How Many Calories In Dog Food

How Many Calories In Dog Food

We are all constantly reminded of the saying that goes thus: you are what you eat. Just as it applies to humans, the saying also applies to your canine companion. That means adequate attention should be given to what gets into your dogs stomach. In as much as you will like them to enjoy what you feed them, getting the healthy stuff into them is much more important. Just how many calories are in dog food? Lets take a look at the number of calories that are required to be present in their meals.

How Do I Work Out The Calories In Pet Food

Calories are units of energy and it is important to know how many calories a dog or cat food provides so that daily feeding amounts can be calculated, and the pet gets enough food for its life stage e.g. Growth, pregnancy, nursing, maintenance or old age.

You should be able to contact the manufacturer of your pet food to get the calorie content per 100g of food and some foods will now have this information on the pack. However, we have created a 5-step guide to working it out yourself.

How Many Calories Should Your Dog Or Cat Eat Daily

HomeBlogHow Many Calories Should Your Dog Or Cat Eat Daily?

As you may already know, your pets nutrition is very important. You want to make sure that you are feeding your dog or cat the right amount of food each day to ensure that they remain healthy. Just like you when you are not eating right, your pet can feel sluggish and gain weight if his nutrition isnt properly maintained. So how do you know how much food your dog or cat should be eating everyday?

An dog that weighs 35 pounds and is fairly active needs about 1000 calories per day to keep his nutrition. And a 20 pound dog that is active needs about 650 calories per day. Do you know how many calories are in your dogs food? The average 1-cup serving of dry dog food has anywhere between 325 and 600 calories. Also, keep in mind all of the treats that you feed your dog. A simple dog bone has about 35-40 calories.

Now, lets talk about cats. You might always just make sure that there is food in your cats bowl. Cats do like to have dry and canned food, but if you do dry food only, always make sure her water bowl is filled. On average, 1-cup of cat food is equal to 300 calories and a 6 ounces of canned cat food is about 250 calories. If your cat weighs 8 pounds, he should be taking in about 240 calories per day to keep his nutrition. So, feeding a full 1-cup serving of dry does set him over the caloric intake for the day. Keep in mind serving sizes when filling up your cats bowl so as to not overfeed him.

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Dogs Health Status And Energy Requirement How Many Calories In Dog Food

When one is down with an illness is a really good time to feed well. However, the challenge lies in the fact that it is also in those times that getting an appetite seems like an almost impossible feat. If this affects us as humans, think of what sick dogs go through. A healthy dog will eat much more than a sick one, although the sick one has a higher energy requirement.

So, what can you do to help a dog with a little or no appetite? It has been found out that having a strong-flavored top dressing over dog food usually encourages dogs to eat up to 10 percent more of the food. Also, a more energy-dense ration like a balanced super-premium food will work better for dogs with small appetites and big energy needs. Even if the dog eats less volume, the diets provide more calories.

Female dogs that are reproducing usually need up to two to four times more energy per pound of body weight than an adult dog. This is quite understandable as the mother will require more nutrients to transfer to her unborn children.

Healthy Homemade Dog Food Ingredients

According to WEBMD your dog needs protein from animal meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs. They need fat from meat or oil and carbohydrates from grains or vegetables. In addition, essential fatty acids from plant oils, egg yolks, oatmeal, and other foods. The question is in what amounts? After much research, we created a recipe that our dogs love they are healthy, have tons of energy, and their coats and eyes shine!

• From the Cutting Board.
• Joanies Ancient Food Processor!
• Finished Dog Food!
• Ready For Freezing!

The listed ingredients are used most of the time. Fresh meats like lean ground beef, ground turkey, and chicken gizzards provide a heavy dose of protein. Tuna, salmon, or sardines are always used. The eggs also add protein and essential oils. There are fruits and vegetables in the mix and even rice for digestion, although no wheat grains or sugars! Our homemade dog food is human grade. The main point is we know and control what goes into their food!

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Why Homemade Instead Of Purchased Dog Food

Myths and misconceptions abound on the Internet regarding homemade dog food. Also, there are a myriad of conflicting nutritional recommendations ranging from the 30-70% carbs found in commercial dog food to raw frozen foods that contains no carbs. Some owners feed raw meat and bones and say their dogs thrive.

However, many raw materials that are unfit for humans are legal for dog food. These may include spoiled supermarket food, slaughter house waste such as organs, heads, hooves, beaks, feet and other appalling ingredients. Ingredients often have vague names such as animal by-product meal and meat by-product meal. Read the article, The Shocking Truth About Commercial Dog Food by Dog Food Advisor. It will convince you that making homemade food is a safer alternative to much of the commercial food.

