dog food calculation formula
How To Use a Dog Food Calculator
Dogs are no strangers to stress and anxiety. While most pooches are the picture of the tail-wagging, carefree dog whose only stress is that they have to wait for their next meal, some have it a bit more ruff. Anxiety in dogs can vary from mild to severe, triggered by specific and occasional stressors (such as fireworks, for example) or present on a daily level. Naturally, your pets state of mind has a big impact on their overall health, so it doesnt surprise that dogs with anxiety often have tummy issues. But does that mean that a stressful situation or anxiety can directly cause diarrhea in dogs? Having in mind that, in a way, your pets mental health is connected to their digestion, it sounds highly probable.How Stress and Anxiety Can Cause DiarrheaSo how does it work? The connection between the brain and the gut, often referred to as the gut-brain axis, plays a crucial role in the overall health and well-being of dogs. When dogs experience stress or anxiety, it can trigger a cascade of physiological responses, including changes in gut motility, secretion of digestive enzymes, and alterations in the composition of gut microbiota. These disruptions can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea.When stress or anxiety takes hold, it's not just a matter of frazzled nerves. These emotional states can set off a domino effect within your dog's digestive system. Rather than a simple list of effects, think of it as a cascade of events:Picture your dog feeling anxious during a thunderstorm or while being left alone. This emotional response triggers a surge of adrenaline, part of the body's "fight or flight" response. Blood flow shifts away from the digestive organs and toward the muscles, heart, and lungs, hastening gut motility.Meanwhile, the delicate balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut, known as the microbiome, is disrupted by stress. This dysbiosis can lead to inflammation, changes in gut permeability, and an upset stomach.Furthermore, chronic stress weakens the immune system, leaving your dog more susceptible to infections and inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.Beyond these physiological effects, stress-related behaviors like excessive chewing, licking, or ingesting non-food items can irritate the digestive tract, exacerbating diarrhea.How To Deal With Stress-Related Diarrhea in DogsIf your dog is experiencing stress-related diarrhea, there are several things you can do to alleviate their discomfort and ensure a speedier recovery.Before anything else, its essential to identify and address stressors. Determine the underlying causes of your dog's stress or anxiety and take steps to minimize or eliminate them where possible. This may involve providing a calm, predictable environment, addressing separation anxiety, or using desensitization techniques for noise phobias.Next, support their digestion with a mild, nurturing diet and the right supplements. Your pets tummy is upset, so you shouldnt neglect the importance of rebalancing their gut biome and helping their digestion. Instead of their usual kibble, offer them a bit of broth, some cooked rice, or boiled chicken breast. Additionally, a digestive supplement such as Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets FortiFlora Powder can work wonders in managing symptoms of diarrhea. With a combination of special probiotics and antioxidants, this powdered supplement will quickly restore your pets GI tract and help their stool get back to its normal consistency. And since its packed with live microorganisms to benefit beneficial intestinal microflora, it can also help treat excessive gas and other digestion-related troubles, so its good to keep stocked in your pets first aid kit, especially if they have a sensitive stomach.
Dry Matter Basis Calculator For Pet Food
Dry Matter Basis Calculator For Pet Food
When comparing pet food, the reported guaranteed analysis must be converted to dry matter basis. Without making this conversion, you're essentially comparing apples to oranges and thereby drawing incorrect conclusions.
What is Dry Matter Basis?
Dry matter basis is a representation of nutrients (i.e. protein, fat, and fiber) which ignores the moisture content of the food. In other words, it's the amount of protein, fat, and fiber which would be reported if the product's moisture were completely removed.
The numbers reported on the guaranteed analysis panel of pet food packaging is commonly refereed to as the as fed basis percentages. We can use these numbers to calculate the dry matter basis percentages. By converting the as fed basis percentages to dry matter basis, we can make meaningful comparisons between products of various moisture contents (i.e. canned food vs. dry food).
Why is Dry Matter Basis Important?
Pet food products with high moisture often report protein percentages below 10%. It's almost impossible to find dry products with protein percentages below 15%. Does this mean that manufactures are including less protein in wet foods? Absolutely not, the difference lies in the moisture.
If one were to cook wet dog or cat food, the moisture percentage would decrease whereas the protein percentage would increase. In essence, comparing the nutrients of two products with different moisture percentages is very misleading.
