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How many calories should my overweight dog eat daily to lose weight?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Miniature Schnauzer | Male | neutered | 2 years and 11 months old | 30 lbs

Hello! My (Very Broadly Built) Miniature Schnauzer needs to lose 10% of his body lard. How many calories should he be eating? He currently weighs 30 pounds. My Vet suggested he weigh 26 or 27 pounds. I've seen a lot of caloric calculation variations - Which is right? Thanks!

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

Published on August 20th, 2019

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! He should be eating about 450 calories per day. I would also encourage him to exercise to some degree such as frequent walks. You could consider the Hills Science diet metabolic weight management diet which can help tremendously in this case. Have a good day!

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    Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on October 5th, 2018

    Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The first step to figuring that answer out is knowing how many calories the dog is taking in NOW. Including all treats. If you can calculate his current caloric intake we can tell you how to reduce it. We also need to know age, sex, whether spayed or neutered and breed. You can also decrease treats by 50% and cut the dog food volume by 25 % and try that for 1 month and re-weigh. Hope to hear from you soon

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    2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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