An adult beagle weighing 11 kg, neutered and moderately active, needs about 393 kcal a day, or roughly 345 g of a wet food like our chicken recipe. With this breed the portion matters more than with almost any other: in the records of UK vets, obesity is the disorder diagnosed most often in beagles, affecting one in four in a single year. And their appetite is not explained by the gene that makes many Labradors hungrier: it was absent in the beagles tested for it.
Yes, and the numbers are striking. The most up-to-date picture comes from VetCompass, the Royal Veterinary College programme that analyses anonymised records from UK vets. In its 2025 study of 19,906 beagles, the most common disorder in a sample of 3,729 dogs was obesity, diagnosed in 24.3% of beagles in 2019 alone, ahead of periodontal disease (17.8%). In an earlier VetCompass study, overweight was recorded in 7.1% of all dogs, and beagles had 2.67 times the odds of being overweight compared with crossbreeds: only the pug fared worse.
Almost all beagles go out every day, but few get as much exercise as recommended: in a UK survey, 86% of the 225 beagles went out at least once a day and 80% were exercised for at least half an hour each time, yet only 9% met the Kennel Club's exercise guideline for the breed. And for dogs that are already obese, the VetCompass authors point out, the amount and type of food and the way it is given are critical for weight loss. Neutering may play a part too: 66% of the beagles were neutered, against 44% of dogs overall, which the authors suggest may partly explain the high obesity figures.
Ironically, this very tendency to gain weight has made the beagle, the breed most used in laboratory research, a model for studying human obesity.
You will often read that beagles are "programmed" to eat and never feel full. Labradors do have a genetic explanation: a small deletion in the POMC gene linked to greater appetite and higher weight. But in the Cambridge study that discovered it, the mutation was also looked for in 17 beagles and was not found: outside the Labrador it turned up only in the closely related Flat-coated Retriever. For another appetite gene, MC4R, a study of 270 dogs from four breeds found only a few associations in its small group of 28 beagles and judged a link with obesity unlikely.
What has been measured is the effect of extras. In a study of 9 female beagles, with oil and shortbread added to their food the dogs became obese within 19 weeks, eating on average 1,875-2,250 kcal a day; after a weight-loss diet, making them obese again took only 17 weeks and 1,125-1,250 kcal a day. The authors noted that human snack foods appeared to stimulate appetite.
Breed standards describe height more than weight: the FCI and the Kennel Club set 33 to 40 cm at the withers without giving a weight, while the American Kennel Club recognises two varieties, up to 33 cm and under about 9 kg, and 33 to 38 cm at 9-13.6 kg. Our table follows that range, from 9 kg to 14 kg.
Family beagles are a good deal heavier. In the VetCompass study the median adult weight was 18.2 kg (19.7 kg for males, 16.6 kg for females) and only 12% weighed under 14 kg. The authors suggest two reasons: the public prefers a larger beagle than the show ring does, and one beagle in four is obese. So a beagle's ideal weight in kg depends on the individual dog, and body shape counts more than the scales: ribs you can feel without pressing and a waist visible from above, a score of 4-5 on the WSAVA 9-point scale. A beagle over 14 kg is not necessarily fat, since the FCI standard goes up to 40 cm: the quiz works from the weight you enter and your dog's body condition. If you cannot feel the ribs, talk to your vet.
One study followed 24 female beagles of the same age for two years, raised in identical conditions with food available for three and a half hours a day: by the age of two, 15 of the 24 were overweight. Two early signs predicted it: very fast growth in the first two weeks of life, and a body condition already above 6 out of 9 at 7 months. Seventy per cent of the dogs showing either sign ended up in the most overweight group, and between 7 and 10 months, the period in which they were spayed, their energy balance was more in surplus than that of the dogs that stayed lean.
The European FEDIAF guidelines state that puppies should never be fed ad libitum, and this study adds a reason specific to beagles. In practice: weigh the portions and, between 7 and 10 months, check the ribs often and adjust the amounts with your vet. For the basics, see our puppy feeding guide.
Every Pappa Fresh recipe contains just one meat and has a declared calorie content, so you can work out and weigh your beagle's portion instead of guessing:
They are cooked in the pouch and keep outside the fridge until opened; once opened, keep them in the fridge and use within 2-3 days. For a beagle weighing 11 kg, one 400 g pouch lasts about 1.2 days. Turkey is poultry: if your dog has reacted to chicken, ask your vet before trying it.
If you would rather keep some kibble, the Mix plan covers half the ration, about €3.14 a day for a neutered 11 kg beagle: in that case halve the kibble too, otherwise the calories add up instead of replacing each other.
An adult beagle weighing 11 kg, neutered and moderately active, needs about 393 kcal a day: that is roughly 345 g of our Chicken recipe, or 289 g of the richer Beef. An intact beagle burns more, about 481 kcal. For beagles our quiz applies a lower breed factor, which takes up to 10% off the calories at the same weight.
That is a cautious choice pointing the same way as the European FEDIAF guidelines, which give adult dogs prone to obesity a lower reference intake (up to 90 kcal per kg of metabolic weight, against 110 for a moderately active dog) and point out that standard recommendations can overestimate energy needs by 10 to 60%. For the general logic behind portions, see our guide how much should a dog eat.
| Weight | Energy need (kcal/day) neutered / intact | Grams per day neutered / intact | Complete plan | Mix (½) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 kg | 338 / 413 | 296 g / 362 g | €5.45/day | €2.69/day |
| 11 kg | 393 / 481 | 345 g / 422 g | €6.22/day | €3.14/day |
| 14 kg | 470 / 576 | 412 g / 505 g | €7.52/day | €3.74/day |
Grams based on the Chicken recipe (114 kcal/100 g); with Beef, which is richer (136 kcal/100 g), you need about 16% less. Prices for a neutered dog.
Figures calculated with the same method as our quiz (FEM×K: maintenance energy adjusted for breed, activity, neutering and body condition). They are an estimate: take the quiz for your dog's exact plan, and talk to your vet about any health concern.
Two minutes: enter weight, age, activity and body shape to get the exact portion, with 30% off your first order.
About 345 g a day of chicken wet food for a neutered, moderately active beagle weighing 11 kg (393 kcal); about 422 g if intact, and about 412 g for a 14 kg beagle. Kibble is more concentrated, so for the same calories it weighs roughly a third as much.
There is no sign that beagles carry the Labrador's "hunger gene": the POMC mutation that makes many Labradors hungrier was not found in the 17 beagles tested for it. What studies do show is the effect of opportunity: in one study human snack foods appeared to stimulate beagles' appetite, and in another, with food freely available for part of the day, 15 of 24 female beagles were overweight by the age of two. Weighing portions works better than trusting their appetite.
It depends on age and growth, so agree the amount with your vet and review it often. Two rules always apply: no free feeding, as the FEDIAF guidelines recommend, and a close look at body condition around 7 months, because in a study of beagles a score above 6 out of 9 at that age predicted being overweight as an adult.
In a large survey 16% of dogs regularly ate faeces, and hounds, the group beagles belong to, were among the most likely to do it, along with terriers. The study found no link with diet, while dogs that ate faeces were more often described as greedy eaters: changing food is unlikely to fix it, so talk to your vet or a qualified trainer.
Check the shape, not just the scales: you should feel the ribs without pressing and see a waist from above. If not, ask your vet to assess your dog and set a gradual plan, and keep weighing portions afterwards: in a study of beagles, once they had slimmed down it took fewer calories and less time than the first time to make them obese again.
Written by the Pappa Fresh editorial team from published veterinary studies (see sources). Not a substitute for your vet's advice.
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