How many kcals a day?

[Kendall Aliza]

I have a 1 year old 40lb active retriever mix. About how many kcals a day should he be getting? He is at his ideal weight now btw.

[Grace Erick]

Hi, I'm not sure if people some people realize how many kcals a day they feed their dog, because they don't know their dog's food states that information.

To others, on your dog's bag of food or can of food, it will state how many kcals the food is per can or cup or oz.

Bye, Grace

[Kendall Aliza]

It says how many are in the food, and gives feeding guidlines of that particular food. But I am wondering how many he should get in a day including treats and what not.

[Vanessa Lee]

There is a calculator on this site:
http://www.petdiets.com/default.asp?Menu=Nut rition&Submenu=DER&PageName=/calculate/der.asp

According to this a 40lb non-working, neutered dog would need approx. 982 kcals per day for maintenance.

[Kendall Aliza]

Thats about the number I had in my head. Thanks for the link to the site!

[Grace Erick]

I think my 3-1/2 pound chihuahua gets about 90 kcal per day.

Kendall, I slightly adjust my dog's food intake depending on how much exersize she gets. Also, besides figuring out what you think is a general amout to feed your dog, just do a body check and see how your dogs body looks and alter your dog's food intake that way. There should be a thin covering of fat/flesh over the ribs. I'm not sure if this is for all breeds.

The amount of snacks depends on the dog's size and that they eat their dog all their dog food first which has more nutrition than snacks. For my chihuahua, I can only give her 1-1/2 pieces of real chicken jerky a day since anymore would really boost her protein intake and calories more than they should be. I get her Costco real chicken jerky w/no preservatives or coloring or any additives. They are about $10 for a two pound bag which is a fantastic value.

Treats should be nutritious too. I found out my dog's Milkbone brand soft chewy chicken bones I used to give her had nitrates in them to preserve the color. Some of these treats tend to have a lot of sugar in them, coloring and preservatives.

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

I refigured my chis kcal and she takes in about 90-98 kcal per day and the guide says it should be 118, so it's pretty dead on. She gets extra calories with her chicken strips, plus she isn't that active.

Vanessa, I like that calculator!!!!

Bye, Grace

[Peggy Jensen]

Okay, what is a kcal, is it different than just regular calories and will it say on the can/bag of food how much per cup or whatever?

[heathea]

Holy Crap!
No wonder I am poor, my 2 dogs need to eat a total of 10 cups of food per day. (one gets 3.8 and the other gets 6.2).
Now, I free feed (which works for me, but I know it doesn't for everyone, I am very lucky with 2 very healthy weighted dogs), so I just fill up the bowl when it is low, but now that I know...woof.
Thanks,
Heather

[Grace Erick]

Hi Peggy,

K stands for Kilo which is a 1,000 measurement. It really means nothing having to do with the actual calories, so kcal just means the calories that are in the dogs food. Since I feed canned, so with my Innova, they put 520 kcal/can so it's 520 calories for the entire can. I guess with dog food they may use per cup or some other measurement. It's listed on the can or bag of your dog food. Doesn't hard food come with feeding suggestions? How much you feed really depends on how active your dog is.

A good reason for listing kcals is to know how many calories your dog takes in, because let's say you switch to a different food, that food may be higher or lower in calories, so you would feed more or less to equal what your were previously feeding your dog.

I know some company was sued, because they claimed their food was higher in kcals, so you could feed your dog less which meant their food was really a better value than some other foods. I'm not sue if it was Science Diet or some other crummy brand that did that and was taken to court by another dog food manufacturer.

This is why is it important to know the kcals, because you may pay more for a better food, but you may feed less, so it equals out or comes close to equaling out where it's more worthwhile to buy a better brand of food.

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

Okay, in this article I just posted under dog food which is a must read to see what is in dog food that shouldn't be, the article did mention that court case.

The court case was not against Science Diet, but Proctor and Gamble brands which are Eukanuba and Iams. They stated their food needed to be served in smaller quanitities which made it appear to be a better value and cheaper than other brands.

I fed my poor dog Eukanuba for a short time before I realized it sucks. Then they have the nerve to charge a lot for it, which can psychologically make you think it's a better product which is it is not and Iams is worse than Eukanbua according to the company, because they say Iams is their....oh, I can't think of the word they use. It's not economical, oh yeah, it's their "better value" brand, meaning of lesser quality and cheaper than Eukanuba, yuck!!!!

Bye, Grace