Feeding Guides on Pet Food

Introduction

TABLE 1: Example feeding guide designed for dogs in different weight ranges
Body weight (kg)	Food allowance (g/d)
1 - 5	35 - 74
5 - 10	74 - 101
10 - 20	101 - 215
20 - 30	215 - 301
30 - 50	301 - 485
50 - 70	485 - 625
TABLE 2: Example feeding guide designed for dogs of specific weight
Body weight (kg)	Food allowance (g/d)
5	74
10	101
15	159
20	215
30	301
40	397
50	485
70	625

Most commercially manufactured pet foods provide feeding guides on the packaging. This is a mandatory requirement for those that are complete and balanced. The key principles and steps used to calculate food allowances are described in the below. Understanding how these principles are applied is important, as they determine how much food and energy a pet is advised to eat.

There is no international standard defining how feeding guides are calculated, and manufacturers may take different approaches, using different assumptions on how they do this. Different products may recommend feeding different amounts of energy for the same animal, and can result in either an over- or under-estimate of their ‘actual’ energy needs.

There is also no standard way in which feeding guidelines are presented on the packaging. For example, dry foods may describe serving amounts by weight (grams per serving), or volume (cup), or both. Wet foods generally describe serving amounts by volume i.e. as fraction and/or multiple of a can, pouch or tray.

The limited physical space available on package labels constrains how much information can be included, and this is a particular challenge for dog products because of the wide size range that needs to be covered. For example, some products provide guidance for discreet weight ranges (table 1), whereas others do this for specific weights (table 2). In both circumstances, owners may need to extrapolate to estimate a food allowance if the weight of their pet falls between these ranges.

How Feeding Guides Are Calculated

Feeding guides are calculated by dividing an individual animal’s daily energy requirements by the energy density of the food, following the 2 step approach outlined in figure 1 .

Figure 1 – Example of how feeding guides may be calculated

Step 1

• Calculate the animal’s energy needs per day (kcal/d)

• Determine the energy density of the food (kcal/100 g diet)

Step 2

•