RER = 70 × kg0.75
The kcal a healthy dog burns at rest, given their body weight. The 0.75 exponent is the canonical metabolic-scaling allometry — bigger dogs burn proportionally less per kg.
The science
Cited on every screen.
Every recommendation we surface comes from peer-reviewed veterinary nutrition guidelines. CalDog is aligned with WSAVA, FEDIAF and NRC publications — not endorsed by any of them.
DER = RER × multiplier
- Puppy < 4 mo 3.0 ×
- Puppy 4 mo → adult 2.0 ×
- Intact adult 1.6 ×
- Neutered adult 1.4 ×
- Senior 1.2 ×
- Weight loss (use ideal kg) 1.0 ×
Sources
Three published guidelines, cited inline.
European pet-food industry guideline.
Peer-reviewed, updated annually. We use the 2024 multipliers for daily energy requirement at every life stage.
FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines 2024 ›Global vet body's clinical reference.
The 1–9 body-condition scale we render comes from the WSAVA Global Nutrition Toolkit (sponsored by Royal Canin). We cite and link — we don't reproduce the WSAVA chart artwork.
WSAVA Global Nutrition Toolkit ›US National Research Council benchmark.
Established the canonical RER formula in modern veterinary nutrition. CalDog uses the 70 × kg^0.75 form from the 2006 edition.
NRC Nutrient Requirements 2006 › Hard guardrails
The bits we won't let the algorithm relax.
Three constraints are encoded in our calorie engine and tested in CI. They override anything the algorithm might suggest. They cannot be turned off in app settings.
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70 % RER safety floor
Calorie targets never drop below 70 % of resting energy requirement — even on the most aggressive weight-loss plan. Below this, your dog needs vet supervision, not an app.
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Toy-breed puppy escalation
Puppies under 5 kg are at high risk of hypoglycaemia on a calorie-restricted plan. CalDog routes their feeding plan to your vet rather than computing it locally.
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BCS is a range, never a label
We return a 2-point range on the WSAVA 1–9 scale (e.g. 5–7), never a single number, and never as 'obese' or 'underweight'. That language belongs to your vet.
Designed with vets in mind
If you're a vet and want to talk about partnership, we're real.
Founder-led calls. No NDAs to read first. We'll share our calorie-engine test suite and the WSAVA prompt rubric on request.
Get in touch