How much food for a 2kg puppy
How much to feed a puppy based on breed + age + weight? (Chart)
At first, we agree that when it comes to feeding your puppy, it seems like theres not much to it. But as you may have already realized, its actually not so straightforward to work out what and exactly how much to feed them. And yes, we know all about the cups, grams, ouncesCant believe how the world has still not agreed on using the same metric system.
We know your struggle, and want to help.
Below is a general guide for puppies with average activity levels. Youll need to adjust the calorie intake according to their breed, size and how active they are.
Zingy Jack Russells are going to burn much more calories than sofa-loving Pugs!
A sample of how many calories per day your puppy needs:
| Age of Puppy | Weight | Calories Required | Weight | Calories Required | Weight | Calories Required | Weight | Calories Required |
| 8 weeks | 2kg | 353 | 4kg | 594 | 6kg | 805 | 8kg | 999 |
| 12 weeks | 3kg | 479 | 5kg | 702 | 7kg | 904 | 9kg | 1091 |
| 16 weeks | 3kg | 319 | 5kg | 468 | 7kg | 602 | 9kg | 727 |
| 20 weeks | 3kg | 319 | 5kg | 468 | 7kg | 602 | 9kg | 727 |
| 6 months | 3kg | 319 | 5kg | 468 | 7kg | 602 | 9kg | 727 |
| 6 months | 10kg | 787 | 14kg | 1013 | 18kg | 1223 | 22kg | 1422 |
| 1 year | 3kg | 287 | 5kg | 421 | 7kg | 542 | 9kg | 655 |
| 1 year | 12kg | 812 | 15kg | 960 | 18kg | 1101 | 21kg | 1236 |
How do I work out what to feed my puppy?
Okay. Are you sitting down? Grab yourself a cuppa and lets dive in.
How much you should feed your puppy is based on several things:
- Your puppys current age
- Their breed
- Their current and expected weight
- Their general activity levels spirited Cocker Spaniel or mellow St. Bernard?
- What food you are feeding them wet, dry or raw food.
Factoring all of the above is going to give you the correct calorie amount. And now to the next question just how nutrient rich and calorific is the food youre currently feeding them?
Heres a quick comparison of premium vs cheaper dog foods:
Premium Foods
- Have a higher calorific content
- Theyre nutrient dense containing calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and vitamin D, which are all brilliant for developing strong teeth and bones.
- They usually contain better quality protein sources which keeps puppies feeling full
- Allow you to feed smaller quantities due to being more nutrient dense
- Smaller poos! As less food is wasted during digestion.
Cheaper Foods
- Lower quality of protein sources
- They contain more empty fillers designed to keep your puppy feeling full
- Youll need to feed more of them (in terms of volume) to make sure theyre getting enough nutrients
- Bigger poos (yuck) as more of the food is undigested.
To sum it up: Feeding your puppy premium food means theyll get a better rate of digestibility. More digestibility means your puppy will absorb the nutrients better, and youll get less poo to clean up.
I think we can all agree its a win-win situation. If youre getting piles of poo, consider upgrading your puppys food!
In this article, weve created some handy breed specific tables for those of you feeding dry food. Weve based our figures on a range of weights your puppy is likely to be at that age, because we know every puppy is special and different. Some are more chubs, and some are more slim.
Theyll save you time in guesswork and give you a rough idea of how much to feed them. Remember that youll still need to check the back of your puppys food bag to be sure!
For the maths geeks, you can enjoy making some sums.
PS: These figures quoted are for female puppies! If youve got a hefty puppy boy, you might find him to be at the top of the weight range; so make sure to up the food for them.
If youre eager to have a full and precise food calculation only for your puppy, here is a handy calorie calculator.
Do large breeds of puppies need more food than smaller puppies?
Well, yes. But also no.
Generally speaking, larger breeds need fewer calories per kilo of body weight. So in the end, you actually feed small breeds MORE (in terms of calories for their body weight) than large breeds sometimes as much as twice as many calories are needed for a small breed of dog. Who woulda thunk it?
For example: Small breeds such as Jack Russell Terriers are highly energetic, have a much faster growth rate and are physically mature at around 12 months of age. However, larger breeds like Great Danes the gentle giants will have a much slower growth rate and dont physically mature until they are around 2 years old
So to round things up, large breed puppy food has lower calories per piece of kibble (as well as different amounts of vitamins and minerals), as we want steady and slow growth because it takes large breeds longer to physically mature.
As for mental maturity, some big dogs just never seem to grow up its why we love them!
But it *looks* like you feed a large breed more food than a smaller breed?
Yes, but its more of an optical illusion. Its because large breed kibble is made to have a low calorific density and larger breeds have bigger tummies too, of course! Although it might look like you are feeding smaller breeds much less kibble, it should have higher calories per gram often almost double.
Per breed: how much should I feed my puppy per day?
How much should I feed my Labrador puppy per day?
