FrenchBulldogs.co.uk
How the score works
The scale is the World Small Animal Veterinary Association's nine-point body condition score, the one your vet uses. Four and five are ideal. Six is a little over, seven is heavy, and eight is very heavy. The tool never gives a one or a nine: a dog at either end needs a vet, not a portion.
Your three hands answers set the score. The drawing you pick can move it one step in the same direction, and no further. If the drawing points the other way from your hands, it is ignored and the card says so. That order is deliberate: in a UK study, 64% of owners got their dog's condition wrong with a chart in front of them, and 85% of the owners of overweight dogs did. A chart makes people feel sure. Ribs under light pressure make them right.
What the three conditions look like on a French Bulldog
From above, then from the side. Same dog, three bodies.
Lean A clear waist behind the ribs from above; the tummy tucks up towards the back legs. 
A bit round The waist is there if you look, but not much of one; the tummy runs nearly level. 
Heavy No waist from above, wider behind the ribs than at them; the tummy hangs level with, or below, the chest. Where the portion comes from
Two published numbers and a division. The resting energy requirement is 70 times the ideal weight in kilograms to the power of 0.75. A healthy adult in ideal condition needs, per the WSAVA's published bands, 95 times that weight-power if inactive or neutered and 130 if active and entire. The tool names the band it used and why. It then takes 10% off the top for treats, because every guideline caps them there and every owner feeds them, and divides what is left by the energy on your pack.
A dog that is a little over
A dog scoring six is fed for the weight he should be, not the weight he is. On this score the published mapping puts him 10% over, so the portion is for a dog a tenth lighter, and the weight comes off at the safe rate of 1–2% a week without anything that looks like a diet. At seven and above the tool hands you to the vet, for the reason the FAQ gives.
Why not the multiplier tables
The multiplier tables that circulate online, 1.6 times the resting requirement for a neutered adult and so on, are not printed in any WSAVA or AAHA document we could find, so this tool does not use them. It uses the two bands the WSAVA publishes and says which one it chose.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure the tool uses, and whether it is verified against a named source or an estimate. The quotes, links and access dates are on where our figures come from.
| Figure | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BCS descriptors (WSAVA) | nine descriptors, verbatim | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Ideal band 4–5 (WSAVA 2011) | 4, 5 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Percent over ideal by score (AAHA 2014 Table 1) | 6 10; 7 20; 8 30; 9 40 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Percent under ideal by score (mirror, estimate) | 2 20; 3 10 | Estimate, labelled on the card |
| Resting energy requirement (AAHA 2014) | coefficient 70; exponent 0.75 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Daily energy bands (WSAVA 2020) | inactive 95; active 130 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Vet weight-clinic protocol (AAHA 2014) | fractionOfIdealRer 0.8 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Treat cap 10% | 0.1 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Rate of loss 1–2% a week (AAHA 2014) | 0.01, 0.02 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Re-weigh interval (AAHA 2014) | untilEstablishedDays 14; thenDays 30 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Kennel Club ideal weight | dog 12.5; bitch 11 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| VetCompass adult weight | median 12.45; iqr 11–14.03; range 3.7–18.4 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Owners misjudge condition | withChart 0.64; withoutChart 0.65; overweightDogsWithChart 0.85 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Dry food kcal/100 g (estimate) | 280, 480 | Estimate, labelled on the card |
| Wet food kcal/100 g (estimate) | 70, 130 | Estimate, labelled on the card |
| Raw food kcal/100 g (estimate) | 80, 120 | Estimate, labelled on the card |
| Food label examples | Royal Canin French Bulldog Adult, Forthglade Just Beef with Sweet Potato tray, Bella & Duke Protein Packed Chicken | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
| Training treat kcal/100 g | 370 | Verified, 2026-09-11 |
Weight, and what it reaches in this breed
The obesity page makes the case at length; the short form is that in a French Bulldog, weight is not one risk, it is a multiplier. Fat in the neck narrows an airway that is narrow by design, and the Cambridge BOAS research group's guidance is a weight-loss programme for any overweight flat-faced dog. In a UK study of heat-related illness, dogs above their breed's average weight had higher odds, and French Bulldogs as a breed had among the highest of all. Deeper folds hold more moisture. One honest caveat: the breed-specific study of disc disease recurrence did not find body weight a significant factor, so we do not claim that one.
It is also the only thing on that list you control from the kitchen. The feeding guide covers the rest: weighing food, the neutering cut, what to do about "always hungry".
Common questions
How much should a French Bulldog weigh?
There is no one number. The Kennel Club's breed standard gives a show ideal of 12.5 kg for a dog and 11 kg for a bitch. In UK veterinary practice the median adult weighs 12.45 kg and half of all adults sit between 11 and 14.03 kg, with healthy dogs at both ends. Condition matters more than the figure: a 14.03 kg dog with a waist and ribs you can feel is fine, and a 11 kg dog with neither is not.
Why do the hands decide and not the pictures?
Because a picture does not fix the problem. In a UK study of 110 owners at three practices, 64% got their dog's condition wrong with a body condition chart in front of them, and 85% of the owners of overweight dogs did. French Bulldogs are built to look solid, so the eye is worse on this breed than most. Ribs under light pressure do not lie.
Where does the portion come from?
From the World Small Animal Veterinary Association's published calorie bands for a healthy adult dog: 95 kcal times the ideal weight to the power of 0.75 for an inactive or neutered adult, 130 for an active entire one. That figure is divided by the energy printed on your food's pack, after 10% is set aside for treats. A dog that is a little over is fed for the weight it should be, not the weight it is, which is how the weight comes off without a diet.
Why does it stop giving a portion at 7 out of 9?
Because at that point the guidance changes. The American Animal Hospital Association's weight-management protocol feeds about 80% of the resting requirement at ideal weight on a therapeutic weight-loss food, with a weigh-in every fortnight, and it says why: cut an ordinary food that far and the nutrients are cut with it. That is a vet weight clinic's job, most practices run one with a nurse for little or nothing, and this tool tells you to book it rather than pretending a smaller scoop is the same thing.
My food does not give calories on the pack. What do I do?
Energy is a voluntary declaration on UK pet food, so plenty of packs leave it off. Tick "not on the pack" and the tool uses a typical figure for dry, wet or raw food and marks the result as an estimate; the grams could be a fifth out either way. The maker's website nearly always has the figure, sometimes printed per kilogram, in which case divide by ten. Our best dog food page lists which UK foods declare one and which do not.
How fast should a French Bulldog lose weight?
1–2% of bodyweight a week is the rate veterinary guidelines call safe. For a 14 kg dog that is between 140 and 280 grams a week, which is slow, and slower than most owners expect. Weigh every two weeks until it is coming off steadily, then monthly.
Does this store anything about my dog?
No. The answers live in the page address so you can copy a link to the result or print the card, and nowhere else. There is no account, no cookie and no request to any server.
Related reading
A guide built from published veterinary guidelines, not veterinary advice. The score is yours, the ideal weight is a mapping, and your vet's number beats both. If your dog is losing weight without a smaller portion, or gaining on one, that is a vet question.