How Much Does Dog Food Cost?

Are you thinking about adopting a dog from your local shelter or are you trying to benchmark how much you’ve been spending on dog food to see if that is the norm?

Well, you aren’t alone, and there are thousands of dog owners trying to better understand how much dog food costs.

Sadly, this is an extremely difficult question to answer which is why you have probably heard so many different answers from various sources.

How Much Does Dry Dog Food Cost?

We are going to start by saying that it’s impossible to give a single answer to this question on how much does dog food cost, but if you are looking for a ballpark figure, dry dog food typically costs between $20 a month to $60 per month per dog.

However, this figure can vary widely depending upon several important factors like age, breed, weight, activity level, and whether the dog has any serious health issues.

It goes without saying that a huge dog breed such as a Great Dane is going to eat far more food than a smaller dog breed like a terrier.

The easiest way to explain how much dry dog food costs is to give several examples that cover the majority of dogs.

We’ve summarized the results of these examples into a table below, but we highly recommend you read through the specific examples to understand how we came to these numbers, as your dog’s situation may be slightly different.

Small/Tiny Breed Dogs

A small breed dog, such as a 15lb adult Pug, is going to eat roughly 1 cup of dry dog food per day, which totals roughly 30 cups per month.

Most dry dog food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a small breed dog such as this would eat 7.5lbs of dry dog food per month.

Most dry dog food for small breed dogs varies between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a small breed dog, like a pug, could be between $8-$15 per month.

Medium Breed Dogs

A medium breed dog, such as a 40lb adult Spaniel, is going to eat roughly 2 cups of dry dog food per day, which totals roughly 60 cups per month.

Most dry dog food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a medium breed dog such as this would eat 15lbs of dry dog food per month.

Most dry dog food for medium breed dogs varies between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a medium breed dog, like a Spaniel, could be between $15-$30 per month.

Large Breed Dogs

A large breed dog, such as a 75lb Golden Retriever, is going to eat roughly 3.5 cups of dry dog food per day, which totals to roughly 105 cups per month.

Most dry dog food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a large breed dog such as this would eat 26lbs of dry dog food per month.

Most dry dog foods for large breed dogs vary between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a large breed dog, like a Golden Retriever, could be between $25-$50 per month.

Puppies

Puppies a different from adult dogs and often require significantly more food to help enable their growth and development.

The exact amount of food needed above what an adult dog would eat varies depending on factors like age and breed, but for the sake of simplicity, we are going to say that it is twice the amount of an equivalent adult dog of the same weight.

Let’s use Golden Retrievers as the example again and use a 4-month-old Golden Retriever Puppy. At this age, the puppy would typically be around 30lbs.

A 30lb Golden Retriever puppy would therefore require roughly 3 cups of dry dog food per day, which totals roughly 90 cups per month.

Most dry puppy food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a puppy such as this would eat 22lbs of dog food per month.

Most dry puppy foods vary between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a Golden Retriever Puppy could be between $22-$45 per month.

Senior Dogs

Senior dogs are one of the trickiest to estimate for how much food they will eat. Some older dogs are significantly less active than they once were, which has a drastic effect on the number of calories they need.

However, this isn’t the case for all senior dogs, and many of them eat the same amount of food as they did in their younger years.

For simplicity, let’s say a senior dog needs 25% fewer calories than it did when it was an active adult. Using the 40lb Spaniel example from earlier, which ate 2 cups per day, a senior Spaniel may only need to eat 1.5 cups of dry dog food per day.

If that was the case, a senior Spaniel would eat roughly 45 cups of dry dog food per month.

Most senior dry dog food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a senior dog such as this would eat 11lbs of dog food per month.

Most senior dry dog foods vary between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a senior Spaniel could be between $11-$22 per month.

Highly Active Dogs

A highly active dog, such as a working dog, is going to need to eat significantly more food in order to sustain its activity.

How much more food an active dog can need varies significantly, with working sledding dogs like Huskies often needing more than twice as much food as they would typically eat if they were not highly active.

However, for simplicity, let’s say that a highly active dog needs 50% more calories than a dog with a normal activity level.

Using Golden Retrievers as the base example again, a normal adult Golden Retriever would eat roughly 3.5 cups of food per day. Multiplying this by 1.5 comes out to 5.25 cups of dry dog food per day or 157.5 cups per month.

Most dry dog food recipes typically have a ratio of 4 cups per pound which means that a highly active dog such as this would eat just under 40lb of dry dog food per month.

Most dry dog food recipes vary between $1-$2 per pound, which means that the cost of feeding a highly active Golden Retriever could be between $40-$80 per month.