Before commercial dog food, dogs ate table scraps real food. During the Great Depression dog food companies marketed their products as an economical alternative. To boost their market, dog food companies advertised that their food was required for good health. Table scraps and real food suddenly became harmful. Pet food companies stepped up the onslaught and began using veterinarians to endorse their products.

Complete And Balanced Dog Food Should Follow Aafco Guidelines

AFFCO is a private, nonprofit organization that defines the ingredients used in animal feed and pet food.

AAFCO helps ensure that animal feed and pet food products have undergone the appropriate analyses and have the necessary, required nutrients. A nutritional adequacy statement by the Association of American Feed Control Officials helps pet parents identify products that meet their dogs daily nutrient requirements.

AAFCO Label Requirements

Every pet diet and supplemental diet should include a statement from AAFCO and proper labeling to help consumers understand how much of each nutrient is needed daily and for what life stages. Keep in mind that pet food labels are different than human food product labels, which makes comparing food products difficult.

There are eight things that should be included on the bag or can:

• Breed

• Medical and behavioral conditions

A large portion of energy in the diet comes from fats and proteins, followed by carbohydrates. The energy content of a diet determines the quality of the food and how much food should be consumed on a daily basis. The diet should meet the daily energy requirements of your dogs individual needs.

For example, dogs eating a diet that is high in energy will eat a smaller amount. It is important in this case to ensure that the percentage of other essential nutrients is high enough to meet the smaller volume consumed.

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So Proof Is Not In The Poop

After reading the previous section this may seem contradictory. However, if you visit a few pet food company websites they will lead you to believe that measuring the volume of stool, not analyzing it for nutrients, can tell you the digestibility of the food. Some well-known blogs will even tell you that smaller stools mean better digestion. However, the visual cues from poop actually tell us very little at all from a nutrition perspective. So, dont be fooled: the digestibility of any given food, fresh or processed, can only be determined via proper digestibility studies as mentioned above.

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How Many Calories Does A Dog Or Cat Need

Calories needs vary by pet , so make sure to speak with your veterinarian to determine the proper caloric intake for your pet.

There is more than simple math goes into figuring out how many calories your pet should consume. For example, if your dog is extremely active and goes on runs with you every day, he will need more calories in his meal to make up for the energy he exerts while exercising. Larger breeds also need more calories to sustain their daily efforts.

Smaller pets and pets that are currently overweight may need to consume fewer calories than the standard range. Other changes such as pregnancy, aging or an illness will affect how many calories your dog or cat needs.

However, it’s important to not make assumptions about the calories your pet should eat in a day. To know what range is right for your pet, speak with your veterinarian. They’ll be able to take your pet’s size, body and lifestyle into consideration before recommending how many calories your dog or cat should be consuming on a daily basis.

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I Have Heard That Dogs Should Only Eat Raw Foods And That Dogs Cannot Properly Digest Cooked Foods Is This True

Domesticated dogs have adapted over millennia to consume diets provided by their human companions, including foods that have been cooked. As mentioned above, dogs can actually digest complex carbohydrates more easily once they have been cooked. Feeding raw diets can carry a number of risks to the dog as well as people in the home, especially those who are young or immunocompromised.

How Often Should I Feed My Dog

The biological evolution of dogs as hunters has given them specialized digestive and gastrointestinal adaptations that allow them to ingest a large meal followed by up to days of not eating. However, for most pet dogs, feeding once or twice per day is recommended. Many dogs will benefit from eating equally divided meals two to three times per day. See the handout Feeding Times and Frequency for Your Dog for more information on feeding schedules and mealtimes.

Regardless of the feeding schedule you choose, avoid allowing your dog to exercise vigorously after consuming a large meal, especially if your dog eats its food rapidly. This will help minimize problems with bloat, intestinal obstruction, or other serious digestive disorders.

Be sure your dog has access to fresh, clean water at all times.

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Calculate The Calorie Content Of Dog Food

But geneticists digging into the mysteries of aging have developed a new calculation to understand how our canine companions ages correspond to our own.

Some dog food labels include a statement of caloric content in the food. A calorie is a measure of energy produced by eating a specific food.

A single calorie is a unit of measure for the energy in a unit of 1,000 calories, termed a kilocalorie .

