You know me, I always have a story to tell. Sometimes when I am at the store telling folks about our treats I get this question…… “How many calories are in this treat?” I always ask them “How many calories can your dog eat a day?” The answer is always the same….. “Oh, I don’t have any idea!”. So then, I reply, ” How will you use this information?” I get pretty much the same response as before.
The truth is that most dogs need about 25 to 30 calories per pound per day to maintain their weight. You need to figure in, if you dog is a spud or an athlete, whether you need to add or subtract that to that amount. That means, on average, a 30 lb dog needs around 800 calories daily. The calories in commercial treats with lots of ingredients can really add up.
The following list are the calorie content of some common treats including our most popular, Chicken breast jerky.
Beggin Stips- 40
Pro Plan Brand Medium Dog Biscuits-32
T-Bonz brand Dog Snacks-45
Chew-eez Rolls small/medium-171
Busy Bone Ultimate Medium-227
Busy Bone Dental large-443
Beggin Chew large-672 (YIKES!)
Top Dog Kitchen Pure Chicken Breast Jerky – 1 oz or about 2.5 full size planks = 27.5 calories.
Besides our pure treats, There are so many other treats that are better for your pet with much fewer calories. Some of those are:
Cauliflower (1/4 cup)-6
Carrots 1 medium-19
Cucumbers (1/4 cup)-5
Green beans (1/4 cup) my dog’s favorite-9
Rice cake-40
So what to do you say? Lets determine EXACTLY how many calories your dog to MAINTAIN their weight…. even less to loose some.
Divide a dog’s body weight in pounds by 2.2 to convert to kilograms (kg)
• Resting Energy Requirement (RER) = 70 (body weight in kg)0.75
• Maintenance Energy Requirement (MER) = appropriate multiplier x RER
Now let’s use some commonly Used Multipliers:
typical neutered pet 1.6
typical intact pet 1.8
weight loss 1
weight gain 1.7
light work 2
moderate work 3
heavy work 6
growth (less than 4 months old) 3
growth (more than 4 months old) 2
Here’s what the calculations look like for a neutered pet dog weighing 45 pounds that is at his or her ideal weight.
• 45 lbs / 2.2 = 20.5 kg
• 70 x 20.5 0.75 = 672 kcal/day
• 1.6 x 672 = 1075 kcal/day
So factor the caloric count of your dog’s food and an occasional treat and do the math!