Feeding a Staffordshire Bull Terrier: calories, life stages and scored picks

On our records the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is medium, runs 24 to 38 lb as an adult with 31 lb typical, scores 4 of 5 for energy, and exercises 45 to 90 minutes a day. Nothing below reaches beyond them: the rations are computed from the four, the picks scored against them.

Rank the 451 breeds here by typical weight and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier stands at the 26th percentile; rank them by the ration that weight carries and it stands at the 26th. Its exercise midpoint works out near 7 hours a week, which is the workload the active column of the table is priced for.

Why a separate page for this breed? Because of what the profile records about allergies in this breed. The section turns away breeds whose profiles offer nothing extra to feed on, pointing them to the general guides; the breed food index keeps the list and the logic. For the breed beyond its feeding, see the Staffordshire Bull Terrier profile.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier's adult spread is 14 lb wide. Where a dog falls inside it moves its ration more than any brand choice does, and the typical adult marks the 50 percent point. Lifespan on the same record runs 12 to 14 years, a 2 year spread around a midpoint of 13 years, which is the horizon the life stage section below divides up. Weekly, the exercise range is 5 to 10 hours. A Staffordshire Bull Terrier living at the bottom of it and one living at the top are fed from different columns for a reason.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier's health record names 4 entries in all: Hereditary cataracts, L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria, Hip dysplasia and Skin sensitivity. The feeding-relevant ones speak plainly. On the point that matters for the bowl, the record says: “Staffies commonly run itchy, sensitive skin, and food and environmental allergies appear in the breed more than the smooth coat suggests.” The sections below take each of those at face value and work out what it changes at feeding time.

Daily calories for a Staffordshire Bull Terrier

The math starts from resting energy, computed from body weight in kilograms raised to the power 0.75 and multiplied by 70. Resting energy is scaled by 1.4, 1.6 or 1.8 depending on the dog: the low figure for easy keepers and reducers, the middle for a typical neutered adult, the top for very active dogs. Our feeding calculator publishes the same factors, so the two cannot tell you different numbers. Walk the table end to end and the range is wide: the lightest adult row, 24 lb, carries a typical ration of 670 kcal, while the heaviest row at 38 lb carries 945 kcal. Resting energy alone moves from 420 kcal on the lightest row to 590 kcal on the heaviest, before any life stage factor is applied.

At 31 lb the typical ration of 815 kcal prices the dog at about 26 kcal per pound. Easy keeper to very active on the same row moves the day by 25%. The median ration across medium breeds in this section is 1,093 kcal; the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is below it. A week of typical days is 5,705 kcal; a 30 day month of them is about 24,450 kcal.

Count extras against the ration, never beside it. A tenth of the typical day, about 82 kcal, is the envelope they share. Our calorie and treat calculator turns the tenth into a treats per day count. The bowl carries the other nine tenths. Split across two meals, the typical day is about 407 kcal a bowl before treats take their share. Weigh monthly as the ration beds in, and let the dog's waist, not the bag's chart, arbitrate the final figure.

Cups a day

In cups of a typical dry food (380 kcal per cup, the calculator's standard), a typical Staffordshire Bull Terrier needs about 2.1 cups daily at the adult factor. The columns either side show how far the count travels between an easy keeper at the low end of the breed's weight range and a very active dog at the top of it.

Life stages

Puppy. A Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy's ration is set by today's scales, not by the 31 lb adult ahead, and the recipe must claim the growth stage. That is the entry rule for our puppy list. Small, frequent meals match a small stomach while the curve climbs.

While growing. The puppy on the scales this month is not last month's puppy; the ration follows the current one. What follows is the published size class curve, ending where this breed ends: a typical 31 lb adult.

Individual puppies run ahead of and behind any curve. Checks at the vet are the authority here; the curve is the map they correct, and corrections for fast gain are made by feeding leaner, not by feeding nothing. The curve terminates at the typical adult, 31 lb or about 14.1 kg, and the adult ration takes over from there.

Adult. For most of the breed's 12 to 14 years, the typical adult column is the ration to start from. Place the individual dog by workload: 45 minutes a day, the profile's low end, argues for the easy keeper column; daily work or sport argues for the active one. Settle the argument on the dog's ribs, monthly.

Senior. For a medium breed, old age is usually counted from about seven years, which is the threshold our senior tools use. Slowing down is not a reason to cut protein. The senior dog spends muscle daily, and only protein and movement pay it back. The picks on our senior list show each label's protein line plainly.

Allergies: single protein starting points

Our profile of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier records it under “Skin sensitivity”: “Staffies commonly run itchy, sensitive skin, and food and environmental allergies appear in the breed more than the smooth coat suggests.” Whether food is even the trigger is a vet question for a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, answered by an elimination trial rather than a label. What a label can hand the trial is a recipe with one animal protein and nothing else protein-bearing; what the owner can hand it is consistency, the same 815 kcal day, treats inside the 82 kcal tenth and switched to the trial protein too. The best scoring single protein recipes we have read:

The breed's record carries this note: “Staffies commonly run itchy, sensitive skin, and food and environmental allergies appear in the breed more than the smooth coat suggests.” No page can say whether a given Staffordshire Bull Terrier reacts to food; a vet-run elimination trial can. A trial needs a recipe with exactly one animal protein across every protein-bearing line, which is a label fact we count. The top scorers that qualify:

One rule covers the extras: while the trial runs, treats and chews match its single protein. The full pool is on our allergies list.

Starting points from our scored database

Every recipe below was read from its own label and scored under our published rubric. The final column converts the typical Staffordshire Bull Terrier ration into that recipe's measure using its printed calories. The 5 picks below score between 98 and 98 under the rubric. Order in the table is score order. The top score on the page belongs to Orijen Amazing Grains Puppy Large at 98. The full ranked set is our ; the food finder answers the same database by life stage, format and the proteins a dog must avoid.

Our profile publishes the standard tier figure for this breed: about $23 a month at the typical ration. In daily terms the month costs around $0.77 at the typical ration. Tier detail lives on the Staffordshire Bull Terrier profile; our food expense calculator runs the same split for a different dog or ration. Switch foods over about a week, and judge the result on the dog: steady weight, good coat, normal stools.