Examples Of Dry Matter Basis
We've defined dry matter basis and discussed the importance of this representation, now let's learn how to convert as fed basis to dry matter basis. The conversion is very simple,
The "quantity" represents the as fed basis percentage of the value which you are trying to convert. The moisture is the percentage reported on the guaranteed analysis panel of the pet food package.
Let's run through a quick example to see how this works. I've randomly picked two products to compare.
- Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Recipe For Senior Dogs (Dry Dog Food)
- Canidae Life Stages Lamb and Rice Formula (Wet Dog Food)
| Guaranteed Analysis (as fed basis) | ||
| Blue Buffalo Product | Canidae Product | |
| Protein | 30% | 9% |
| Fat | 12% | 6% |
| Fiber | 7% | 1.5% |
| Moisture | 10% | 78% |
From the table above, it may appear that the Blue Buffalo product has more protein. Let's compute the dry matter basis numbers to compare the two products.
Convert protein: from as fed basis to dry matter basis
Blue Buffalo Protein:
Canidae Protein:
Convert fat: from as fed basis to dry matter basis
Blue Buffalo Fat:
Canidae Fat:
Convert fiber: from as fed basis to dry matter basis
Blue Buffalo Fiber:
Canidae Fiber:
Convert Moisture (For Completeness): from as fed basis to dry matter basis
Blue Buffalo Moisture:
Canidae Moisture:
| Guaranteed Analysis (dry matter basis) | ||
| Blue Buffalo Product | Canidae Product | |
| Protein | 33.33% | 40.91% |
| Fat | 13.33% | 27.27% |
| Fiber | 7.78% | 6.82% |
| Moisture | 0% | 0% |
As we can see from the table, the Canidae wet food contains more protein, more fat, and less fiber. You can carry out these calculations for any two products, or you can use our widget (located at the top of this post) to quickly compute dry matter basis percentages.
If you'd like, you can search for pet food products in PawDiet's database. Our product pages include both the guaranteed analysis and dry matter basis values for both dog and cat food products.
Dog Food Calculator
The Dog Food Calculator can help you estimate the proper serving size for your pet. Its based upon a study published by the respected Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in Leicestershire, England. 1
To use the calculator, youll need to know your dogs ideal weight. This is what you believe your pet should weigh.
Youll also need to know the number of calories in the specific dog food youre feeding him.
The calculators formula2 uses a dogs metabolic weight to suggest an approximate serving size.
Dog Food Calculator Guidelines
The Dog Food Calculator was designed for adult dogs only not for puppies.
And it should never be used for pregnant or lactating females.
Small breeds are considered adults at about 9 to 12 months of age. And medium breeds at about 12 to 14 months.3
However, large and giant breeds shouldnt be fed as adults until they reach around 1 to 2 years depending upon the breed.4
What's the best dog food?
Overweight Dogs
If you believe your dog might be overweight, be sure to choose the Overweight option for Your dogs activity level.
Otherwise, the recommended serving size will likely be too high.
And for help, be sure to visit our Best Dog Foods for Weight Loss article.
Senior Dogs
Older dogs have significantly lower energy needs than younger ones.So, its easy for them to put on extra weight.
In general, small to medium dogs are considered seniors at about seven years of age. However, larger breeds reach senior status much sooner some as early as five.5
Converting From Calories to Serving Size
Once youve entered your dogs ideal weight and activity level, youll know the number of calories per day.
However, to convert calories into something you can use, youll need to enter the number of calories in your dogs food.
The number of calories in a given amount of dog food is known as its metabolizable energy (ME, for short). Its usually reported somewhere on a dog food package like this
- Calories per cup (kcal/cup)
- Calories per kilogram (kcal/kilogram)
By the way, the calculator assumes youre feeding your dog just once a day.
If you prefer to feed your dog twice a day, be sure to divide your result in half so that both meals add up to the full daily calories suggested.
The Bottom Line
Since every dog is unique, its impossible to predict the serving size thats perfect for each pet.
So, start with the packages feeding instructions or the amount suggested by our calculator.
And be sure to weigh your dog every few weeks.
Then, simply adjust that suggested serving size up or down to reach and maintain your pets ideal weight.
Dog Food Calculator
Dogs need energy to function properly, just like any other organism. Therefore, their daily calorie intake needs to be sufficient to maintain a dog in good overall health, proper weight, and right physical and mental condition. Energy in the form of calories is essential to support both basic body functions and physical activity.
