I purchased a kitchen scale because I thought it would be more accurate in measuring out my dog’s food. And it would be if I could figure out the proper way to use it!

I was excited to open it and use it for the dogs’ evening meals, and I knew how many cups of food each dog needed to eat. I used Google to convert those cups into ounces because the kitchen scale measures in both ounces and grams. But sixteen ounces of dog food on the scale was a LOT of food! It was easily twice the amount I would’ve measured out if I had used a typical measuring cup from my kitchen. It looked more like four cups than two cups. Something was wrong, and I couldn’t figure out what it was.

So I set the bowls on the floor for the dogs to eat out of, and not surprisingly, they didn’t finish their bowls. I didn’t give them anywhere near the amount I had weighed out, but rather went with the method I’d been using until the scale arrived. I filled their bowls, let them eat what they wanted, and picked up the bowls after five minutes or when they walked away from them.

While trying to figure out the proper way to use this kitchen scale, I decided to measure some of their kibble in grams. For Suka at 40 pounds, the feeding guidelines on his bag recommend roughly 450 grams. I measured that out, and it was exactly the amount I would expect to feed him. Romeo’s looked spot on too.

So I have it figured out using grams, but I really want to figure it out using ounces. I always learned that one cup is eight ounces, but apparently not with this scale. What am I doing wrong?? Apparently it measures in liquid ounces. I need to figure out how to get it to weigh stuff that’s non-liquid. I need to be able to do that for when I’m weighing flour and other kitchen items, and I’m at a complete loss.

Can anyone help?

Like most of the units of measurement we inherited from those folks on the eastern side of the Atlantic ounces can get to be confusing.

An ounce is a measure of weight ... takes 16 of them to make a pound.
A fluid ounce is a unit of volume ... takes 32 of them to make a quart.

About the only thing they have in common is a confusing name.

Now that's odd, to me. 450 grams is right at a pound (15.87 ounces) That seems like a lot of food to me ... is it??

I made a mistake. It's 250 grams, not 450. I did more research after I made this post. I know I could've done that before, but you all have been such a huge help in the nutrition department for my dog that this was the first place I ran to when I needed help again.

I found out there is roughly 100 grams in one cup of dog food, and this can vary a couple of grams either way depending on the brand, but it's a fairly accurate amount (for example, Suka's puppy food has 98 grams per cup whereas Romeo's food has 104 grams per cup). The 100 grams is easy to work with, which means 25 grams is 1/4 cup. So if I need to make adjustments to their food, I can easily add or subtract 25 grams until I get it to the right spot.

So now I have a good starting point. I much prefer using the kitchen scale to using the measuring cups now that I know what I'm doing.

The ounces thing is very confusing! The measurements on the back of the bag must use fluid ounces since people tend to use measuring cups. I wonder if there is a way to convert those to regular ounces so they're easier to measure. Does four ounces equal one cup in that case?