Q. Why are there no calorie counts on pet food labels? How many calories should a 10-pound cat eat?
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A. “There are no calorie counts on pet food since many pet foods have not been tested for digestibility and true content per cup or can,” said Joseph Wakshlag, assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, who holds both veterinary and Ph.D. degrees.
Calculations of caloric values are done indirectly, mostly based on a set of assumptions called the modified Atwater’s equation, named for Wilbur Olin Atwater (1844-1907), a chemist who studied human nutrition and metabolism.
The results of these calculations “can have a pretty large margin of error,” Dr. Wakshlag said. For example, the fat content of a can of food can be given as 5 percent of the total but might actually be 7 percent, a relatively big difference in terms of available energy.
The average cat needs somewhere between 200 and 400 calories a day, depending on metabolism and activity, Dr. Wakshlag said. But a particular cat’s actual needs are better assessed by seeing if it maintains a normal weight for its bone structure. If the cat is too thin (easily felt ribs with no fat covering) or too fat (rounded abdomen, no visible “waistline”) , the amount of food can be gradually adjusted. Unexplained weight changes call for a visit to the vet.
