixed breed that is 5 years old. We feed her 2% of her total body weight which amounts to 1 pound of food per day, broken up into 2 meals. This would equate to 8 ounces per meal, to total her 16 ounces a day (16 ounces = 1 pound).
Here is a recommended feeding chart based on the weight of your pup and whether you follow 2 or 3% of body weight feeding. Gauge the 2-3% on activity level.
This method, as with calorie counting, should be done based on your dog’s ideal weight, not their current weight (unless they are already ideal).
The best thing you can do is to weigh your pup weekly and make adjustments as needed until they reach their desired weight and then maintain their diet based on that ideal weight once it is reached! Keep in mind as well that all proteins have different calorie counts. For example, if your pup is underweight, you may need to focus on higher calorie proteins such as Beef. If your pup is overweight you may need to focus on lower calorie proteins such as wild caught salmon or leaner meats such as turkey breast.
References:
Yin and Yang Nutrition for Dogs by: Dr. Judy Morgan
The Forever Dog Life by: Dr. Karen Becker