The dry food conversion chart: cups, grams, calories and pounds
A level cup of dry food weighs 100–130 g depending on the food, and at a typical 3,400–4,000 kcal/kg that makes one cup worth anywhere from 340 to 520 kcal — a spread of about 50%. That single fact is why “two cups a day” is not a feeding instruction. This page gives every conversion in both directions, the formulas behind them, and the five situations where the conversion stops being trustworthy.
Everything on this page is calculated from two numbers printed on your own bag: metabolisable energy (kcal/kg) and, once you weigh it, grams per cup. Nothing else is required.
1. The one number that decides everything: grams per cup
A cup is a measure of volume. A calorie is a measure of energy. To get from one to the other you need the mass that fills that cup — and that mass is not standardised. Kibble diameter, shape, coating and how tightly the bag settled in transit all move it.
The ranges that matter in practice:
| Food type | Typical grams per level cup | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dry dog kibble | 100–115 g | Larger, lighter pieces; more air between them |
| Dry cat kibble | 120–130 g | Smaller, denser pieces pack tighter into the same cup |
| Small-breed / puppy kibble | 95–110 g | Very small pieces but a lighter, more porous structure |
| Freeze-dried / air-dried | 40–70 g | Almost no water and very low bulk density |
This is the number to write on the bag with a marker the first time you weigh a cup. It turns every other conversion on this page from an estimate into something specific to your food.
2. Grams per cup → calories per cup
Three energy densities cover most dry foods sold today. Read your label's kcal/kg, pick the nearest column, then find your cup weight:
| Cup weight | 3,400 kcal/kg | 3,700 kcal/kg | 4,000 kcal/kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 g | 340 kcal | 370 kcal | 400 kcal |
| 110 g | 374 kcal | 407 kcal | 440 kcal |
| 120 g | 408 kcal | 444 kcal | 480 kcal |
| 125 g | 425 kcal | 463 kcal | 500 kcal |
| 130 g | 442 kcal | 481 kcal | 520 kcal |
Read the corners of that table and the problem becomes obvious: the lightest option in the lightest food is 340 kcal, the densest in the richest food is 520 kcal. One “cup” can mean 53% more energy than another “cup” — which for a 5 kg cat is roughly a third of its entire daily requirement.
3. Pounds to cups (the label’s “about 4 cups per pound”)
Bag labels often print a cups-per-pound figure. It is almost always written for dog food, and it overstates cat food by about 10%:
| Cup weight | Cups per pound (454 g) | Typical for |
|---|---|---|
| 120 g/cup | 3.78 cups | Light cat kibble |
| 125 g/cup | 3.63 cups | Average cat kibble |
| 130 g/cup | 3.49 cups | Dense cat kibble |
| 110 g/cup | 4.12 cups | Average dog kibble |
Formula: cups per pound = 453.6 ÷ grams per cup.
4. Cups per bag, by bag size
Multiply the pound figure above by the bag size. Cat kibble at three densities:
| Bag size | @120 g/cup | @125 g/cup | @130 g/cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 lb | 11 cups | 11 cups | 10 cups |
| 5 lb | 19 cups | 18 cups | 17 cups |
| 7 lb | 26 cups | 25 cups | 24 cups |
| 10 lb | 38 cups | 36 cups | 35 cups |
| 16 lb | 60 cups | 58 cups | 56 cups |
Formula: cups per bag = (bag pounds × 453.6) ÷ grams per cup.
5. From cups to a daily amount: kittens as the worked case
Converting volume to energy is only useful if it lands on a daily target. Kitten feeding is the clearest example because the growth factor changes with age — and because getting it wrong has the largest consequence.
| Weight | Age | Factor | Daily kcal | Grams/day | Meals/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 kg | Under 4 months | × 2.5 | 175 | 52 g | 4 |
| 1 kg | 4–12 months | × 2.0 | 140 | 42 g | 3 |
| 2 kg | Under 4 months | × 2.5 | 294 | 87 g | 4 |
| 2 kg | 4–12 months | × 2.0 | 235 | 70 g | 3 |
| 3 kg | Under 4 months | × 2.5 | 399 | 119 g | 4 |
| 3 kg | 4–12 months | × 2.0 | 319 | 95 g | 3 |
| 4 kg | Under 4 months | × 2.5 | 495 | 147 g | 4 |
| 4 kg | 4–12 months | × 2.0 | 396 | 118 g | 3 |
Two things to read out of this table. First, the gap between the two age bands at the same weight is 25% — a kitten that crosses four months does not need the same amount, it needs a fifth less. Second, meals per day falls from four to three, which is a separate variable from the amount: same daily total, different number of servings.
