Both calculators below run on published veterinary reference figures and the numbers your pack already declares. They give a starting range for a healthy adult pet, not a prescription: body condition over the following weeks decides the final portion, and puppies, kittens, pregnant animals and pets on therapeutic diets need a veterinarian's numbers instead.
Daily calories and portion
Pick the species, enter the weight, and you get the published daily calorie range for a healthy adult in ideal body condition. Add the energy density from your pack and the range becomes grams per day of that specific food.
kcal per day, as a range for a healthy adult in ideal body condition.
grams per day of this food, before treats. Keep treats inside a tenth of the calories.
Dog ranges follow the WSAVA calorie chart for adult dogs; cat figures use the WSAVA formulas for lean and gain-prone adults, both built on NRC 2006 maintenance figures. Individual animals sit above or below any table.
The full method, including why the scoop misleads and how to read body condition, is in our guide on how much to feed a dog or cat.
Dry matter comparison
Wet food is mostly water, so the percentages on a wet pack and a dry pack are not comparable as printed. Enter the declared value and the moisture for each food, and this converts both to a dry matter basis, which is what the food looks like with the water taken out.
On a dry matter basis, Food A carries more of this nutrient. On a dry matter basis, Food B carries more of this nutrient. On a dry matter basis, the two foods are roughly equal.
Formula: declared percentage divided by (100 minus moisture), times 100. Typical moisture is 75 to 85 percent for wet food and 8 to 12 percent for dry.
Why this conversion so often reverses the apparent winner is worked through in our guide to wet and dry food.