Scan a barcode
Check the Dogoos catalogue, then Open Pet Food Facts if needed. A partial result is still useful: check the exact recipe and fill in what your pack tells you.
Nutrition
How much to feed, and where that range came from
Weigh the dog, read the pack, and Dogoos gives you a daily calorie range (927 to 1059 kcal for a neutered twenty-kilo adult) with the working printed underneath. Puppies get pointed to the vet instead. Free on every plan.
Why a range
Two dogs, the same weight, nearly double the dinner
Two dogs on the same scales, both twenty kilos. One is a neutered eight-year-old who supervises the garden from a warm patch by the back door. The other is four, entire, and holds strong views about squirrels. Tell Dogoos that much (neuter status, age, and whether the day is spent sprinting or supervising) and the first gets 662–794 kcal a day, the second 1324–1457. Feed them the same and one of them is quietly getting fat.
Dogs of the same weight can have different energy needs. The MSD Veterinary Manual treats calorie formulas as starting points to adjust for the individual dog. Dogoos shows a range with the arithmetic behind it, then helps you follow weight and body condition over time.
It matters, because nobody overfeeds on purpose: vets put 46% of UK dogs at overweight or obese while 81% of owners say their pet's weight is ideal (both PDSA PAW Report 2023; the owner figure is its 2022 reading). Spotting it early is mostly a matter of writing things down.
The working
The formula is on the screen, so you can see it
From the scales to the bowl
- A real weigh-in firstNo weight yet? It offers you the weigh-in
- Resting need70 × kg0.75: the sum is printed, not just the answer
- Daily rangePublished maintenance bands, shifted by neutering, age and how busy the dog is
- Treats, separatelyTen per cent of the midpoint, on its own bar
A real weigh-in, first
No weight, no target. The card says “No usable weight yet” and offers you the weigh-in instead. A typo above 130 kg is treated the same way, so a slip on the keyboard never becomes a feeding target.
Resting need (RER)
70 × kg0.75 estimates the energy a healthy, fed dog needs at rest at a comfortable temperature. That includes processing food and recovering from activity. The card shows the sum, not just the answer: 70 × 20 kg^0.75 ≈ 662 kcal.
Daily range (MER)
Then published maintenance bands (Pet Nutrition Alliance · FEDIAF 2024): a neutered adult 1.4–1.6 × resting, an entire adult 1.6–1.8. A low-energy dog and a senior of eight or over each move the band down 0.2, an active one up 0.4, and the low end never drops below 1.0 × resting.
Treats, metered separately
Ten per cent of the range's midpoint, on its own small bar that reads “Treats 40 / 99 kcal” and turns red when the biscuits go over. They still count in the day's total. The meter just stops them hiding inside the dinner.
Take the middle case: neutered, five years old, twenty kilos, an ordinary amount of energy. Resting need 662 kcal, band 1.4–1.6, the day at 927–1059 kcal, treats 99 kcal. Meals fill a bar drawn as that band. The garden dog from the top of this page lands at 662–794: two shifts down, one for her age and one for the warm patch, with her low end sitting on her resting need, because the band never goes below it.
Good to know. The app says this on the same card: “Trust the weight trend and body condition over the number.” And under it, every time you open the screen: “For a personalised feeding plan, ask your vet. This range is a starting point, never a prescription.”
Puppies
Puppies grow, so their vet sets the plan
Dogoos knows it's a puppy from the birthday on the profile, or from the life stage set to Puppy. Once it knows, it steps back: no estimate, no range with a warning taped to it. The screen reads “Puppies grow. Vets guide that”, and where the figure would sit: “No target shown: puppy feeding is your vet's call (see below).” So fill the birthday in: a profile with no age is read as an adult, and an adult gets an adult's range.
Growth feeding, especially for large breeds, is where real harm can happen, so your vet sets that plan. Meal logging carries on as normal in the meantime, so the record builds ready for your next visit. The same care applies at the other end: the range never drops below resting maintenance, because feeding below that is a weight-loss plan, and that's a conversation for your vet.
Food, with the details you have
Build the bowl once, then use it again
Read the label
Add up to three photos of the same food, such as the front and nutrition panel, in one label scan. You check and correct the result before saving. One scan a day is free.
Find a familiar food
Search a small starting selection of UK recipes with manufacturer sources. Match the exact recipe to your pack; packaging and portions can change.
Add what you know
A name and portion are enough to start. Energy can be entered in the unit printed on the pack, or left unknown. My foods keeps your checked entries for next time.
