How many cups of dog food should a 20 pound dog eat a day

How Much Food To Feed My Dog & Feeding Chart By Weight

Giving your furry friend a nutritious, well-balanced diet and not overfeeding or underfeeding are among the most important things you can do for his lifelong health. Well help you determine how much food to give your dog and how many times he should eat each day, as well as any special feeding considerations you need to consider depending on your pups health needs.

Why Is Feeding My Dog The Right Amount So Important?

One of the most frequent questions we see from pup owners is, how much should my dog eat? Knowing how much to feed your dog is crucial for his health. Being overweight or underweight can lead to serious health problems. And this can occur in smaller dogs who are just a few pounds under or over their ideal weight.

Underfed dogs can develop such conditions as chronic lethargy, dehydration, a weakened immune system, severe nutritional deficiencies that affect organ function, and cognitive problems. More common, however, is what experts say has become an epidemic of obesity in pets.

The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) reports that over 55% of dogs in the U.S. are overweight or obese.Being overweight can shorten your dogs life and increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, liver or kidney problems, and arthritis.

How Much Should I Feed My Dog?

Unfortunately, theres no straightforward answer to this question. Several important factors affect how much food you should be giving your pup:

• Your dogs life stage (puppy, adult, or senior)
• Type and brand of food
• Your dogs weight
• Activity level
• Your dogs body condition
• Number of meals per day

As you can imagine, it takes a bit of legwork to determine the ideal amount of food your furry friend should consume. Your best resource for nutritional guidance is your dogs regular veterinarian. But you can also follow the steps below to determine how much you should feed your pup.

Dog Feeding Chart By Weight

The best place to start is to follow your dog foods label, which can quickly answer the question, how many cups of food should I feed my dog? These feeding charts vary by type of food, brand, and caloric content of each formula. And be aware that all have their limitations.* Most also give you the daily amount to feed your pup, so youll need to divide that total by the number of meals you give your dog each day. Heres an example of a typical adult dry dog food feeding chart.

*Feeding charts are generalized and geared toward dogs who are at a healthy weight with an average activity level. They also dont take into account any special health concerns your canine companion may have. But there are ways you can further nail down how much to feed your dog after starting with your pups food feeding chart.

Factor In Your Dogs Activity Level

Take the information from your furry friends dog food feeding chart and then consider his overall activity level and daily exercise. This can help you determine whether you should feed him on the lower or upper range of the labels recommended daily amount.

For example, if you have a couch-potato Basset Hound, you likely want to give him a bit less food than the feeding chart recommends. Alternatively, if you have an Australian Shepherd whos a constant ball of energy, youll probably want to feed a little more than the suggested range.

Determine Your Dogs Body Condition Score

Evaluating your dogs current body condition can help tell you if hes too thin, at a healthy weight, or overweight.Then, you can tweak his daily caloric intake (if needed) to help him gain or lose weight. Once your dog has reached his ideal weight, youll need to adjust his portions. If your dog isnt currently at a healthy weight, its best to consult your vet for the most appropriate feeding plan for your canine companion and to check him out for any possible underlying health conditions.

To determine your pups body condition score (BCS), examine his ribs, abdomen, and waistline by sight and touch. If your dogs score is a 4-5, then weigh him to know his ideal weight. If he falls between a 1-3, he likely needs to gain weight, and a 6-9 means he needs to shed some pounds.

Use A Calorie Calculator

An alternative method is to use an online calorie calculator that will factor in your dogs BCS, but these still have some limitations in terms of factoring in your pups activity level and daily exercise.

Dont Forget To Factor In Dog Treats

When determining how much your dog should eat each day, its crucial to factor in the caloric content of any treats, table scraps, or supplements you give him. (FYI, experts advise against feeding your pup table scraps for many reasons.) Some dog treats and health supplements have more calories than you might think, and if you give these to your furry friend regularly, it could lead to weight gain.

If your pup is a huge treat fan, look for healthy, low-calorie options. We recommend Fruitables Skinny Minis or Wellness CORE Jerky Bites. And if your vet has determined you should give your dog a daily joint supplement or another type of supplement for his health needs, youll need to subtract the calories of that from his daily food intake.

How Much To Feed Puppies & Seniors

Senior dogs typically require fewer calories than adults because their activity and metabolism have slowed down. Once your canine buddy has reached his senior years, most vets advise putting him on a dog food formulated specifically for elder dogs. Typically, these formulas have fewer calories and less fat content, which are appropriate for their slowing activity and metabolism.

Puppies are in an entirely different category when it comes to feeding needs. Its extremely important to follow feeding guidelines for your puppy because these requirements change every few weeks or months as he grows quickly. See our in-depth puppy feeding guide for a detailed puppy feeding chart by weight/age and much more.

How Often Should I Feed My Dog?

Ideally, most adult dogs should eat at least two meals per day, approximately 12 hours apart. Likewise, three meals spread out equally during the day is another excellent option. If your dogs breed is at a higher risk for canine bloat, its recommended to feed smaller, more frequent meals.

When you feed your pup is entirely up to your daily schedule, but its important to set up regular feeding times and stick with them. Dogs thrive on routine, so theyll be most content with meals served around the same time each day.

Your Best Dog Food Options

Are you considering switching to a different dog food? If you havent settled on a new diet, we encourage you to see our various dog food reviews. Weve researched hundreds of types, brands, and formulas to help you narrow down your options. See ourrecommended foodsfor any age, diet type, and health concern, thebest dog food delivery servicesfor puppies and adult dogs, and our top picks for fresh dog food.

