Puppy food calculator

A puppy needs energy to run its body and to build new tissue. The share that goes into growth shrinks as the puppy nears adult size, so a puppy needs far more food for its size than an adult, and the gap closes month by month. The National Research Council (NRC, 2006) wrote this as one equation:

kcal a day = 130 × (weight in kg)^0.75 × 3.2 × (e^(−0.87 × p) − 0.1)

Here p is the puppy’s weight today divided by its expected adult weight, and e is the number 2.718. As p climbs from 0.2 towards 1, the bracket falls, so the energy per kilo falls with it. The equation gives calories directly, with no separate resting-energy step. The calories are then turned into grams: grams = kcal ÷ (kcal per kg of the food) × 1,000. Each figure on this page is rounded to a whole number and grams are worked out from the kcal shown, so you can repeat the sums and get the same answer.

This is the same equation used on our Labrador and Pug charts. It replaces the old rule of thumb of 3 × resting energy for a puppy under 4 months and 2 × after that (Merck Veterinary Manual). Hand et al. refine that rule to 3 × until about half of adult weight, 2.5 × until 80%, then 1.8 to 2.0 ×. The rules are easy, but they step down in jumps, and for the youngest puppies they come out lower than the NRC equation (see the tables below).

Why the calculator also shows FEDIAF’s number

FEDIAF, the European pet food federation, publishes a different growth equation in its 2025 guidelines: kcal a day = (254.1 − 135 × p) × (weight in kg)^0.75. It was built from a 2019 study of 493 privately owned puppies (Klein et al.). Those puppies ate about 78% of the NRC figure at 8 to 17 weeks and about 83% at 17 to 26 weeks, and still grew normally. Studies in Yorkshire Terriers (Alexander et al. 2017) and Norfolk Terriers (Bradley et al. 2021) also found that the NRC equation overestimates the energy young puppies actually eat.

So which is right for your puppy? Nobody can say from a formula. NRC is the longer-established standard and matches our other charts. FEDIAF is lower and closer to what healthy puppies were actually fed. A sensible way to use both: start with the NRC amount for a lean puppy that is growing steadily, and move towards the FEDIAF amount if the ribs get harder to feel or the puppy is a large breed, where overfeeding does the most harm. Hand et al. put it plainly: underfeeding through the growth phase is healthier than overfeeding, and gives the same adult size.

The equation needs the expected adult weight, and for many puppies nobody knows it exactly. In order of reliability:

1. A purebred puppy: the breed standard, and the breeder’s records of the parents and older litters. Ask what both parents weigh.
2. A published growth curve: FEDIAF (2025, Table VII-8a, from Meyer and Zentek 1992) gives the typical percentage of adult weight reached at each age, for five adult-size bands. Read it the other way round: divide today’s weight by the typical percentage for each band, and keep the band whose answer falls inside that band (first table below). Treat the answer as a rough range. The curve is an average for purebred puppies fed normally, and our rearrangement of it has not been tested on its own.
3. Your vet. A vet who has seen your puppy and the parents can judge the frame as well as the weight.

Mixed-breed (Indie) puppies are the hard case. The best-known published growth charts (Salt et al. 2017: five size categories up to 40 kg adult weight, built from purebred dogs) left mixed breeds out, and we do not know of a published method that predicts the adult weight of an individual mixed-breed puppy reliably. If you cannot see both parents, ask your vet for an estimate from the puppy’s frame and growth, enter a middle value, and re-estimate every month. The calculator shows what a 20% error would do to your puppy’s figure. For a young puppy it is usually a few percent up to about 10%; the closer the puppy gets to the adult weight you entered, the more the estimate matters. Body condition, checked every 2 weeks, does most of the work.

For three adult sizes: a small dog (5 kg), a medium dog (15 kg) and a large dog (30 kg). Weights are the typical weight on FEDIAF’s growth curve, so they will not match your own puppy exactly. Use your puppy’s real weight in the calculator. The last two columns show the equations and the simple rule for comparison.

Adult weight 5 kg

Adult weight 15 kg

Adult weight 30 kg

The simple rule is 3 × resting energy under 4 months and 2 × after. For the 30 kg breed at 8 weeks it gives 825 kcal, which is about 30% below the NRC figure of 1,202, but within about 7% of FEDIAF’s 889. Grams assume a puppy food of 3,800 kcal per kg, a typical but not universal value; your label decides.

