Generic guides are making NZ pets obese. You're likely overfeeding by 30% without knowing it.
Supermarket guides are for 'intact' active animals. Your desexed lab who sleeps on the sofa in Christchurch isn't the 'average' they designed for.
Resting Energy Requirement (RER) is the baseline energy needed just to breathe and keep the heart beating. It's the survival floor for your pet.
Think a 20kg dog needs double the food of a 10kg dog? Wrong. Smaller pets have much higher metabolisms per kg. Calculation is critical.
Veterinary experts use: 70 * (weight in kg)^0.75. It sounds complex, but it's the only way to get a scientific calorie baseline.
For most pets between 2kg and 45kg, use this: (30 * weight in kg) + 70. It’s a fast, reliable way to stop the guesswork today.
RER is just the start. A neutered adult dog usually needs 1.6x that number. A lazy cat? Just 1.2x. Life stage changes everything.
A 'cup' can vary by 20% depending on how you scoop. Use a digital kitchen scale for grams. Precision is the enemy of obesity.
Sharing your crusts? In NZ, we love treating our pets, but one piece of cheese for a 5kg cat is like a human eating a whole burger.
Cold weather burns more. A dog in snowy Otago needs more fuel than a dog in humid Northland. Adjust your math as the seasons shift.
The math is a starting point. Feel their ribs every two weeks. If the waist disappears, drop the multiplier by 10% immediately.
It's about biological integrity. When you feed for RER instead of the bag, you aren't just managing weight—you're extending their life.
See the full step-by-step guide, maintenance multipliers for every life stage, and our weight-loss checklist.