Low-Cost Dog Food

So far, we’ve just focused on attributes of the dog themselves and priced them up with the cost of average dog food recipes.

However, switching to ultra-low-cost dog food, such as Pedigree, Purina Dog Chow, or Kibbles ‘N Bits, can have a dramatic effect on cost-reducing the cost to anywhere between $0.50 to $1 per pound of dry dog food.

Using the same Spaniel example as earlier, an adult 40lb Spaniel is going to require roughly 15lb of dry dog food per month.

If you select an ultra-low-cost brand, 15lb of dry dog food could cost as little as $7.50-$15 per month.

However, we will note that some of the lowest cost dry dog food brands are not as calorie-dense as the average dry dog food which does mean that dogs may need to eat more food to get the same calorie intake.

As a consequence, the weight of dog food required may be higher, but regardless, the cost is still dramatically lower.

Premium Dog Food

In complete opposite fashion to the section above, choosing a premium or ultra-premium dog food brand can dramatically increase the cost of food.

Premium dry dog food brands like Orijen, Farmina, or Nature’s Logic can cost between $2-$4 per pound, which is twice as much as most other brands.

In addition, there are also some new brands, such as Spot & Tango, who have entered the market offering “fresh” dry dog food, which is just as expensive.

Using the Golden Retriever example from earlier, an adult 75lb Golden Retriever is going to eat roughly 26lbs of dry dog food per month.

At $2-$4 per month, feeding this Golden Retriever premium or ultra-premium dog food could cost between $50-$100 per month.

How Much Does Wet Dog Food Cost?

While we thought about covering how much dog food costs altogether, we soon realized a huge difference in the cost of dry and wet dog food, which wouldn’t make this fair.

However, wet dog food costs can be much more difficult to estimate due to varying can sizes and a huge variation in the calorie content.

To better demonstrate this, wet dog food typically costs between $1.50 and $3.00 for a 12-13oz Can, which can lead to a range of $45 – $810 per month depending on the size of the dog in question.

If you thought this range was bad enough, you can find some examples of wet dog food outside of this range, which can be as low as $1.00 and as high as $8.00 for a 12-13oz Can.

Similar to dry dog food, we are going to run through the same or similar examples as we did above to give you an idea about how much wet dog food might cost for your dog.

We’ve summarized this into a table below for easy reading, but once again, we highly recommend reading through the examples to best understand how these numbers came to be.

Small Breed

A small breed dog, such as a 15lb adult Pug, is going to eat roughly 1 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day, which totals to roughly 30 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for small breed dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a small breed dog, like a pug, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $45-$90 per month.

Medium Breed

A medium breed dog, such as a 40lb adult Spaniel, is going to eat roughly 2 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day, which totals to roughly 60 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for medium breed dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a medium breed dog, like a Spaniel, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $90-$180 per month.

Large breed

A large breed dog, such as a 75lb Golden Retriever, is going to eat roughly 3 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day, which totals to roughly 90 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for large breed dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a large breed dog, like a Golden Retriever, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $135-$270 per month.

Puppy

As we touched on earlier, Puppies are different from adult dogs and often require significantly more food to help enable their growth and development.

The exact amount of food needed above what an adult dog would eat varies depending on factors like age and breed, but for the sake of simplicity, we are going to say that it is twice the amount of an equivalent adult dog of the same weight.

Let’s use Golden Retrievers as the example again and use a 4-month-old Golden Retriever Puppy. At this age, the puppy would typically be around 30lbs.

A 30lb Golden Retriever puppy would therefore require roughly 3 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day, which totals to roughly 120 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for puppy dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a puppy dog, like a Golden Retriever puppy, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $145-$270 per month.

Senior Dog

As we mentioned earlier, Senior dogs are tricky to estimate for how much food they will eat. Some older dogs are significantly less active than they once were, which has a drastic effect on the number of calories they need.

For simplicity, let’s say a senior dog needs 25% fewer calories than it did when it was an active adult.

Using the 40lb Spaniel example from earlier, which ate 2 12.5 oz cans per day, a senior Spaniel may only need to eat 1.5 cans of wet dog food per day, which sums to 45 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for senior dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a senior dog, like a Spaniel, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $68-$135 per month.

Highly Active Dog

Once again, a highly active dog, such as a working dog, is going to need to eat significantly more food in order to sustain its activity.

How much more food an active dog can need varies significantly, with working sledding dogs like Huskies often needing more than twice as much food as they would typically eat if they were not highly active.

However, for simplicity, let’s say that a highly active dog needs 50% more calories than a dog with a normal activity level.

