Energy requirement for dog

ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR DOGS
  • Formulating an exact equation to estimate the energy requirements of dogs is a difficult task because of the wide variety of body sizes and weights in this species.
  • The amount of energy that is used by the body is correlated with total body surface area.
  • Body surface area per unit of weight decreases as animals increase in size.
  • As a result, the energy requirements of animals with widely differing weights are not well correlated with body weight; they are more closely related to body weight raised to a specified power.
  • This unit of body weight is called metabolic body weight. Representing weight as metabolic body weight helps to account for differences in body surface area between animals of varying sizes.

Inactive adult dogs

ME requirement = 95 × Wkg0.75
Examples:

ME requirement of a 10-kg dog = 95 × (10 kg)0.75 = 534 kcal ME/day
ME requirement of a 22.7-kgdog = 95 × (22.7 kg)0.75 = 988 kcal ME/day


Active adult dogs

ME requirement = 130 × Wkg0.75
Examples:
ME requirement of a 10-kg (22-lb) dog = 130 × (10 kg)0.75 = 731 kcal of ME/day
ME requirement of a 22.7-kg (50-lb) dog =130 × (22.7 kg)0.75 = 1352 kcal ME/day

Energy requirements for dogs at different stages of life

Stage
Energy requirement
Post weaned
40% adult body weight
80% adult body weight
Late gestation
Prolonged physical work
Decreased environmental temperature
2 × adult maintenance ME
1.6 × adult maintenance ME
1.2 × adult maintenance ME
1.25 to 1.5 × adult maintenance ME
3 × adult maintenance ME
2 to 4 × adult maintenance ME
1.2 to 1.8 × adult maintenance ME

Last modified: Thursday, 7 June 2012, 9:40 AM