Do you have an always hungry Labrador puppy? No surprises there, scientists found that a quarter of Labrador retrievers actually have a mutated gene which makes them feel like theyre forever hungry. No wonder so many of them are called Dyson..
We suggest Labradors be given large breed puppy food. This lets them have lower calorie density (so less energy dense) to encourage slow growth, while also giving them a good quantity to keep them fuller for longer.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories required |
| 3 months | 9.7-11.9 kg | |
| 4 months | 13-16 kg | |
| 5 months | 15.9-19.2 kg | |
| 6 months | 18-22.3 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Labrador
How much should I feed my Cocker Spaniel puppy per day?
Cocker Spaniels belong to the Gundog group and are medium sized dogs so you can feed them regular puppy food. Theyll reach full adult weight at around a year old but theyll still continue to develop physically until theyre around 18-24 months. Lucky you, getting them to keep their puppy faces for longer.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 5.1-6.3 kg | |
| 4 months | 6.8-8.2 kg | |
| 5 months | 8.1-10 kg | |
| 6 months | 9.3-11.5 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/English-cocker
How much should I feed my Border Collie per day?
Border Collies are in the pastoral shepherding group in our ZigZag app. They reach adult weight by the time they are 12 15 months old and take much longer to mentally mature. Until they are 2 or 3 years old, you can look forward to them keeping their jolly puppy selves!
Being busy dogs that like to chase sheep all day, they will burn that energy off if out working in a field not so much if they stay indoors on the sofa so take care with how much you feed them.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 5.1-7.6 kg | |
| 4 months | 6.8-10 kg | |
| 5 months | 8-12 kg | |
| 6 months | 9.3-14 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Border-Collie
How much should I feed my Chihuahua puppy per day?
Chihuahuas are in the toy group of dogs and reach adult weight by the time they are around 10-12 months old.
Due to their small size, they find weight gain quite easy (dont we all) so you need to take care not to overfeed them. I know it probably wont look like a lot of food in their bowl, but just think about how small chihuahua tummies are cant hold very much can they?
Some adult Chihuahuas benefit from eating small meals across the day rather than two large meals, so keep that in mind when dropping down your Chihuahuas meals as they get older.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 0.7 kg | |
| 4 months | 0.9 kg | |
| 5 months | 1.1 kg | |
| 6 months | 1.2 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Chihuahua
How much should I feed my Beagle puppy per day?
Beagles are a medium-sized dog and can be fed regular puppy food. They reach their adult weight at around 1 year old, but carry on filling out and gaining more muscle until around 18-24 months.
Beagles are generally food-motivated dogs, which means theyll probably be ones to slobber as soon as you call them for dinner. They can keep eating for days, which makes sense as they would be used to needing lots of energy to hunt.
Watch your portion sizes though those puppy dog eyes and floppy ears will fool you into believing theyre still hungry, so take care not to overfeed!
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 3.9-4.3 kg | |
| 4 months | 5-6 kg | |
| 5 months | 6-7 kg | |
| 6 months | 7-7.8 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Beagle
How much should I feed my Whippet puppy per day?
Whippets are a medium size and can be fed regular puppy food. Some can get fussy about what they eat, while some can be quite food motivated, so youll have to discover what yours is like.
Due to their lean appearance (dont we all wish we could look like that), they typically carry less body fat than other breeds of dogs this is because their job is to run and chase, so they burn a lot of calories tearing about the place!
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 4.3-5.5.kg | |
| 4 months | 5.6-7 kg | |
| 5 months | 7-9 kg | |
| 6 months | 7.8-10 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Whippet
How much should I feed my Large Breed puppy per day?
Large Breed Puppies like Bernese Mountain Dogs, Mastiffs or Bloodhounds need food with a lower calorie density to encourage slow growth. They wont reach their full adult weight until they are around 2 years old, so we want to keep them growing steadily.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 16-22 kg | |
| 4 months | 22-30 kg | |
| 5 months | 26-34 kg | |
| 6 months | 32-40 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Pyrenean-Mountain-Dog
How much should I feed my Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy per day?
Staffies (yay! one from our own lands) are a medium sized breed of dog, so they can be fed regular puppy food theyll reach their adult size at around 14 -16 months. Although they dont tend to be fussy, obesity can be a problem in this breed. Theyre brilliant beggars for table scraps, so make sure to resist the temptation to feed them your last chips. They probably know you wont share your food with anyone but them.
| Age of Puppy | Approximate Weight | Calories Required |
| 3 months | 4.3-6.5 kg | |
| 4 months | 6-8.5 kg | |
| 5 months | 7-10.5 kg | |
| 6 months | 7.8-11.9 kg |
https://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Staffordshire-Bull-Terrier
All weight range figures taken from https://en.belpatt.fr/dog-growth-chart
FAQs Puppy Food
We know theres a lot more to know about puppy food, so we went ahead and answered some of the most common questions related to food, puppies, and all sorts of other good stuff.