Using Golden Retrievers as the base example again, a normal adult Golden Retriever would eat roughly 3 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day.

Multiplying this by 1.5 comes out to 4.5 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day or 135 cans per month.

Most wet dog food for active dogs varies between $1.50-$3.00 per can, which means that the cost of feeding a highly active dog, like a Golden Retriever, on an exclusive diet of wet dog food could be between $202-$405 per month.

Low-Cost Dog Food

Revisiting what we touched on earlier, our examples so far have focused on attributes of the dog themselves and priced them up with the cost of average dog food recipes.

However, switching to ultra-low-cost dog food, such as Pedigree, Purina Dog Chow, or Kibbles ‘N Bits, can have a dramatic effect on cost-reducing the cost to anywhere between $1.00 to $1.50 per 12.5 oz can of wet dog food.

Using the same Spaniel example as earlier, an adult 40lb Spaniel is going to require roughly 2 12.5 oz cans of wet dog food per day, which works out to be 60 per month.

If you select an ultra-low-cost brand, 90 cans of wet dog food could cost as little as $60-$90 per month.

However, similar to dry dog food, we will note that some of the lowest cost wet dog food brands are not as calorie-dense as the average wet dog food, which does mean that dogs may need to eat more food to get the same calorie intake.

As a consequence, the weight of dog food required may be higher, but regardless, the cost is still dramatically lower.

Premium Dog Food

Lastly, and once again in completely opposite fashion to the section above, choosing a premium or ultra-premium dog food brand can dramatically increase the cost of food.

Premium dry dog food brands like Ziwi Peak, K9 Natural, or Hound & Gatos can cost between $4-$8 per 12.5 oz can, which is twice as much as most other brands.

Using the Golden Retriever example from earlier, an adult 75lb Golden Retriever is going to eat roughly 90 12.5 oz cans per month.

At $4-$8 per 12.5 oz can, feeding this Golden Retriever premium or ultra-premium wet dog food could cost between $360-$720 per month, which is a colossal sum.

For this reason, it’s very unlikely that there are many dog owners feeding their dog’s an exclusive diet of wet food from these ultra-premium dog food brands.

How Much Is A Mix Of Dry Dog Food And Wet Dog Food?

The above section on the cost of an exclusive diet of wet dog food has shown how its cost can quickly spiral out of control which is why many dog owners do not do so.

Instead, many of them choose to provide their dogs with a mix of dry dog food and wet dog food, which allows them to provide wet dog food while keeping costs more manageable.

While recommendations vary from different dog owners and dog food brands, a simple way to do this would be to provide half of your dog’s calories from dry food and half from wet food.

Rather than go through all of the same examples for the third time, we’ve summarized the cost of this approach in the below table.

As the above shows, the sum is still a significant amount, especially for larger breed dogs, but this may be a more manageable amount for some dog owners.

How To Spend Less On Dog Food?

Whether you are a new prospective dog owner or a veteran of decades, the price of dog food is constant, and many look for ways to help keep their costs low.

Switching To a Lower-Cost Dog Food

The most obvious way to reduce the cost of dog food is to purchase more cost-effective dog food recipes. While this may seem like a no-brainer, sadly, lower-cost food is often full of poor-quality ingredients, and these recipes provide poor overall nutrition.

However, that is not always true, and some dog owners choose to purchase premium food that is only marginally better than food that is noticeably cheaper.

However, if you aren’t interested in changing the type of food your dog eats, there are several other ways to reduce the cost of dog food.

Purchasing Dog Food In Bulk

As we discuss in-depth in our article Best Places To Buy Dog Food In Bulk, there are several physical or online stores that allow you to purchase dog food in bulk.

By doing so, the cost per pound of dog food can decrease significantly.

However, this isn’t always a viable option, especially for those dog owners with just a single dog that isn’t a large breed dog. This is as buying too much food can lead to waste and spoilage, which negates all the benefits of its reduced cost.

Shopping Around When Buying Your Dog Food

Many dog owners choose to purchase their dog food from the same store for decades without once comparing the price of the same food at other locations.

One pet food seller you should consider pricing up is Chewy.com.

Chewy offers initial discounts and further discounts for signing up to their auto-ship program, which allows dog owners to have food delivered straight to their doors at a pre-determined interval.

Homemade Dog Food

Lastly, some dog owners make the choice of making their dogs food themselves or, more often, mixing commercial dog food with some homemade food.

While this last option certainly takes more time and effort, there are additional benefits due to your increased involvement and your ability to control exactly what goes into their diet.