You wont always see the disclosure of calories on the dog food label. When it appears, its stated as kilocalories per Kg of food. Its also often labeled as calories per cup or per unit of food.

Dry dog food generally contains 1,400 to 2,000 metabolizable kilocalories per pound of diet

Semi-moist dog food have 1,200 to 1,350 metabolized kilocalories per pound of diet

Canned dog food only provide 375 to 950 metabolized kilocalories per pound of diet

A large percentage of canned foods is water . Thats why dogs must eat more canned foods than dry diets to obtain the same energy intake.

How Many Carbs Does My Dog Need

There is no specific required amount of carbohydrates for dogs. AAFCO does not have a requirement for carbohydrates due to traditional preparations of commercial diets.

Commercial dog foods contain enough carbohydrates to meet the daily amount of glucose that is needed. Glucose is needed to maintain the nervous system and keep it functioning normally.

Dry dog foods typically contain 30-60% carbohydrates, with the majority being starch. Grains such as corn, rice, wheat, barley, and oats provide the bulk of starch and are well tolerated and absorbed in dogs due to commercial preparations. Its important to note that a diet without any added carbohydrates will be higher in proteins and fats.

Vitamins are very diverse and perform many different functions in a dogs body, such as the creation of DNA, bone development, blood clotting, normal eye function, and neurologic function.

There are five characteristics for a nutrient to be considered a vitamin:

There are quite a few vitamins that dogs require from their food. They can be separated into two categories: fat-soluble and water-soluble.

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamin A

• Fish oil
• Egg
• Dairy products

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Dogs With Health Conditions:

1.Your dog has a health condition2.You have a working or sporting dog3.You feed complete-and-balanced prepackaged raw dog food4.You want to be as precise as possible

Determine food quantity using calories when you want to be precise and exact with your dogs diet. This is the true way to optimize your dogs diet.

What You Should Know About Pet Food Calories

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A doctor or healthy eating blog may have convinced you to count the calories in human food, but have you ever looked at the calories in dog food? What about the calories in cat food? Understanding what and how much your pet eats is important to making sure they’re getting the nutrients they need to stay healthy.

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The Beef: Calories Vs The 2

The basics of nutrition lie in energy requirements.So, youd assume this were taken into consideration in determining how much food to feed your dog?Not exactly.The 2-3% guideline is a generalization that does not take energy into the equation. For this reason, some experts argue the 2-3% recommendation is inaccurate.Lets look at the shortcomings of the 2-3% guideline:1.Food quantity

What Is My Dogs Daily Calorie And Energy Requirement

Dogs need lots of energy to stay alert and responsive to stimuli in their environment, especially to their owners commands. Calories and energy act as the fuel that prevents our dogs from being lethargic all day long. Depending on their daily activity level and fitness, both the calorie and energy requirement of our pets may vary.

Without crunching in specific numbers, dogs need many calories to keep up with everyday life, and this doesnt just involve whats happening in their environment. Dogs need calories for their bodies to be able to perform vital functions that regulate body temperature, digestion, heart function, respiration, brain function, and overall fitness. If your dog is always lazy or has unusually low energy, then he or she might not be receiving as many calories as should be.

Determining our pets calorie intake will depend on factors like breed, weight, physical activity, gestation, and age. It is essential to know all these first before buying them or feeding them dog food. In this case, food plays a very vital role in our dogs health. As pet owners, we must educate ourselves on ensuring that our pets get the right nutrition they need. It is always necessary to speak to a vet or dog nutritionist to know more about dogs and their diets. Online, there also many credible resources, as well as useful applications that efficiently help measure and monitor our pets food intake.

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How Many Calories Does A Cat Or Dog Need

You can determine the amount of calories your dog or cat needs on a daily basis by taking in to account how active they are , how old they are and also whether they are neutered or spayed.

You will also need to factor in their current weight and ideal weight. If their current weight is above their ideal, you will need to reduce their calorie intake and vice versa,

Pet Food Formulation & Balance

When we think about complete and balanced foods we often assume this is just vitamins and minerals. However, ensuring complete and balanced ratios of macronutrients is just as important for ensuring proper metabolism at all life stages of our pets. For example, fiber or fat content of pet foods can greatly influence the digestibility, caloric and nutrient value of any given diet.Simply, just reducing calories also means you may potentially be reducing necessary levels of vitamins, minerals or amino acids not just calories. These are just a few significant reasons why solely reducing or restricting calories for weight loss could lead to significant nutrient deficiencies. This is just one of the theories behind the current grain free and heart disease, or DCM Investigation.

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