How much to feed a 45 lb dog: working dog, food at 300 kcal per cup
| Daily calories | 2,017kcal |
|---|---|
| Cups per dayat 300 kcal per cup | 6.72cups |
| Twice a dayper meal | 3.36cups |
| Three times a dayper meal | 2.24cups |
| Resting energy (RER)70 × 20.4 kg^0.75 — what a dog burns doing nothing | 672kcal |
| Activity multipliersustained daily work, not a long walk | × 3 |
| Body weight45 lb | 20.4kg |
Notes
- Calories do not scale with weight. The exponent is 0.75, not 1 — a 45 lb dog needs 6.72 cups, but scaling straight up from a 20 lb dog would say 8.23 cups, 22% too much. Feeding charts printed on the bag usually interpolate in a straight line, which is why big dogs on them get overfed.
- Check the kcal per cup on your bag. It ranges from about 300 to 500 across brands, so the same "two cups" can be a third more or less food. The figure is on the bag, usually in small print near the guaranteed analysis.
- The ×3 multiplier is for genuine sustained work — a sled dog, a herding dog on a farm, a dog running with you daily for hours. A long walk is not it, and using this multiplier for an ordinary pet is the fastest route to an overweight dog.
- Healthy adult dogs only. Puppies of large breeds, pregnant or nursing dogs, and any dog with kidney, heart, pancreatic or endocrine disease need a plan from a vet — the calorie figure is the least important part of those diets.
- Treats count. They should stay under 10% of the daily total, which is 202 kcal here — less than most people think, and the usual reason a carefully measured bowl still leads to a heavy dog.
The formula, and why the bag disagrees
Resting energy is not proportional to body weight. The veterinary formula is
RER = 70 × (weight in kg)0.75
That exponent is the whole story. A 45 lb dog needs 672 kcal at rest, and a working figure of 2,017 kcal a day once the ×3 multiplier for working dog is applied — 6.72 cups at 300 kcal per cup.
Scaling in a straight line from a 20 lb dog would say 8.23 cups: 22% off. Feeding charts printed on bags interpolate linearly, which is why large dogs fed off the bag tend to end up heavy.
Check the calories on your bag
Dry food runs roughly 300 to 500 kcal per cup depending on brand and formula. The same "two cups" can therefore be a third more or less food than intended. The figure is on the bag, usually in small print near the guaranteed analysis, and it is the single most useful number on the packaging.
Meals
At 6.72 cups a day that is 3.36 cups twice a day, or 2.24 cups three times. Deep-chested breeds do better on smaller, more frequent meals.
Treats count, and they are the usual culprit
Treats should stay under 10% of the daily total — 202 kcal here. That is less than most people expect, and it is the common reason a carefully measured bowl still produces an overweight dog.
Where this page stops
This is arithmetic for a healthy adult dog, not medical advice. Puppies of large breeds, pregnant or nursing dogs, and any dog with kidney, heart, pancreatic or endocrine disease need a plan from a vet, and weight-loss diets should be supervised — dogs that lose weight too fast can develop serious liver problems.
Nearby sizes
- How much to feed a 40 lb dog: working dog, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 50 lb dog: working dog, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 35 lb dog: working dog, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 55 lb dog: working dog, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 45 lb dog: adult, inactive, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 45 lb dog: senior, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 45 lb dog: adult, intact, food at 300 kcal per cup
- How much to feed a 45 lb dog: weight loss, food at 300 kcal per cup
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