Every number here comes from NRC & WSAVA methods and is published as open data (CC BY 4.0). See how we check our numbers →
For a typical dry food at 3,700 kcal/kg and a 110 g cup, one cup is about 407 kcal. Light foods run nearer 340–375, dense ones up to 440–480. A cup is volume, so two foods with the same kcal/kg can still differ per cup if their kibble weighs differently.
Part of our feeding guides index — every calculator and chart on the site in one place.
This is the number you need whenever a feeding guide says "one cup" and you want to know what that means in calories — or the other way round, when you know the calorie target and need to know how many cups that is.
Calculated as grams per cup × kcal per kg ÷ 1000. Read down the column that matches your food, and across to your scoop 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 |
Most dry dog foods print calories as kcal/kg (or "ME" in kcal/kg). Some print kcal/cup directly, which saves you the arithmetic. If you only have kcal/kg, you need one extra fact: how much a cup of that food weighs.
That weight is usually between 90 and 130 g for dry kibble. The site-standard figure used across these pages is 110 g, which is also why the cups-per-pound answer is around 4 cups per pound.
Calories per cup is the bridge between the bag and the bowl. Once you know it, the daily amount is just daily kcal ÷ kcal per cup. The feeding calculator takes your dog’s weight and the food’s calories and gives the cups per day directly, and the cups in a bag page covers how far a bag goes.
Is a cup of wet food the same? No — wet food is roughly 70–80% water, so a cup is far fewer calories. See wet and dry conversion.
Why does my food say 3,500 kcal/kg but 390 kcal/cup? Both can be right at the same time — it depends on the cup weight that brand used. Divide kcal/cup by kcal/kg to see their assumed grams per cup.
Do treats count? Yes, they come out of the daily total. The treat calculator works the limit out by weight.
Want to check your own food? A gram kitchen scale on Amazon is the cheapest way to measure your actual cup weight — one minute of weighing replaces all the guessing above.
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Cups in a bag → · Cups in a pound → · Feeding calculator → · How long a bag lasts →