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Dog on new low-calorie food. How to feed more without weight gain?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | Female | spayed | 4 years and 11 months old | 17 lbs

I want to give my dog slightly more food because I've put her on a new brand and it's less calories. Will she gain weight if I do this? She's been eating 2/3 of a cup per day and I wanted to increase that to 3/4 of a cup per day which would be 305-330 calories depending on the flavor. She's 17.5 pounds and a cavalier King Charles spaniel. (Prone to weight gain) I just feel that she may not be getting enough calories at the moment. I however do not want her to gain any weight...

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Sarah Box, BVSc

Veterinarian

Published on June 6th, 2017

This is a good question! Many pet parents would not be aware of a change in caloric density depending on brand and type of food. If this is a new brand that you have just started very recently I would recommend continuing with the same measurement/quantity of food as you have previously been giving Chloe and monitor her for weight loss. If she has been on the new food for a little while and you feel she has lost some weight then increasing the amount you feed would certainly be beneficial to help her maintain weight. As you have stated though, increasing her food consumption could result in potential weight gain which is not a good thing. If you need to increase her intake then do it by only a very small amount, make sure you are carefully measuring her daily allowance of food, and monitor her weight carefully with weekly 'weigh ins' at your regular vet clinic.

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2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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    Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Yes, increasing Chloe's total amount of calories is likely to cause her to gain weight. You can try offering cooked green beans (fresh or frozen) to her diet to add a good bit of fiber and overall volume of food, but relatively few additional calories.

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