Feed a measured amount in meals, not food left down all day. FEDIAF says puppies should never be fed free-choice, and Hand et al. warn that free-choice feeding can increase body fat and, in large breeds, cause skeletal problems. Merck suggests meal feeding two to three times a day for large-breed puppies. If your puppy is a very small breed, or seems weak or shaky between meals, ask your vet about the meal pattern.

AAHA (2021) says puppies should be fed a food made for growth until they reach skeletal maturity. For small and medium-sized dogs that is typically about 1 year. For some large and giant breeds it may not be reached until closer to 15 to 16 months.

Change over 7 to 10 days, mixing a little more of the new food into the old each day. WSAVA notes that some dogs cope with a sudden change but many have fewer stomach upsets when the change is gradual. Ask your vet before switching a large-breed puppy early.

Large and giant puppies cannot fully control how much calcium they absorb, and too much calcium or too many calories while the skeleton is growing can lead to developmental bone and joint disease. FEDIAF (2025) says a high calcium intake harms skeletal development in large breeds, especially early on, and sets a strict nutritional maximum for foods meant for large-breed puppies. Hand et al. use more than 25 kg adult weight as the large-breed line. Merck notes that excess calcium is more of a problem for large and giant breeds between weaning and 1 year.

Published calcium ranges differ a little (FEDIAF: at least 1.0% and no more than 1.6% of dry matter in early growth, no more than 1.8% later; Hand et al.: 0.7 to 1.2%), so we give no single target. Pick a food that says on the label that it is complete and balanced for growth, including large-breed puppies, and add nothing. In Labradors, puppies fed less than they would eat freely had less hip dysplasia in a long-running study (Kealy et al. 1992, reported by Hand et al.).

Mala is a 16-week-old female Labrador cross. She weighs 12 kg. Her vet thinks she will reach about 30 kg. Her puppy food is printed at 3,800 kcal per kg. At 16 weeks she eats 3 meals a day.

1. p = 12 kg / 30 kg = 0.400
2. NRC (2006): 130 x 12^0.75 x 3.2 x (e^(-0.87 x 0.400) - 0.1) = 1,626 kcal
3. Food: 1,626 kcal / 3,800 kcal per kg x 1,000 = 428 g a day
4. Per meal: 428 g / 3 meals = 143 g
5. FEDIAF (2025): (254.1 - 135 x 0.400) x 12^0.75 = 1,290 kcal, which is 339 g

So Mala gets about 428 g a day by the NRC equation (143 g a meal), or about 339 g by FEDIAF’s. That is 3.6 times her resting energy of 451 kcal on the NRC figure. Because she is a large breed, her owners start nearer the lower figure, weigh her every 2 weeks, and check that her ribs are easy to feel. Check the growth curve: for a 30 kg adult, a typical 16-week puppy weighs about 13.9 kg, so Mala at 12 kg is a little lighter than the average, which is fine for a lean puppy.

The calculation is an average for puppies of similar size and age, not a measurement of yours. Treat it as the first guess.

1. Feed the calculated amount, weighed on kitchen scales, in measured meals.
2. Weigh your puppy every 2 weeks (Hand et al. suggest weekly weighing, and body condition at least every 2 weeks) and write the weight down.
3. Feel the ribs. They should be easy to feel under a thin layer of fat, with a waist visible from above. If they are getting hard to feel, reduce the food by about 10%. If your puppy is thin and gaining slowly, increase by about 10%. Change in steps of about 10%, not more.
4. Redo the calculator after each weigh-in. As your puppy grows, p rises, the energy per kilo falls, and the number changes. The total in kcal usually keeps rising for several months before it levels off.

Pet puppies grow at their own pace. A puppy that is a little under the typical weight but lean and lively is healthy; a puppy that is heavier than the curve, with ribs you cannot feel, is not “doing well”.

• Puppies under 8 weeks and orphan puppies. They are on milk or being weaned, on a plan from your vet.
• Sick, underweight or recovering puppies, puppies with diarrhoea or vomiting, and puppies on a prescription diet. Follow your vet.
• Dogs over about 18 months. Use the dog calorie calculator.
• Giant breeds. Hand et al. note that young Great Dane puppies may need about 25% more energy than other breeds. Work with your vet, and weigh often.
• Home-cooked puppy food. Nutrient requirements are higher during growth (Hand et al.), and AAHA notes that most published home-cooked recipes are not complete and balanced. Ask for a recipe from a veterinary nutritionist.

Related: dog calorie calculator · Labrador diet chart · Pug diet chart · all diet charts · cat and kitten calculator.