How much should they eat?
A starting range of daily calories for a dog or cat at a healthy weight. Add the calories per cup from your bag and it turns the range into cups.
Calories a day
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Enter your pet's weight to see a range.
This tool organizes what you have noticed. It can't examine your pet, and its result is not a diagnosis or veterinary advice. Take what it shows to your vet; if your pet is in distress, go to an emergency clinic now. Full disclaimer
How it is worked out
The calculator starts from resting energy: 70 times body weight in kilograms raised to the power of 0.75. That is the standard veterinary formula for the calories an animal uses at rest. It is then multiplied by a range for life stage, lower for a senior who has slowed down and higher for an active adult.
The result is a range because pets differ. Two dogs of the same weight can need quite different amounts, and older cats often need as many calories as younger ones, or more. Start in the range, weigh your pet every couple of weeks, and adjust.
It only gives a number for a pet at a healthy weight. Weight loss has to be paced, and an older pet who is losing weight without trying usually has something wrong that food will not fix. Both are jobs for your vet.
Count everything: treats, chews and table scraps are part of the day's total, and they are best kept to a small share of it.
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