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Homemade dog food calculator
Cooking for your dog? Enter the total calories in a batch and how much it weighs once cooked, and see how much to feed each day and how long the batch will last.
Daily portion, per meal, and how many days a batch lasts.
A portion calculator, not a recipe check. Last reviewed October 7, 2026.
Most homemade dog food recipes are incomplete
Getting the amount right is the easy part. Getting the nutrients right is much harder:
- A UC Davis study of 200 recipes from books and websites found that 95% were short of at least one essential nutrient, and more than 83% had several deficiencies.
- A 2025 Texas A&M study of 1,726 homemade diets found that only 6% had the potential to be nutritionally complete.
Both research teams recommend working with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist (ACVN) for a recipe made for your dog, and sticking to it exactly. Online services such as BalanceIT, founded by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, can also balance a recipe with the right supplement.
Dog calorie needs
| Dog | Daily calories |
|---|---|
| Adult, spayed or neutered | 1.6 × RER |
| Adult, not spayed or neutered | 1.8 × RER |
| Inactive or prone to weight gain | 1.2–1.4 × RER |
| Weight loss (at ideal weight) | 1.0 × RER |
| Light work or very active | 1.6–2.0 × RER |
| Puppy under 4 months | 3.0 × RER |
| Puppy 4 months to adult size | 2.0 × RER |
RER (resting energy requirement) = 70 × body weight in kg0.75. Adult factors are from the Pet Nutrition Alliance, puppy and work factors from the 2021 AAHA nutrition guidelines. The calculator uses the middle of each range.
How to use the calculator
- Add up the calories of every ingredient in the batch. Use the label for packaged foods and a nutrition database for meat, rice and vegetables.
- Cook the batch and weigh the finished food.
- Enter both, plus your dog's weight and life stage. The calculator divides your dog's daily calories by the calories per gram of your batch.
- Weigh your dog every 2–4 weeks and adjust the portion by about 10% if the weight changes in a direction you don't want.
Prefer a commercial food? Use the dog food calculator with the kcal per cup from the bag.
Questions people ask
How much homemade food should I feed my dog?
It depends on your dog's calorie needs and how many calories your recipe has. A neutered 40 lb dog needs about 985 kcal a day; if your cooked food has 150 kcal per 100 g, that's about 655 g a day.
Is homemade dog food healthy?
It can be, if the recipe is complete and balanced. Studies have found that most recipes from books and the internet lack essential nutrients, so have a board-certified veterinary nutritionist design or check the recipe.
How long does a batch of homemade dog food last?
The calculator shows how many days of food a batch makes. Keep only a few days' worth in the fridge and freeze the rest in daily portions.