Resting energy requirement (RER) is the amount of energy needed by an animal's body to perform the most basic functions (keeping it alive) while resting (you can learn how to calculate these with our RMR calculator). These functions include:
- Metabolism;
- Digestion;
- Heart beating;
- Respiration;
- Neural functions; and
- Brain activity.
RER does not account for calories burned to support physical activity.
Physical activity is anything that a dog does throughout the day, and that requires additional energy (calories) to be burned except for these used to support resting (basic) functions. These are all the activities, exercises, and tricks a dog does during the day. Each wag of its tail, fetched ball, and chased cat consumes energy! The total daily energy needs are also known as MER - Maintenance Energy Requirements.
It's time to remind you that chocolates can be poisonous to dogs and your pet shouldn't try even a tiny bit of it! Find out more in our dog chocolate toxicity calculator.
Nutrition Math 101: Important Calculations
Nutrition Math 101: Important Calculations
Basic nutrition calculations are integral for veterinary nurses developing nutritional recommendations and plans for patients and educating clients on the importance of nutrition.
It is important to remember that all caloric calculations are estimates of the patients energy needs; actual caloric intake may vary between individuals depending on the patients age, lifestyle, activity level, body condition score, and other factors. However, the above RER and DER calculations are an excellent starting point for every nutritional recommendation.
Calculating Amount to Feed
Once the patients DER is known, the amount of food needed to meet it can be calculated. The first step is to find the caloric content per can or cup of the food the patient is going to be fed. The caloric content of any food (and some treats) can be easily found on the product packaging or obtained from the manufacturers website or product guide. The caloric content of most people food that patients eat can be found on the product packaging or manufacturer website.
The number of calories in a can or cup of the selected food is simply divided into the patients DER. To continue with Sandy as an example:
The dry food the owner is feeding Sandy contains 363kcal/cup.
907 kcal/day 363 kcal/cup = 2.5 cups/day
Sandy could eat 2.5 cups of this food per day if she is not fed any canned food or treats.
However, the owner wants to include some canned food and treats in Sandys diet. The canned food contains 369 kcal/can, and the treats contain 34kcal/treat. Treats should make up no more than 10% of a pets daily calorie intake; therefore, Sandys daily treat allowance should be no more than 90 kcal.
Treat allowance: 90 kcal 34 kcal/treat = 2.6 treats. For ease, Sandy can have 2.5 treats/day, totaling 85kcal/day (34 2.5 = 85).
Subtract the treat allowance from Sandys DER to determine the amount remaining for canned and dry food.
907 kcal/day 85 kcal = 822 kcal
The owner wants to feed mostly dry food, so next, determine how many full cups of dry food Sandy can have per day. The dry food contains 363 kcal/cup; therefore, 2 cups of dry food = 726 kcal.
822 kcal 726 kcal = 96 kcal left over for canned food
The canned food contains 369 kcal/can. Divide the remaining DER by this number.
96 kcal 369 kcal/can = 0.26 or can of canned food
The above amounts can be divided by the number of times the patient will be fed per day.
Instructions to the client should be specific and include the name and brand of the food being recommended, the amount to be fed per day and per feeding, how many feedings per day, how many treats, and when the plan may change. To continue with Sandy as an example:
Sandy should be fed 2 cups of the dry food, can of the canned food, and 2.5 treats per day. The author recommends feeding her 1 cup of the dry food and 1/8 of a can of canned food in the morning and the same amounts at night. The 2.5 treats can be given between meals.
Sandys owner should be reminded that treats should make up no more than 10% of the total calories Sandy consumes per day. It is recommended Sandy be brought back for a weight check in 2 weeks as her feeding plan may need to be adjusted if she has lost or gained weight.
For many healthy pets being fed a good-quality, complete, and balanced diet manufactured by a reputable company, the above calculations may be the only ones required. Online calculators also exist to help with these computations (BOX1). However, there are many others veterinary nurses can use in their role as a veterinary nutrition advocate.
Online Calculators
The Pet Nutrition Alliance has developed free online nutritional calculators for dogs and cats. These quick, accurate calculators, which are available at
petnutritionalliance.org, may be used to confirm manual calculations are correct or to perform the calculations automatically.
