Cat Calorie Needs

About this calculator

A cat's daily energy needs start from Resting Energy Requirement (RER), typically calculated as 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75, which estimates the calories needed just to maintain basic body functions at rest. That RER is then multiplied by a life-stage or activity factor — commonly around 1.0-1.2 for an average indoor neutered adult cat, up to 2.5-3.0 for a kitten in growth, and lower (around 0.8) for a cat that needs to lose weight — to get the actual daily maintenance calories.

Veterinarians and pet-food formulators use this RER-times-factor method as the standard way to set feeding guidelines, since a flat "calories per pound" rule ignores how disproportionately energy needs scale with body size (the ^0.75 exponent reflects that larger animals have relatively lower metabolic rates per kilogram than smaller ones). Owners managing an overweight or underweight cat, or transitioning a kitten to adult food, use it to set a realistic daily target rather than just following the bag's generic feeding chart.

This calculator takes your cat's weight and life-stage/activity level and returns its estimated daily calorie needs.