Seems that very often we have posts asking how much to feed. Even though foods vary in calorie content, I see lots of members sharing how much they feed even if the food is different and the dogs weight, activity and age is different.

I am attaching a simple feeding calculator that I hope will help. You just put in your pet's age and then choose activity level. It will tell you how many calories they need per day. Calories can then be fed based on the calorie content of the food you wish to feed. Obviously if you are trying to add or reduce weight, you will need to modify. Likewise, the amount will double for a puppy, pregnant or lactating mom.
Dog Food Calculator

If you are making a change in either direction, you will still want to watch after a few days to be certain that your dog is not becoming skinny or too chubby.

This is at least a great way to begin.

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photos-Jennifer Hague, fixyourimages.com

Here is the specific calorie content for Ziwipeak since this gets asked as well:

ZiwiPeak's Dog Air-Dried Cuisine Calories

ZiwiPeak Dog Cuisine into calorie figures, based on per kg and per scoop (calculated at 4.2k/cal per gram or 119k/cal per oz.)

ZiwiPeak's Scoop is 56.8grams/2oz's:
Venison Dog Cuisine 4200 kcal/kg / 239 Kcal/scoop
Venison & Fish Dog Cuisine 4150 kcal/kg / 236 Kcal/scoop
Lamb Dog Cuisine 4250 kcal/kg / 241 Kcal/scoop

So as an example, a typically active 4 pound dog would require 172 calories/day.
Then I could figure based on either 119 calories/oz. or 239 calories/scoop to get to that amount.

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photos-Jennifer Hague, fixyourimages.com

This is a great post. This should be a sticky!!! This question gets asked ALLLLLL the time!

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"Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way.....
but you can never say again that you did not know." William Wilberforce 1759-1833

Thank you for posting,will help a lot of people

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Thank you Jan

Done Tracy

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Thank you Jan

Hi, not been on here for ages but got a quick question about feeding ziwipeak if you can help me Karen? About a year ago I got Charlie weighed and was told by my vet to put him on a diet. I was told to feed him as if he weighed 5kg ( he's a big chihuahua!) I showed my vet the ziwipeak feeding guide and she worked out he should have 17g 2x per day. He now has lost weight and looks and feels much better although I've not weighed him lately I can tell by looking at him he doesn't really need to lose much more. I just did the calculator thing and I think I've been under feeding him I'm a bit confused, please can you help me work out how much I should be feeding him daily? I'm in uk and not sure if the ziwipeak has same kcals here, I would of thought it would be. Thanks in advance xx

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Thank you so much for my new siggy, I love it

I am going to try my best with conversions so another lovely from the UK may have to correct me.

So, you are to feed him as if he was 5kg which is 11 pounds here, correct?

According to the calculator, he should have 368 calories a day. Unless he is super active and then he requires more.

One scoop of ZP is about 239 calories. So, unless my conversion and math are wrong (could very well be), I think that he needs a scoop and a half per day divided between 2 feedings.

One scoop is 58.8g. If I followed your vets guide, you'd be feeding him between 1/2 and 3/4 scoop all day. Is that what you have been feeding? Do you use their scoop or measure out by your own spoon or container?

I'd believe that he needs about 3/4 scoop 2x/day.

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photos-Jennifer Hague, fixyourimages.com

Thanks for replying, I've been weighing his food out every meal on my electric scales. He has 17g per meal, that's what my vet suggested I feed him after looking at the feeding guide. I do use the feeding scoop provided but only to scoop it out then put it on the scales! Can you tell me how many grams he should be having per meal? I find it best to weigh it out rather than use my judgement with the scoop. Thank you for taking the time to reply xx

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Thank you so much for my new siggy, I love it