As-Fed Versus Dry Matter Basis
Ingredients are listed on the label as percentages on an as-fed basis; essentially, this means that the moisture content is included. Dry and canned pet food both contain moisture, but in different amounts. To be compared between different foods, especially when comparing canned food to dry kibble, each nutrient must be converted from as-fed to dry matter basis (DMB).
One method of estimating the crude moisture in a pet food is to subtract the percentage of moisture listed in the guaranteed analysis section on the label from 100% and then divide the percentage of each nutrient listed in the guaranteed analysis by this number.3
A canned-food label lists the moisture content as 75% and protein as 10% (as-fed basis).
100% 75% moisture = 25% DMB
10% protein 25% DMB = 40% protein
This food is 40% protein DMB.
Example: A dry-food label lists the moisture content as 10% and protein as 18% (as-fed basis).
100% 10% moisture = 90% DMB
18% protein 90% DMB = 20% DMB
This food is 20% protein DMB.
Note that before conversion from as-fed to DMB, the canned food in this example appeared to contain less protein than the dry food; however, it actually has more.
A simpler, perhaps not quite as accurate, method is to multiply the percentages of nutrients listed in the guaranteed analysis by 1.1 for dry foods and by 4 for canned foods.
A dry-food label that lists the protein content as 18% 1.1 = 19.8% protein DMB.
Example: A canned-food label that lists the protein content as 10% 4 = 40% protein DMB.
Both of these calculations provide an estimated amount of nutrients on a dry matter basis. If the actual amount is required, it can be obtained from the pet food manufacturer.
Comparison on a Caloric Basis
The simple method described above can be useful to help clients understand that comparisons are not as easy as simply reading pet food labels. However, comparing nutrients on a caloric (or energy) basis as grams per 1000 kcal provides a more useful, more accurate comparison and is often preferred.
For this comparison, locate the caloric density (kcal/kg) and the percentage of the nutrient to be compared on the product label. For protein, add 1.5% to the minimum listed on the label, and for fat, add 1%.4
A dry diet that contains 26% protein with 3450 kcal/kg.
26% protein + 1.5% = 27.5%
3450 kcal/kg 10000 = 0.345
27.5% 0.345 = 79.7 g/1000 kcal
Example: A canned diet that contains 9.2% protein with 1202 kcal/kg.
9.2% protein + 1.5% = 10.7%
1202 kcal/kg 10000 = 0.12
10.7% 0.12 = 89.2 g/1000 kcal
Calculating Estimated Carbohydrate Content
Guaranteed analyses do not list the amount of carbohydrate in a pet food; however, this amount is easily estimated. Start by converting the protein, fat, fiber, and ash contents to DMB (as explained above). Add these percentages together and subtract the total from 100%. This is the estimated carbohydrate content of the food.5
A diet that contains the following contents as DMB.
Protein: 32% DMB
Fat: 20% DMB
Fiber: 6% DMB
Ash: 12% DMB
Total: 70%
100% 70% = 30%. This food contains approximately 30% carbohydrate.
Summary
These basic nutrition calculations are important when veterinary nurses are developing nutritional recommendations and plans for patients and educating clients on the importance of nutrition.
References
1. Ramsey JJ. Determining energy requirements. In: Fascetti AJ, Delaney SJ, eds. Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition. Wiley-Blackwell;2012:23-46.
2. Gross KL, Yamka RM, Khoo C, et al. Macronutrients. In: Hand MS, Thatcher CD, Remillard RL, Roudebush P, Novotny BJ, eds. Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. 5th ed. Mark Morris Institute; 2010:49-105.
3. McNamara JP. Determining food nutrient content. In: McNamara JP, ed. Principles of Companion Animal Nutrition. 2nd ed. Pearson;2014:138-141.
4. Hill RC, Choate CJ, Scott KC, Molenberghs G. Comparison of the guaranteed analysis with the measured nutrient composition of commercial pet foods. JAVMA. 2009;234(3):347-351. doi:10.2460/javma.234.3.347
5. Case LP, Daristotle L, Hayek MG, Raasch MF. Energy and water. In: Case LP, Daristotle L, Hayek MG, Raasch MF, eds. Canine and Feline Nutrition: A Resource for Companion Animal Professionals. 3rd ed. Elsevier Mosby; 2011:3-12.
