Do I have to weigh wet food as well?

Yes, and with more care than dry, because the water fraction varies a lot between products. If you use whole cans the arithmetic is easy: the ration becomes a number of cans plus any remainder to weigh. If you combine dry and wet in the same day, weigh both and record the two numbers separately, otherwise at the first adjustment you will not know which one to change.

Can I leave the bowl permanently full for a cat?

Free feeding makes it impossible to know how much is eaten and, in a multi pet home, who eats it. If your cat is at a normal weight and eats little and often, you can still weigh the ration in the morning and leave it available in several places: the difference is that at the end of the day you know exactly what is left.

How far ahead can I prepare portions?

Dry food portions can be prepared two or three days ahead, provided they are in closed containers away from light and damp. Wet food portions are prepared for the day and kept covered in the fridge, respecting the maximum time printed on the packaging.

Is a kitchen scale accurate enough?

A domestic scale with 1 g resolution is enough for almost every ration. Check it once a month against an object of known weight, for example a sealed pack that states its net weight: if the gap is more than a few grams, replace the scale. For very small portions, such as a kitten's, a 0.1 g scale keeps the arithmetic steadier.

My vet gave me calories, not grams: what do I do?

Find the metabolisable energy figure on the label or the technical sheet, usually stated in kilocalories per hundred grams or per kilogram. Divide the prescribed calories by the calories in a hundred grams and multiply by a hundred: that gives you the daily grams. Write the result on the container with the date, and redo the sum every time you change food.

Practical feeding20 minLevel: BeginnerUpdated on July 28, 2026

Weighing portions and splitting them across the day

How to weigh a daily ration on a kitchen scale, split it into the right number of meals and adjust it every two weeks using a number.

Audience: Pet owners
Species: Dog, Cat
Scope: Valid everywhere

What you need before you start

Una bilancia da cucina digitale con divisione da 1 g e funzione di tara
La razione giornaliera in grammi, indicata dal veterinario oppure ricavata dalla tabella dell'etichetta
Il peso corporeo aggiornato dell'animale, misurato negli ultimi sette giorni
Un contenitore ermetico opaco per l'alimento e un secondo contenitore per le porzioni già pesate

Almost every feeding plan fails at the same point: not in the calculation, but in the hand that fills the bowl. The requirement is estimated correctly, then the ration is served with a scoop filled differently every time, and the daily error accumulates until it becomes visible three months later. This guide does not recalculate the requirement: it starts from the grams your vet or the label chart gives you and explains how to turn them into repeatable portions, how to spread them across the day, and how to adjust them when weight moves. You need a digital kitchen scale and about twenty minutes the first time, then under a minute a day.

Why a scoop is wrong and a scale is not

A scoop measures volume, not mass. Two different foods occupying the same volume can weigh very differently, because kibble size, shape and degree of extrusion change the air space between pieces. Even the same food, in the same scoop, gives different weights depending on how full the bag is, how deep your hand goes and whether the scoop is levelled off or heaped.

You do not have to take this on trust: it takes two minutes to check. Fill the scoop five times the way you normally would and weigh each one without correcting yourself. Write down the five numbers. The gap between the highest and the lowest is the error you are already adding every day, multiplied by the number of meals.

Example of a personal check: five fills of the same scoop
Fill	Weight measured	Difference from the mean
First	62 g	minus 3 g
Second	71 g	plus 6 g
Third	64 g	minus 1 g
Fourth	68 g	plus 3 g
Fifth	60 g	minus 5 g

Setting up the scale and the containers

Weighing has to be faster than scooping, otherwise you go back to the scoop within a week. The whole difference lies in setting the station up once and leaving it assembled.

A digital scale with 1 g resolution: below a 20 g portion a scale with 5 g steps is unusable.
A light weighing bowl, always the same one, left sitting on the scale.
A tare button you have verified: switch on, place the empty bowl, press tare and check the display returns to zero.
An airtight opaque container for dry food, kept away from heat sources and direct sunlight.
A marker and adhesive labels to write the date the bag was opened.
The daily ration written by hand on a sheet taped to the container, in grams, along with the number of meals.

The seven step procedure

Write the daily ration in grams
Take the number from the veterinary prescription or from the label chart, crossing current body weight with activity level. If the chart gives a range, for example 180 to 220 g, start at the lower value: adjusting upwards is easy, while removing weight already gained takes months.
Decide the number of meals
Fix how many meals you will serve and at what times before you weigh anything. The number of meals changes the portion but not the total: the daily total is the value you have to respect.
Subtract the space for treats
Add up the treats and titbits your animal genuinely receives on an average day, including training rewards and anything handed out by other people in the household. Take them off the total before dividing: treats are not an extra, they are part of the ration.
Divide the total by the number of meals
Do the division once and write the result in grams next to each mealtime. If the number is not whole, round to the gram and compensate in the last meal of the day, not in all of them.
Weigh the portion using tare
Put the empty bowl on the switched on scale, press tare, wait for zero and pour food up to the number you wrote. Pour slowly for the last few grams: stopping at the exact value is quicker than taking food back out.
Prepare the day's portions in advance
If mornings are rushed, weigh all of the next day's portions the evening before and put them in separate closed containers. That way whoever feeds in your place has no decision to make.
Record what was actually eaten
At the end of the meal note whether the bowl was emptied, whether anything was left and how much. The figure your vet needs is not what you offered but what was swallowed.

