Fighting obesity in our pets: Part II – How much food does my feline or canine furkid need?

Remember, you should never put your fur friends on a diet without first consulting a veterinarian. This is because there may be an underlying medical condition causing your pet to gain excess weight, and a weight loss program without treating the underlying condition is not likely to succeed, and you’ll end up with a very cross furkid!

Just like in humans, it is important to monitor the caloric intake of your fur friends and avoid over-feeding as the excess calories are not used up and are stored as excess fat over the internal organs (visceral fat), and under the skin (subcutaneous fat). And remember all those problems we mentioned before that result from all the excess weight? (hyperlink ‘problems’ to the page with the list of diseases)

How do you determine how much your furkid needs to eat?

Your pets’ nutritional requirements will differ depending on their life stage. Puppies and kittens up to 12 months of age and pregnant animals will have a higher caloric requirement, while senior pets will have a reduced requirement for energy. But let’s leave that for later and consider the resting caloric requirement of an adult dog and cat first.

Resting energy requirements(RER), which is the requirement for a normal animal at rest in a thermoneutral environment (without accounting for exercise or activity), for a pet dog or cat can be calculated using the formulas:

1. If your dog or cat’s ideal bodyweight is less than 2kg or more than 30kg:

Resting energy requirement (RER) in kcal/day = 70 x ideal bodyweight^0.75

For example, for a 2kg dog, RER = 70 x 2^0.75= ~120kcal/day

2. If your dog or cat’s ideal bodyweight is between 2 – 30kg:

Resting energy requirement (RER) in kcal/day = 30 x ideal bodyweight (in kg) + 70

For example, for a 20kg dog, RER = 30 x 20 + 70 = ~670 kcal/day

*Note that the ideal bodyweight should be estimated by a veterinary professional.

The RER must then be multiplied by a factor depending on the life stages and factors for the animal to calculate Daily Energy Requirements(DER). This will give you an estimate of your pet’s daily caloric requirements.