How much cooked food should I feed my dog?

Feeding your dog doesn’t have to be a complicated science project—no need to calculate kilojoules or break out a calculator at every meal. A simple starting point is to feed around 3% of your dog’s body weight per day in cooked food.

Here’s how it works:

Take your dog’s weight (in kg) and multiply it by 30. The result is the daily amount of food in grams.

Example:

Bismark weighs 10 kg

10 × 30 = 300g of food per day

This 3% rule works well for most average adult dogs. However, activity level, age, and size can shift that percentage. This is not enough food for Bismark and at this rate he will loose weight. Keep a very close eye on your dog to make sure he does not appear too thin or too round.

Adjusting for Activity Level

Very active dogs, puppies, or toy breeds may need up to 4.5- 6% of their body weight per day.

Couch potatoes or large breeds often do well on around 2.5%.

For example:

Bismark is very active, and he has to eat more to maintain his muscle weight with age, so he eats 4.5% of his body weight, or 450g per day (10 × 45). This excludes snacks like biscuits.

At his senior age of 11 years, we supplement his diet with protein-rich treats like cooked chicken, beef pieces, venison lung snacks, pork tendons and egg white.

Bjorn as a puppy weighs 6.5 kg and eats 6% of his body weight, which comes to 390g per day (6.5 × 60).

He has a very fast metabolism and high energy levels, so we also give him extra protein like chicken and eggs to keep up with his energy needs.

How Do You Know If You're Feeding the Right Amount?

Your dog should have:

A visible waist when viewed from above

A slight tummy tuck from the side

Ribs that are easily felt but not sticking out

If your dog feels too bony or looks too round, adjust accordingly. Many dogs naturally slim down and regain a healthy shape simply by eating less processed food and more fresh, balanced ingredients.