Raw Food for puppies. How does it work?Not sure how much raw food to feed your puppy? Makes sense, pieces of steak arent quite as measurable than kibble.A healthy puppy should be fed on average 5-8% of their body weight per day this will decrease as they get older, which you see on our lovely table below.FOR EXAMPLE: A 10kg puppy would require 500 800g grams of puppy food per day. Remember that to get their raw food measurements right, you will need to regularly weigh your puppy, and adjust depending on their activity levels.Important to remember: The smaller the breed, the higher percentage per body weight of food they will need. This is because smaller breeds grow at a faster rate than larger breeds, and will need more calories to keep up the pace.
Youll need to feed roughly double the amount of wet food that you do dry. This is because wet puppy food is approximately 70% moisture, while dry food is only around 10%.Wet food is wet because it contains, well, water. Quite a lot of it in fact, so youll need to feed a much larger quantity of wet food then you did dry kibble.The back of the pack will tell you the right quantity you should be feeding your puppy youll find that theyve based it on their weight and their age. But if youre really eager to know more about wet food, here is a handy guide. To get your puppys weight in lb, times their weight in kg by 2.2. Again, silly metric system.
We know the back of my dog food bag says, adult weight. Not sure why some brands expect you to see into the future and work on your puppies expected adult weight but this calculator can be of great help. It will give you a rough idea of what your puppys adult weight is likely to be, based on their weight now.Looks like maybe you will be able to see into the future now.
Can puppies eat the same food as adult dogs?They can, but they shouldnt as their entire diet.Besides a higher calorie intake, puppies also need different levels of nutrients and vitamins which support essential rapid growth. Adult dogs, however, need more of a maintenance diet.To make it plain and simple, we just recommend you feed them puppy food which is correct for their size and weight.Dont worry if your puppy steals some of your adult dogs food though, it wont make them grow excessively large canine teeth, or a third eye. It will probably just annoy your older dog, but by now, they probably know how to deal with your pups naughties.But yes, do try to get them to eat their own food.
What to feed puppies in the first year?Your puppy should be on a complete puppy diet until they are around a year old. Here is a useful chart that tells you when to switch from puppy food to adult food for a medium dog.PRO TIP: Larger breeds will likely stay on large breed puppy food for longer, the lucky things!
Toy breeds may go onto adult food at around 8 months, and some food brands will do an-in between junior food for adolescent dogs, but we recommend you check with your particular manufacturer just to be sure.Teenage dogs are nicer than teenage humans by the way, just wanted to let you know.
Dont forget your puppy needs to chew! Better give him edible chews such as Whimzies theyre safe on puppys teeth, and will save your couch from being ripped to shreds.You should also be using training treats to help you through the chewing if this has been a struggle so far, make sure to read our article here on what treats to use foro your puppy.
How Often Should Dogs Eat?Dogs arent designed to pick at food all day as theyre not grazers like cows. They also prefer to gorge down their food fast. Having a routine for their meal times will be great for their metabolism, and youll find it easier to work out when your puppy will need the toilet.When they first come from the breeders theyll likely be on 4 meals per day. Their stomachs are small and theyll need a lot of calories to do all that growing. At around 12 weeks or so, this will drop down to three meals a day. Some will stay on 4 for a while though, not all puppies are the same!
Glad you asked. Its good to know youre aware of not overfeeding your puppy pet obesity is increasing year on year with statistics saying that as many as 40% of UK dogs are overweight *gulp*. Still not bad as us though, seeing as 63% of the UK is on the heavier side of the scale.If youre feeding your puppy too much, you will soon see two changes in particular:Changes in their body condition: Theyll start to get chubby in a non-baby fat kind of way!More poo: If youre overfeeding your puppy, youll see them going for a poo a lot more since they cant absorb the food. Look out for runny poo those have special appearances in overfed puppies too. Yum.
As a rough guideline you should be able to feel the ribs, and sometimes see the bottom two ribs depending on their breed.I also like to use my hand to demonstrate how your puppys ribs should feel like:Make a fist: Run your other hand apartment against your knuckles. This is what it would feel if you felt every rib and it also means your puppy might be a bit lean.Turn that hand over and lay it out apartment palm up Run the opposite hand over the inside of your open palm, below your fingers ooh, looks like your puppy will have to lay off the pork pies for a while.Hand out apartment, knuckles facing up: Run the opposite hand over the knuckles. Roughly, this is how your puppys ribs should feel, with a small layer of fat on them.If rubbing your hands just dont do it for you, heres a good chart on how to check your puppys weight. Essentially, what you want to look for is: A nipped in waist That youre able to feel the ribs, spine and hips A small amount of fat that can still be feltNot trying to make your puppy run for a beauty pageant, but he will look gorgeous when hes healthy.
We hope this article helped you work out how much to feed your puppy and hope we didnt blind you with the science too much!
If youd like to know more on puppy nutrition the Pet Food Manufacturers Association have produced a useful fact sheet here.
