Calories matter for your dog's maximum health. Trim dogs live almost 2 years longer than less fit dogs. But dog food companies have taught us to feed cups or cans of dog food. But there are no standard calorie counts for cups or cans of dog food.
Are calories important in dog food?
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.
Do calories work the same for dogs?
The terms kilocalories (kcal) in pet foods and calories in human foods are interchangeable! For example, a large apple is 120 human calories which if fed to a dog is counted as 120 kilocalories. All dog foods vary in weight- so no two cups of dog food will weigh the same.
Are calories different for dogs?
There tends to be more variability in exercise and metabolism for dogs. An active hunting dog may burn off a couple thousand calories a day and a sled dog running the Iditarod can burn 3000 calories a day. As with cat foods, there are also big variations in calories per cup in dog foods.
How many calories per day does a dog need?
Cats10 lbs.180 to 200 caloriesDogs10 lbs.200 to 275 calories20 lbs.325 to 400 calories
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