Kibble and wet food can share one meal, each with its own portion, and the bowl keeps those parts together in the journal. If a food's calories aren't known, the day's total is marked as incomplete rather than guessed.
The label scan reads only what it can see clearly, and never invents a value the pack doesn't print. Plenty of packs leave energy out. If all five constituents are there (protein, fat, fibre, moisture and ash) you can choose an energy estimate, clearly marked as estimated so it stays distinct from a printed figure. You can also keep the food without an energy value.
Numbers read from a photo are yours to check and correct, and saved label results are marked “Read from the label”. Open Pet Food Facts results keep their attribution and are used for that meal, without being copied into My foods or the shared catalogue.
One scan, one slot. Only the AI label scan uses a label-scan allowance. One a day is free, more on paid plans, and the app tells you when you've used it: “That's today's label scans used. Higher plans get more.” Barcode look-ups, saved foods, routine meals and manual entries don't use one.
The one-tap version
Logging has to be faster than not logging
Set up each dog's regular meals with their usual times and portions, including mixed bowls. When portions change, choose the day the new routine begins; earlier meals keep their original amounts. Then log one meal or a whole day's regular meals together, with the dogs' names and dates shown before you confirm.
Forgot yesterday's dinner? Choose yesterday, or ask Rex. “Usual meals: tap to log again” re-logs a bowl you've logged before, and entries made offline wait quietly and sync when the app reconnects.
1 a dayAI label scans on the free plan, every day.
+2 
Bones for each logged meal, up to three a day, just
for keeping the record.
Bones for each logged meal, up to three a day, just
for keeping the record.90 daysOf your notes on the vet summary the
Health Hub builds on your phone, weight trend
included.
The boundary
What it does, and what it leaves to your vet
What it does
- Builds a daily calorie range from a real weigh-in, and shows the formula
- Reads the constituents off a pack you photograph, then asks you to check them
- Keeps treats on their own ten-per-cent meter, and turns it red when they're over
- Logs meals offline, and lets Rex file one from a sentence
- Logs a meal whose calories nobody knows as unknown, so the day's total stays true
Good to know
- Puppy feeding is your vet's call, so there's no target for a dog under a year
- Weight-loss plans are your vet's too: the range never drops below resting maintenance
- It doesn't recommend therapeutic or prescription diets
- It doesn't rate or rank foods. It reads what's printed
- It doesn't guess a constituent the pack doesn't print. Miss one of the five and the energy box stays blank
Questions, answered
Feeding, plainly
How many calories does my dog need a day?
For a healthy adult: 70 × weight in kilos to the power 0.75 gives the resting requirement, then a maintenance band on top (1.4–1.6 × resting for a neutered adult, 1.6–1.8 for an entire one, down 0.2 for a senior of eight or over, up 0.4 for an active dog). Dogoos does the sum from your logged weigh-in and shows both steps. It's a starting point, not a prescription. Your vet adjusts it for the dog in front of them.
Why won't it just give me one number?
Because dogs of the same weight can have different energy needs. A formula gives a starting point, not an exact allowance for your dog. Dogoos shows a range; follow weight trend and body condition, and ask your vet to adjust the plan.
Can Dogoos tell me how much to feed a puppy?
No, and that's on purpose. Once it knows the dog is under a year (from the birthday on the profile, or the stage set to Puppy), no target is calculated: the screen says “Puppies grow. Vets guide that” and points you to your vet, because growth feeding, especially for large breeds, is where real harm can happen. You can still log every meal. A profile with no age on it is read as an adult, so put the birthday in.
Does it do weight-loss plans?
No. The bottom of the range never falls below resting maintenance. Losing weight safely is a veterinary plan with a target weight and check-ins, and what Dogoos gives you is the weight curve and the record to start that conversation. More on spotting it here.
What if the pack doesn't print calories?
Many don't: an energy declaration isn't mandatory on UK and EU pet food. Where all five analytical constituents are printed (protein, fat, fibre, moisture and ash) Dogoos can fill the energy box from modified Atwater factors, marked as an estimate, for you to check or change. Miss one of the five and the box stays empty rather than taking a typical value. A figure outside 40–900 kcal per 100 g is treated as a misread rather than saved.
Is any of this behind the paywall?
No. The calorie range, the treat meter, the weekly chart, meal logging and one AI label scan a day are free on every plan. Paid plans get more label scans a day, and that's the only difference on this screen.
Feed the dog in front of you, not the average one in the formula
Understand body condition
What to look and feel for, and when to ask your vet.