Dog Food Nutrition Calculator

Percentages on a bag are hard to judge. Grams per day are not. Enter your dog and the food's protein/fat percentages — get daily macro grams and an AAFCO density check.

Short answer: AAFCO's adult minimum is 45 g protein and 13.75 g fat per 1,000 kcal. A typical 26% protein kibble at 370 kcal/100 g delivers ~70 g protein per 1,000 kcal — comfortably above the floor; the floor is low, and 'above minimum' is not the same as optimal.

Enter your dog's details

Uses your food's guaranteed-analysis protein and fat percentages (dry-matter assumptions shown in results).

Dog's weight kg or lb

Life stage & goal

Food type

Food energy kcal / 100 g, from the label

Protein % label

Fat % label

Meals per day

Treats 10% of calories

Daily energy & macros

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Reference table

What AAFCO minimums look like per day

Dog weight	RER (resting)	Daily target	Food per day	Per meal (×2)
3 kg · 7 lb	160 kcal	255 kcal	62 g	31 g
5 kg · 11 lb	234 kcal	374 kcal	91 g	46 g
8 kg · 18 lb	333 kcal	533 kcal	130 g	65 g
10 kg · 22 lb	394 kcal	630 kcal	153 g	77 g
15 kg · 33 lb	534 kcal	854 kcal	208 g	104 g
20 kg · 44 lb	662 kcal	1,059 kcal	258 g	129 g
25 kg · 55 lb	783 kcal	1,252 kcal	305 g	152 g
30 kg · 66 lb	897 kcal	1,436 kcal	349 g	175 g
35 kg · 77 lb	1,007 kcal	1,612 kcal	392 g	196 g
40 kg · 88 lb	1,113 kcal	1,781 kcal	433 g	217 g
50 kg · 110 lb	1,316 kcal	2,106 kcal	512 g	256 g
60 kg · 132 lb	1,509 kcal	2,415 kcal	587 g	294 g

Daily energy reference (neutered adult). Macro minimums scale with these calories: protein ≥ 45 g and fat ≥ 13.75 g per 1,000 kcal (adult maintenance, AAFCO).

Minimums are floors, not targets

AAFCO profiles define the least a food may contain and still be called complete. Protein at 18% dry matter (45 g/1,000 kcal) keeps an average adult dog in nitrogen balance — but research on active, senior and lean-mass-focused feeding generally supports meaningfully higher intakes, and seniors in particular lose muscle on minimum-protein diets.

Judge a food by grams per 1,000 kcal, not by the bag percentage: a 30% protein food that is also very energy-dense can deliver less protein per calorie than a 26% food that isn't. The calculator converts for you.

Growth and reproduction profiles are stricter (protein ≥ 56 g/1,000 kcal) — one more reason puppies need puppy food, not all-life-stage shortcuts.

Step by step

How to use this calculator

Enter weight

Enter the dog's weight (use ideal weight for weight loss).

Select life stage and goal

Select the life stage and goal so the correct MER factor applies.

Enter food energy density

Enter the food's energy density (kcal per 100 g) from its label.

Read the daily portion

Read the daily portion in grams, split it across meals, and adjust by 10% every 2 weeks based on body condition.

Questions

Frequently asked

How much protein does a 20 kg dog need per day?

Minimum ~48 g/day at his 1,059 kcal MER; a typical quality kibble delivers ~65–80 g. Active and senior dogs generally do well toward the higher end.

Is 30% protein too much for a dog?

For healthy dogs, no — kidneys handle dietary protein well; the old protein-kidney fear was debunked outside of advanced disease. Dogs with diagnosed kidney/liver disease follow vet-set protein plans.

Why does the checker say 'below AAFCO'?

Either the food's protein density is genuinely low, or the label % was entered as-fed for a wet food — wet foods must be converted to dry matter first (divide by the dry fraction, ~0.22 for a typical 78%-moisture food).

How much protein does a 20 kg dog need?

At 1,059 kcal/day, the AAFCO adult minimum works out to about 48 g of protein and 15 g of fat per day. Those are floors, not optima — most complete foods exceed them.

Is more protein always better?

No. Above the minimum, digestibility and amino-acid profile matter — not the percentage printed on the label.

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