How Many Calories Does my Dog Need a Day?

After the second most important requirement (water), dogs need energy to grow, work, play, reproduce, recover from illness, maintain healthy lifestyle, and enjoy old ago. Dogs use energy all the time but their “exact” requirement depends on their age, level of activity, metabolic rate, physiological status, and size. Unlike humans, dogs eat mainly to satisfy their energy requirement. Consume anything more than it requires, is purely lacking in discipline, human discipline! Many owners tend to over babying their dog base on their own eating habits.

Here are some basic facts:

• Energy: Energy comes in several forms such as heat, light, mechanical, electrical, and chemical energy. The food our dogs consume contains chemical energy and it is stored in their body until they release it through their daily activities including sleep.
• Calorie: One Calorie (1 Kcal or 1000 calories) is the amount of heat (energy in food) required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water through 1°C.
• RMR: Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the amount of energy (calories) a dog needs to burn in order to keep vital organs functioning endlessly with no activity *RMR is similar to BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and often used interchangeably but technically different.
• MER: Maintenance Energy Requirement (MER) is the amount of energy (calories) a dog needs to burn under these conditions: exercise, growth, work, gestation, lactation, cold and warm temperatures. To know the amount of MER your dog needs is to multiply RMR by various ME depending on different conditions.

How To Calculate Resting Metabolic Rate

To calculate resting metabolic rate for individual healthy adult dog is not that clear cut, mainly due to two factors.

1. All dogs have different metabolic rates even within the same breed.
2. The relationship between size and maintenance energy requirements (MER). This is based on the correlation between the dog’s weight and surface area. The greater surface area the dog has, the higher is his RER. For example, if you’d to put a Chihuahua and a Great Dane in the same room, obviously the Chihuahua has a greater surface area as compare to the Great Dane. Hence the Chihuahua will require greater energy replacement due the higher loss in body heat.

FYI, if you’d to use formula 1 as your guide to feed your Chihuahua and Great Dane, the Chihuahua will eventually accumulate an extra of 18,600 calories in a year. If his activities remain unchanged, over time your Chihuahua will become obese. Hence the two RER formulae for different weight group.

Again I stress, to calculate resting metabolic rate (RMR) is basically to know the daily calories needed for your dog to remain alive with “zero” activity–such as sleeping 24 hours throughout the day.RMR is used only in extreme situations so do not use it even your dog does not nothing much all day long.

Why is it important you should know about RMR? This is to help you understand the baseline so that you won’t under feed your dog. Secondly, it facilitates the dieting process better. Last but not least, you need it to calculate MER for all dog breeds under various conditions which I’ll discuss in a moment.

Dog under 2kg:

RMR = 70 x (weight in kg 0.75) or 70 x {√ (√weight in kg)} 

Dog over 2kg:

RMR = 70 + (weight in kg x 30)

Example 1, Toy Fox Terrier weighing 1.6kg
RMR = 70 x 1.6 0.75
= 70 x {√ (√1.6)}
= 70 x (1.12 x 1.12 x 1.12)
= 70 x 1.4
= 98 calories/day

Example 2, Beagle weighing 13.7kg
RMR = 70 + (13.7 x 30)
= 70 + 411
= 481 calories/day

How To Calculate Daily Maintenance Energy Requirement

To calculate maintenance energy requirement is even more tricky as the range is even wider. The reason for this wide range is due to

• Age
• Environment
• Various breeds
• Physiological status
• Metabolic efficiency
• Reproduction and lactation
• Activity duration and intensity

Fortunately, there are some guidelines to follow. However, as with all formulae, use them with discretion. It is a good idea to run your hands along his body once in awhile to check any excess fresh around it.

This tabulation is only applicable for domesticated adult dogs (between 6 to 9 years old) in good physical and psychological health.

Low: 2 10-minute walks with an indoor roam and light play
Moderate: 3 15-minute walks with an indoor roam and light play
Moderately high: 1 20-minute jog, 2 20-minute walks with an indoor roam and play
High: 1 30-minute jog, 2 30-minute walks with an indoor play

How To Calculate Daily Maintenance Energy Requirements During Illness

Dogs who are sick and injured have slightly different maintenance energy requirement. The calculations are based on the RMR as it’s assumed that they’re inactive and remain in bed most of the time.

Note: Please do not use the above formulae if your dog is…

• under 18 months (1.5 years old)
• doing performance work (e.g pulling sleds or agility courses)
• gestating and lactating of various stages
• living in extreme temperature weather conditions (e.g below 50F or above 86F)
• a senior citizen
• dieting or obese*

Don’t fret, I’ll post the daily maintenance energy requirement calculation for puppies and pregnant dogs in the next issues!

Also, I’m in the midst of tabulating the RMR and MER for all weight (up to 27kg), age, illness, pregnancy and lactation stages, activities group. If you are interested to get a copy of them, please comment below. The price will be around $3 per category (adult and puppy); the price of a latte! More details later!

Daily Calories Requirement For Dogs Series:

• How Many Calories Does my Dog Need a Day?
• How Many Calories Do Pregnant Dogs Need?
• How Many Calories Do Nursing Dogs Need?
• How Many Calories Do Young Puppies Need a Day?