Splitting the ration across the day

The number of meals is not a matter of taste. In puppies and kittens it prevents blood glucose dips and avoids overloading a small stomach; in adults it spreads hunger and reduces persistent begging; in cats it respects a feeding pattern built on many small meals.

Indicative number of meals by life stage
Profile	Meals per day	Practical note
Puppy or kitten up to 4 months	3 to 4	Even intervals, last meal not too late
Puppy or kitten from 4 to 12 months	3	Move to 2 meals as growth slows down
Adult dog	2	Two meals shorten the overnight fast and reduce empty stomach vomiting
Adult cat	3 to 5	Small portions, ideally some of them hidden in foraging toys
Animal on calorie restriction	3 to 4	More meals of the same total make restriction bearable

The daily total stays the same: changing the number of meals does not license extra grams.
Treats stay inside the total and, as widely recommended in veterinary nutrition, should not exceed ten per cent of daily calories.
Part of the dry ration can be served in a slow release feeder, so the meal lasts minutes instead of seconds.
In a multi pet household each ration is served in a separate place and removed when the meal ends.
Fresh water stays available at all times, whatever the number of meals.

Checking that it works

A ration is only right if weight and body condition behave as expected. The check takes two measurements and a few minutes: the weight on the scale and a hands on assessment of fat cover over the ribs.

What to measure and how often
Measurement	Frequency	How it is done
Body weight	Every 14 days	Same scale, same time of day, before a meal
Body condition	Every 30 days	Palpation of ribs, waist and abdominal tuck
Amount actually eaten	Every meal	Note whether food is left in the bowl
Stool consistency	Every day	A five point scale, always the same one

The working rule is simple: if after a month weight has moved the wrong way by more than three per cent, change the ration by ten per cent and check again fourteen days later. More aggressive corrections make weight swing instead of settling. If weight drops without you reducing anything, the ration is not the problem and it is time to call your vet.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Mistake, effect and correction
Mistake	Effect	Correction
Going back to eyeballing after the first weeks	The error returns and weight starts climbing again	Leave the scale on the worktop, always ready
Counting treats as an extra	Even ten per cent more shows up within a quarter	Subtract treats from the total before dividing
Every family member feeds their own way	Nobody knows how much the animal really received	Portions weighed in advance and one shared sheet
Jumping from the low to the high value on the chart	A twenty per cent increase nobody actually decided	Change one value at a time and note the date
Changing food without recalculating grams	Different foods have different energy densities	Read the new food's chart before the switch

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to weigh wet food as well?: Yes, and with more care than dry, because the water fraction varies a lot between products. If you use whole cans the arithmetic is easy: the ration becomes a number of cans plus any remainder to weigh. If you combine dry and wet in the same day, weigh both and record the two numbers separately, otherwise at the first adjustment you will not know which one to change.
Can I leave the bowl permanently full for a cat?: Free feeding makes it impossible to know how much is eaten and, in a multi pet home, who eats it. If your cat is at a normal weight and eats little and often, you can still weigh the ration in the morning and leave it available in several places: the difference is that at the end of the day you know exactly what is left.
How far ahead can I prepare portions?: Dry food portions can be prepared two or three days ahead, provided they are in closed containers away from light and damp. Wet food portions are prepared for the day and kept covered in the fridge, respecting the maximum time printed on the packaging.
Is a kitchen scale accurate enough?: A domestic scale with 1 g resolution is enough for almost every ration. Check it once a month against an object of known weight, for example a sealed pack that states its net weight: if the gap is more than a few grams, replace the scale. For very small portions, such as a kitten's, a 0.1 g scale keeps the arithmetic steadier.
My vet gave me calories, not grams: what do I do?: Find the metabolisable energy figure on the label or the technical sheet, usually stated in kilocalories per hundred grams or per kilogram. Divide the prescribed calories by the calories in a hundred grams and multiply by a hundred: that gives you the daily grams. Write the result on the container with the date, and redo the sum every time you change food.

What to do next

Spend two minutes measuring how wrong your scoop is, then leave the scale on the worktop with the bowl on top and weigh every portion using tare. Write the daily ration, the number of meals and the treat allowance on a sheet taped to the container, weigh the animal every fourteen days, and only adjust by ten per cent once weight has moved more than three per cent.