If your dog weighs about 5 pounds, this page gives you a practical starting point for daily calories and rough homemade food portions. Use it to get into the right range first, then adjust based on body condition, activity, and how calorie-dense the recipe actually is.
Use the same calorie logic the app uses for puppy, adult, and senior planning. It is built for a fast starting number, not a final prescription.
Estimated maintenance calories
82kcal/day
Best quick estimate for maintenance feeding. Typical day-to-day activity for maintenance planning. This public calculator estimates maintenance calories, not weight-loss or weight-gain targets.
Calories are the target. Food weight changes with recipe density. These examples show roughly how much a 5 lb dog might eat per day if the recipe lands in one of three common calorie ranges.
| Recipe density | Calories | Puppy | Adult | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lean fresh recipe | 120 kcal / 100g | 115 g/day | 70 g/day | 55 g/day |
| Moderate homemade recipe | 160 kcal / 100g | 85 g/day | 50 g/day | 45 g/day |
| Dense batch-cooked recipe | 200 kcal / 100g | 70 g/day | 40 g/day | 35 g/day |
As a quick starting point, a 5 lb dog needs about 82 calories per day as an adult, around 136 calories as a growing puppy, and about 68 calories as a senior. That number still needs to be adjusted if your dog is unusually active, underweight, overweight, or eating a therapeutic diet.
That depends on recipe density. A 5 lb adult dog eating a homemade recipe that lands around 160 kcal per 100g would need about 50 grams per day. If the recipe is leaner, the daily food weight goes up. If it is richer, the daily food weight goes down.
Start with a consistent portion so you can actually judge the result. Then adjust based on weekly weight trend, body condition, stool quality, and energy. The right portion is the one that keeps your dog in a healthy condition, not the one that matches a chart forever.
Once you have the calorie range, use the full recipe builder to check ingredient calories, compare against AAFCO targets, and portion meals more precisely.