So, I need help figuring out how much canned food to give my dog

August 6, 2018 4:01 PM

I am going to be giving my elderly lab dog (12 years old) a sensitive stomach dog food (4health brand at Tractor Supply). I need to figure out how much to give her, I feed her twice a day morning and evening.

She weights 68 lbs, the calorie content on the can says:

Metabolizable Energy (ME) 1,102 kcal ME/kg; 412 kcal/can

So, how many calories are in a can of food - 1102 or 412 ?

Also could use some suggestions on how many calories to give her a day. She is not very active, not as much as when she was younger of course.

posted by just asking to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)

There are 412 calories in a can. Is there no weight chart to guide you on the can or the pack of cans? I'd feed one in the morning and one at night and then adjust if she's gaining or losing weight. We weigh weekly when we're establishing feeding amounts for a specific dog; metabolism varies.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:25 PM on August 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing the can is less than 1 kg, it's likely 0.37386 kg (which is 412 / 1102). As I read it, there are 412 kcal per can, and 1102 kcal per kilogram.
posted by smcameron at 4:25 PM on August 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

412 calories (kcal) per can. The other figure is for a kilogram.

A dog of around 70lb with low activity probably needs about three of those cans (around 1200 calories a day). Most dogs need more calories in the winter than in the summer.

As DarlingBri advises, weigh your dog every week and see how it goes. Adjust calories to keep your dog at a healthy weight.
posted by pipeski at 4:30 PM on August 6, 2018

The food cans I get say the same thing, it's 412 calories per can. My dog weighs the same as yours and I give him 4 cans a day, but he is 4 and active. I would give your dog 3 cans and weigh her to see how it's going. You should also factor in treats and so on into the overall calorie intake.
posted by ananci at 10:00 PM on August 6, 2018

IDK but for the last three years I have been giving my same size dog two cups high quality dog food, add water, add half a cup canned pumpkin, microwave for 1 & 1/2 minutes, add 1/2 cup yogurt, serve.

The pumpkin and yogurt have been great for his stomach. And he loves it. The microwaving part is essential.

I also give him some canned fish but that is controversial because it has salt in it but I think it is the right thing for him. He is thriving.

And then I add or subtract the kibble part of the recipe according to his weight gain or loss.
posted by cda at 3:10 AM on August 7, 2018

Sorry, this doesnt answer your question.
oming here to say that Ive always had great results from the For Health brand and when I tell my vets what I feed, they always approve.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 9:07 AM on August 7, 2018

I had a vet help me figure out how to calculate food for my dog to lose weight once, and what she started with was determining how much I was currently feeding the dog in calories, then use that figure to figure out how much of the new food to feed (and then we subtracted some for the weight loss.)

Do you know how many calories she is currently eating?
posted by pixiecrinkle at 8:10 PM on August 7, 2018