How Often Should Dogs Eat?

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Among the many questions new and experienced dog owners face is an especially important one. How often should dogs eat? Diet and nutrition are crucial components to keeping your dog a healthy member of the family for years to come.

Though theres no hard-and-fast rule to how often a dog should eat, twice a day is generally a good place to start. However, more important than feeding frequency is meal portion size. Portion size may vary based on breed, age, and health condition, and settling on the right amount can be tricky.

Dog meal delivery services can make it easy to serve your canine companion delicious, nutritious, and appropriately-portioned meals that even humans can eat. Ollie is a service that delivers fresh, human-grade dog food customized for your pups unique nutritional needs. Ollie works with vet nutritionists to formulate a perfect plan specifically for your dog based on weight, breed, and allergies. Plus they make it easy for us humans all of Ollies recipes are pre-portioned and your pup will be set up with their own feeding schedule so you dont have to worry about overfeeding or underfeeding.

What Affects How Often a Dog Should Eat?

Veterinarians recommend feeding a dog at least twice per day. Dogs with medical issues or dietary needs may require specialized feeding schedules or restrictions on what they eat. Talk to your veterinarian about your dogs eating habits to make sure youre meeting their nutritional needs and healthcare requirements.

Breed plays a large role when deciding how often to feed your dog. Common large breed dogs, for instance, will often require more feedings and more calories per day than medium and small breed dogs.Age is also another important consideration. The caloric requirements for a two-month-old Yorkshire Terrier varies greatly compared to a two-year-old Yorkie.

How Much Should Puppies Eat?

A fresh meal servicelike Ollie helps change your feeding approachas your dog changes ages from puppy to adult so you dont have to worry about portions during different life stages.

Since puppies are growing rapidly, they need more food than adult dogs. Puppy nutrition is crucial for developing a foundation for future growth, as well as their bone and organ development. Puppies must have a specific amount of calcium in their diet, otherwise, they can develop metabolic bone disease or orthopedic conditions like early-onset arthritis. Toy-breed puppies, in particular, are prone to hypoglycemia.

Puppies need small, frequent feedings. For the first few months of a puppys life, they will need small meals of food throughout the day as they transition from their mothers milk to solid food. Starting around four months, puppies can begin eating about three times a day, and after that, puppies will quickly graduate to twice-a-day feedings.

Feeding them three or four times per day makes it easier for puppies to digest and help keep energy levels consistent. However, its important to not overfeed them, since overweight puppies are more likely to become overweight adult dogs.

Toy-breed puppies will need 4 to 6 meals per day for the first three months of their lives. Medium-breed puppies will require three meals per day, and large-breed puppies typically need 3 to 4 meals per day. Though the breed is an important consideration, metabolism and energy levels can vary by up to 30 percent. Therefore, youll need to proportion meals accordingly.

Even though puppies grow quickly, its important to keep caloric intake and food amount consistent from four to twelve months of age. Puppies use fewer calories for growth as they become older. This comprehensive puppy feeding chart has vet-recommended guidelines on how much and how often to feed your puppy.

How Much Should Adult Dogs Eat?

Dont let your dog trick you into more mealtimes with adorable puppy dog eyes. Most dogs only require two meals a day, but if you catch your dog begging, an occasional healthy treat can help.

The trick is to make sure youre not feeding your dog more than is recommended. Food labels can be misleading or confusing. Generic feeding charts may over-calculate how much to feed a dog, or use outdated information.

To determine how much food to feed your dog, you should start by knowing your dogs estimated adult weight. Most large breed dogs will weigh between 50 to 150 pounds, while small breeds weigh under 20 pounds. Knowing the weight of your dogs same-sex parent can also be an excellent guide.

From there, you can use the estimated weight to determine how many calories dogs need per day.

What Sort of Feeding Schedule Works?

Free-feeding, or leaving food available to dogs at all times, is often not recommended by veterinarians. For multi-species or multiple-dog households, free-feeding makes it difficult to account for different diets and to track each dogs intake. Additionally, free feeding can lead to obesity when dogs overeat.

Sticking to a schedule can help your canine companion avoid grazing, feel like part of the family, and can encourage good mealtime behavior. You should plan a feeding schedule by consulting with your veterinarian.

Why Ollie?

Feeding dogs a diet made with natural, real ingredients can do wonders for their overall well-beingit can promote heart health, increase energy level, make their coat shinier, their breath smell better, improve eyesight and even impact poop. With Ollie, all the prep work is done for you so you dont have to worry about when, how much, or life stages when it comes to feeding. Were providing 50% off to the AKC audience for their first trial box, delivered straight to your home.

• Ingredients: Ollies food is made only with whole, human-grade ingredients sourced from reputable farms and approved by vets. They never use fillers, by-products, artificial flavors, or preservatives in any of their recipes. Each recipe is cooked by hand at low temperatures in small batches in a USDA-regulated kitchen so you know your pup is getting the best.
• Easy Schedule:All of Ollies recipes are pre-portioned and stored in the freezer plus you will receive a puptainer to keep your pups food fresh in case you feed your dog before your morning coffee. Ollie also takes care of us humans, Ollie is delivered directly to your door in as little as 2 days, on your schedule.
• Health Benefits: The proof is in the results. Ollie dogs have reported shinier coats, decreased allergies, improved appetite, and more.

Ollies freshly cooked food is the simplest way to keep your dog happy and healthy at any age. Our five delicious recipes were formulated with vet nutritionists and ensure mealtime stays fresh and exciting for your pup. Visit Ollie.com, tell us all about your pup, and well create a custom meal plan just for them.