Grams per day above assume a food at roughly 3,365 kcal/kg. If your bag says 3,700 or 4,000, divide your daily kcal by that figure instead — the converter below does it for you.
6. The formulas behind every number
Nothing on this page uses a proprietary method. These are the four expressions that generate all of it:
| Conversion | Formula | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| kcal per cup | (kcal/kg × grams per cup) ÷ 1,000 | Definition of metabolisable energy density |
| cups per pound | 453.6 ÷ grams per cup | 1 lb = 453.592 g |
| Resting energy | RER = 70 × kg0.75 | NRC Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006) |
| Daily energy | DER = RER × life-stage factor | WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines |
The exponent matters more than it looks. RER is not linear in weight: doubling a pet’s weight multiplies RER by about 1.68, not by 2. That is why a 4 kg cat does not eat twice what a 2 kg cat eats.
7. Interactive converter
8. Where the conversion stops working
Five situations where the tables above will mislead you, in order of how often they bite:
1. Wet food. A cup of wet food weighs about 240 g and carries 70–100 kcal — roughly a quarter of a cup of dry food. Water is most of the weight and none of the energy, so the two cannot share a table. Use the wet-to-dry conversion instead.
2. Multi-pet households. If two cats eat from one bowl, the conversion is accurate but the intake is unknown. Weigh the food in, not the bowl out.
3. Weight-loss plans. A 15% reduction in calories requires a 15% reduction in grams — but if you reduce by eye you will typically cut 30% or more, because the scoop compresses as the bag empties.
4. The bottom of the bag. Kibble at the bottom is more broken and packs tighter, so the same cup holds 5–10% more mass than at the top. Weigh again near the end of a bag.
5. Treats. The conversion covers the bowl only. Treats are commonly 10–20% of daily energy and are almost never measured — see the treat limit calculator.
9. How to check your own food in two minutes
You need a kitchen scale and one level cup.
Step 1. Zero the scale with the empty cup on it.
Step 2. Fill the cup level — no shaking, no tapping, no heaping — and weigh it. Write the number on the bag.
Step 3. Read kcal/kg off the label. If only kcal/cup is printed, skip to step 4.
Step 4. Put both numbers into the converter above. The kcal-per-cup figure you get is now specific to your food, and every other conversion follows from it.
Repeat the weigh-in when you open a new bag. Kibble density changes between production runs, and a 5 g shift per cup at four cups a day is 20 g and 74 kcal you did not intend to feed.
10. Common questions
How many calories are in a cup of dog food? Between about 340 and 480 kcal for typical dry dog food, depending on density and cup weight. See the full grid in section 2.
How many cups are in a pound of cat food? About 3.6 cups at 125 g per cup — fewer than dog food, because cat kibble is denser.
How many cups are in a pound of dog food? About 4.1 cups at 110 g per cup.
Why does my bag say four cups per pound? That figure is written for dog food. On cat food it overstates the number of cups by roughly 10%.
Does bag weight include packaging? No. Use the net weight on the label.
Are cups or grams more accurate? Grams, always. Cups vary by 20–30% between foods; grams do not vary at all.
Do I need to recalculate when I switch food? Yes — and the amount usually changes. Two foods at the same kcal/kg but different grams per cup need the same weight of food, not the same number of cups.
How do I convert this to wet food? Divide the dry calories by the wet food’s kcal per can. Mixing is fine as long as the total daily calories are unchanged.
How long will a bag last? Use the converter above, or the bag duration calculator for a standalone answer.
Is this veterinary advice? No. It is arithmetic applied to the numbers on your bag. A cat or dog with a medical condition needs a plan from their vet, not a chart.
11. Related calculators and charts
Daily feeding calculator → · Cat portion calculator → · Dog feeding chart by weight → · Cat calorie needs → · Wet to dry conversion → · Calories per cup, cat → · Cups in a bag, cat → · Cups in a can, dog → · Kitten feeding schedule → · How to read the label →
12. Sources
- NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006) — resting energy equation and life-stage factors. National Academies Press: nap.nationalacademies.org.
- WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines — body condition scoring and life-stage feeding factors: wsava.org.
- AAFCO — metabolisable energy statement formats used on US labels: aafco.org.
- AAHA — nutritional assessment guidelines: aaha.org.
Note on precision. Values are rounded to the nearest whole kcal or gram. Where a range exists we publish the range, not a false single answer. Every number on this page is reproducible from the formulas in section 6.