Calculating Energy Factors
Use this calculator to determine your pet’s energy factor. This will help you determine with premade recipes are appropriate, or if your pets can share a pack or clowder formulation. You will need to manually calculate your pet’s daily caloric intake.
If You are Currently Feeding:
If your pet is currently eating a commercial food, such as kibble, premade raw or canned food, you can find the calorie information on the food packaging near the GA label. Many also provide this information on their website. If information on the packaging and website differ, clarify with the company which is more accurate.
To calculate the calories, multiply your pet’s daily serving by the calories. For example, if feed 2 cups of kibble and each cup is 450kcal, your pet eats 2 x 450kcal = 900kcal per day.
If you are currently feeding a ratio (80/10/10) or BARF style homemade recipe, these are the typical caloric densities, depending on the fat content of the ingredients.
Lean (5% fat or less) – average: 135kcal/100g or 38.5kcal/oz. The recipe consists of red meats trimmed of all fat, including game meat or kangaroo, or skinless poultry breasts. Raw meaty bones are poultry based without skin.
Moderate Fat (10% fat) – average: 175kcal/100g or 50kcal/oz. The recipe consists of red meats with some marbling (excluding very fatty cuts such as pork butt) or skinless poultry thighs. raw meaty bones can include poultry RMBs with skin or fattier red meat bones such as pork ribs.
High Fat (15%+ fat) – average: 250kcal/100g or 71kcal/oz. The recipe consists of fat heavy cuts, such as 15/85, 20/80, 30/70 ground beef, red meats with heavy marbling such as pork butt, and poultry with skin on.