How Much VitalPaws Powder Should I Give My Dog? The Dose by Weight

Short answer: half a scoop a day for dogs up to 10 kg, one scoop for 11–25 kg, two scoops for 26 kg and above — measured with the 8 g scoop inside the pack and stirred into the morning meal, ideally with a little wet food. Weight decides the dose, not breed. For the first week give half of that amount, then move up to the full dose. Puppies can start from 2 months.

The dose, by weight

This is the one chart we use everywhere — on the product page, in the feeding guide and on the Pet Care Expert call after your order:

The breed names are a guide, not a rule: a 9 kg Beagle gets the small-dog half scoop, an 11 kg Shih Tzu gets the full scoop, and mixed-breed and Indie dogs are sized the same way — on the scale, then read the band. No scale? Weigh yourself with and without your dog and subtract.

What "one scoop" actually is

The measuring scoop is in the pack and holds 8 g when levelled — fifteen of those is why the 120g pouch says 15 scoops. Half a scoop is about 4 g. That matters because we get asked on calls, "is a pinch enough?" A pinch is well under a gram, so no — it is a fine way to let a fussy dog meet the smell on day one, but it is not a dose. Level the scoop against the rim of the pouch rather than heaping it.

Start with half the dose for the first week

Whatever band your dog lands in, give half of it for the first seven days, then move to the full amount:

• Up to 10 kg: a quarter scoop for the first week, then half a scoop.
• 11–25 kg: half a scoop for the first week, then one scoop.
• 26 kg and above: one scoop for the first week, then two.

Two reasons: the gut gets a week to adjust to 4 billion CFU of good bacteria per scoop and the inulin that feeds them, and a dog suspicious of anything new in the bowl meets a smaller amount of it. On our follow-up calls — 72 households with a usage update between mid-August and mid-September 2026, notes read by hand — 13 said their dog was fussy about the powder, and 10 of those stopped — about 1 in 7. For those dogs the first week is the whole game: a smaller amount, stirred in well, in the meal they are keenest on. Still a no? We wrote a separate guide on getting a fussy dog to eat it.

When and how to give it

Once a day, in the morning meal, ideally with a little wet food — the routine the whole chart assumes, for three practical reasons:

• Dogs are least fussy at breakfast.
• Wet food hides the powder. Stirred through, it disappears; on dry kibble it sits on top, so add a spoonful of wet food or a little warm water.
• Food avoids stomach discomfort. Never on an empty stomach.

A parent wrote to us about a 3-year-old Beagle, about 20 kg, with a touchy stomach: boiled chicken, broth and vegetables in the morning, kibble at night. Where does the powder go? 20 kg is the 11–25 kg band, so one scoop a day — half a scoop for the first week — stirred into the morning bowl, because boiled chicken and broth is already the ideal wet meal. The night kibble stays as it is. Two pouches get him to Day 30.

Missed a morning?

Give it the next morning and carry on. Never double up to catch up.

Puppies, seniors and dogs that keep growing

The dose follows weight, not age. Puppies can start from 2 months, on whichever band their current weight puts them in — usually the small-dog half scoop, with the quarter-scoop first week. Weigh a growing puppy every few weeks and move up a band the day they cross 10 kg or 25 kg; a Labrador pup can pass through all three bands in its first year.

Older dogs work the same way: an 8 kg senior gets the half scoop like any other 8 kg dog, and halving it again is for the first week only. The pack is labelled for all breeds and ages, vet formulated and made in an ISO 22000 facility; the only thing that changes between a Chihuahua and a Great Dane is the number of scoops.

Why we keep repeating "half a scoop"

Because most of the dogs we feed are small. In our post-order call notes, of the 258 households that told us their breed, 66% are Shih Tzu homes — squarely in the up-to-10 kg band. One scoop a day is the medium-dog dose. Give it to a 5 kg Shih Tzu and you have doubled the dose and halved the pouch. At the right half scoop, one pouch lasts about 30 days, which lines up with the Day 30 checkpoint: 8 out of 10 dog parents notice visible improvement within 3–4 weeks of daily use, and if your dog is not visibly better by Day 30, we refund 100%.

What better looks like, in order: tummy first — firmer potty, less gas in the first 1–2 weeks — then scratching and paw-licking easing around Day 21–28. Chronic cases may need 60 days, and the gut keeps improving after Day 30, which is what the longer Gut Reset programs are for. You are not left to guess: every order comes with a Pet Care Expert call within 24 hours, a 1:1 vet teleconsult with Dr. Anvesh Chakravarthy (B.V.Sc & A.H., PetPulse Clinic) and check-ins on Days 3, 7, 14 and 21, so the dose is settled for your dog, not from a chart.

Full feeding guide: how much to scoop, by weight →. Or let the live dose-and-pack calculator on the Gut Reset page do it.

What customers say about giving it

From the 83 genuine reviews on the product page (4.7 average), three about the bowl rather than the scratching:

Individual results and timelines vary. More real reviews on the testimonials page.

Not visibly better by Day 30? Tell us and we refund 100% — no forms, no return shipping, keep the pack.