How much to feed
How much should I feed a small dog?
Last updated 23 September 2026 · How we write and check this
Short answer
Small dogs, generally under 10kg, need proportionally more food per kilogram of body weight than larger dogs, because their metabolism runs faster relative to their size. As a rough guide, a small dog needs somewhere between 45g and 170g of a typical dry food a day depending on exact weight, and the difference between the bottom and top of that range is large enough that calculating for the exact weight matters more than for any general size category.
Why small dogs are not just scaled down large dogs
Energy need scales with body weight to the power of roughly 0.75 rather than in a straight line, which means a 4kg dog needs more than four times less food than a 20kg dog, not exactly a quarter as much.
This is why using a large breed's portion and simply dividing by weight gives an inaccurate, usually too low, result for a small dog.
Practical feeding habits for small dogs
Small dogs generally do better on two to three meals a day rather than one, since their smaller energy reserves make long gaps between meals harder to manage comfortably.
A gram scale matters more here than for a larger dog, since a 10g measuring error is a bigger share of a small dog's total daily food.
Getting the exact number
Calculate from your dog's actual weight using the resting energy formula rather than a size category alone, then check body condition every two weeks and adjust in small steps.
If your dog is very close to a boundary weight, such as 9.5kg, use the exact weight rather than rounding to the nearest whole category. Recalculate whenever your dog's weight shifts by more than a few hundred grams, since a small dog crossing into a new bracket changes the daily amount more than the same shift would for a larger dog.
Key takeaways
- Small dogs under 10kg need proportionally more food per kilogram than larger dogs.
- Calculate from exact weight rather than a general size category for accuracy.
- Two to three meals a day tend to suit small dogs better than one.
- Use a gram scale, since small errors matter more relative to a small dog's total portion.