An adult dog needs roughly 70 × (body weight in kg)0.75 × 1.42 calories a day. For home cooked dog food that works out to about 300–430 g a day for a 10 kg dog and 595–855 g for a 25 kg dog, depending on the recipe. The chart below covers 5–40 kg, and the free calculator personalises it to your dog in 60 seconds.
I'm Teddy. People ask my human one question more than any other: "how much should I actually feed my dog?" Not roughly. Not "a cup or so." Exactly — in grams.
Fair question, because the usual answers are terrible. Kibble bags print ranges so wide they're useless ("250–450 g"). The old "2–3% of body weight" rule ignores that a 5 kg terrier burns far more energy per kilo than a 40 kg mastiff. And eyeballing it is how one in three Australian dogs ended up overweight.
So here's the honest version: the formula vets actually use, a feeding chart you can use today, and the adjustments that matter.
The formula (it's the one your vet uses)
Daily calories for an adult dog are calculated in two steps:
Step 1 — Resting Energy Requirement (RER). The energy your dog burns just existing: RER = 70 × (weight in kg)0.75. The 0.75 exponent is why small dogs eat proportionally more than big dogs — metabolism doesn't scale in a straight line.
Step 2 — multiply for lifestyle. A typical adult dog — walked daily, plays, sleeps a lot (relatable) — needs about RER × 1.42. A genuine couch potato sits nearer ×1.2. A dog doing sustained hard exercise every day can reach ×1.8. Working farm dogs go higher still — that's vet territory, not chart territory.
That's it. No cups, no guesswork. The only catch is converting calories into grams of your food — which depends on its energy density. That's what the chart does.
Daily feeding chart for adult dogs (home cooked food)
This chart assumes a typical adult dog: normal activity, ideal body condition. The grams column is for gently cooked fresh food like our recipes, which range from 1.30 to 1.86 calories per gram — lighter recipes (kangaroo) sit at the top of each range, denser ones (beef & sardine) at the bottom.
| Dog's weight | Calories / day | Cooked food / day | The Premix / day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kg | ~330 kcal | 180–255 g | 4.5 g |
| 10 kg | ~560 kcal | 300–430 g | 7.5 g |
| 15 kg | ~760 kcal | 410–585 g | 10 g |
| 20 kg | ~940 kcal | 505–725 g | 12.5 g |
| 25 kg | ~1,110 kcal | 595–855 g | 15 g |
| 30 kg | ~1,275 kcal | 685–980 g | 17 g |
| 35 kg | ~1,430 kcal | 770–1,100 g | 19.5 g |
| 40 kg | ~1,580 kcal | 850–1,215 g | 21.5 g |
Adult dogs only, split over two meals. Premix dose is 13.5 g per 1,000 kcal of finished food. A specific recipe narrows the range to one number — the calculator does that for you.
A worked example
Take a 15 kg kelpie-cross with normal activity. RER = 70 × 150.75 ≈ 534 kcal. Multiply by 1.42 → ~760 calories a day. On our chicken & butternut recipe (140 kcal per 100 g cooked) that's ~540 g of cooked food a day — about 270 g per meal, twice daily — plus ~10 g of premix. Same dog on the leaner kangaroo recipe (130 kcal/100 g): ~585 g a day. Same calories, different grams — that's energy density at work.
The adjustments that actually matter
Body condition beats the scales. If you can feel ribs easily but not see them, and there's a visible waist from above — portions are right. Ribs visible: feed a little more. Can't find ribs: a little less. Our calculator builds this in (lean dogs +10%, plush dogs −15%).
Breed metabolism is real but small. A border collie and a basset hound of identical weight don't burn identical energy — the difference is roughly ±15% at the extremes. Worth adjusting for; not worth obsessing over.
Treats count. Keep them under 10% of daily calories and subtract them mentally from dinner. A dental stick is not "free."
Raw weights are not cooked weights. Ingredients lose roughly 15–25% of their weight in the pan, so a day that needs 540 g of cooked food starts as ~675 g of raw ingredients. Weigh the food after cooking — or use the scaler on each recipe page, which shows both numbers.
Recheck fortnightly. Weigh your dog (or do the rib check) every two weeks for the first couple of months. Trending up? Cut portions ~10%. Trending down without reason? Add ~10%. The formula gets you to the right starting point; your dog's body fine-tunes it.
Quick answers
How many grams a day should a 10 kg dog eat?
A typical 10 kg adult dog needs about 560 calories a day — roughly 300–430 g of cooked fresh food, depending on the recipe's energy density. On kibble it's far less by weight (~140–160 g) because kibble is much denser.
Should I feed more when my dog is very active?
Only for sustained daily exercise — think long runs or working days, not an enthusiastic fetch session. That moves the multiplier from 1.42 toward 1.8 (roughly +25%). If you bump it up, watch body condition over the next fortnight and pull back if your dog softens.
Does this chart work for puppies?
No. Puppies can need 2–3× the energy per kilo of an adult and have different calcium-to-phosphorus requirements for bone growth. Use puppy-specific guidance from your vet — our recipes and this chart are adult-maintenance only.
How do I know I'm feeding the right amount?
Two signals: you can feel ribs easily without seeing them, and there's a visible waist when viewed from above. Confirm with a fortnightly weigh-in and adjust portions about 10% at a time. Bodies are better feedback than spreadsheets — and I say that as a dog whose human loves spreadsheets.
Get your dog's exact number
The free calculator turns this formula into a personalised plan — daily grams for each of our 5 AAFCO-aligned recipes, premix dose included, plus a matching shopping list.
Dog feeding calculator