I’ve always heard 4% – 8% of body weight for puppies (closer to 8% when they’re first weaned and closer to 4% as they approach their adult weight) although 2-3% of expected adult weight would probably come out to roughly the same amount. For example when Mabel came home at 8 weeks she was around 20 lbs. with an expected adult weight of around 80 lbs. 8% of 20 lbs. is 1.6 lbs. of food and 2% of 80 lbs. is 1.6 lbs. of food – as you can see basing serving size on “puppy weight” yields the same amount as basing serving size on “expected adult weight”. Obviously these results can vary as you can never be truly sure what the adult weight is going to be. I don’t put too much stake in those recommendations (or any feeding recommendations) though. The best way to go about determining serving size is to monitor body condition, imo. Some dogs need much less than what’s “recommended” and some dogs need much more.
