The ten percent rule

Treats should be no more than ten percent of your pet's daily calories. That is the standard guidance from veterinary nutritionists, and it exists for a simple reason: treats are not complete and balanced food. A treat is a reward, a training aid, or a way to give medication — it is not a meal, and it does not contain the vitamins, minerals and amino acids your pet needs. If treats pass ten percent of daily calories, they start displacing real food, and the diet becomes unbalanced even if the total calories are right. This calculator turns the rule into a number: enter your pet's weight and life stage, and the calories in one treat, and it tells you how many treats a day fit in the ten percent budget.

The numbers are smaller than most people expect. A ten-kilogram neutered adult dog needs about 630 kcal a day, so its treat budget is about 63 kcal — two or three medium biscuits at 25 kcal each. A 4.5-kilogram neutered adult cat needs about 260 kcal a day, so its treat budget is about 26 kcal — two or three small treats. A large dental chew can be 100 kcal or more, which is the entire treat budget for a small dog in a single chew. Training treats are the worst offender: a training session with fifty tiny treats at 5 kcal each is 250 kcal, which is forty percent of a small dog's daily intake. That is why trainers use the dog's kibble as training treats, or cut treats into tiny pieces — the reward is the interaction, not the calories.

How to use the budget

First, find the calories in one treat — it is on the pack, or you can estimate: a small training treat is about 5–10 kcal, a medium biscuit about 25 kcal, a large biscuit about 50 kcal, and a dental chew 50–150 kcal. Then enter your pet's weight and life stage. The calculator gives the daily calorie need, the ten percent budget, and the number of treats that fits. If you give more treats than the budget allows, cut the same number of calories from meals — do not just add treats on top. The easiest way to stay in budget is to set aside the day's treats in the morning: put them in a jar, and when the jar is empty, the treats are done for the day. And remember that the budget covers everything that is not the main food: dental chews, training treats, table scraps, rawhide, and the biscuit from the neighbour.

What counts as a treat

Anything that is not the pet's complete food counts, including things that feel healthy. A piece of cheese, a slice of ham, a chunk of sausage, a pig's ear, a dental stick and a training biscuit are all treats. Some are worse than others: fatty treats such as cheese and sausage are high in calories and can trigger pancreatitis in susceptible dogs, while rawhide can cause blockages. The safest treats are the pet's own kibble, small pieces of cooked lean meat, or commercial treats with the calories printed on the pack. For cats, a lick of wet food or a single commercial treat is usually enough — cats do not need treats the way dogs do, and many cats are perfectly happy with play as a reward. Never give chocolate, grapes, raisins, onions, garlic, xylitol or cooked bones: all are toxic or dangerous.

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is not counting treats at all — most owners underestimate their pet's treat intake by half or more, because treats come from several people and are given without thinking. The second is using large treats for training: cut them into pea-sized pieces, or use kibble. The third is giving a dental chew every day without counting it — a daily dental chew can be the entire treat budget on its own. The fourth is "just one more" — a treat is small, so it feels harmless, but ten small treats are a meal. The fifth is using treats to replace meals or to comfort a pet that is bored: a bored dog needs a walk or a game, not a biscuit, and a bored cat needs play, not food.

When to see a vet

See your vet if your pet is overweight despite a controlled diet — the treats may be the hidden calories, and your vet can help you audit the whole intake. See a vet promptly if your pet has eaten something toxic, is vomiting after a new treat, or has diarrhoea that does not settle. If your pet has pancreatitis, diabetes or kidney disease, treats need to be chosen with your vet, because the wrong treat can make the condition worse. To find the daily calorie figure behind the budget, use the dog calorie calculator or the cat calorie calculator; to work out the daily food amount, the dog food calculator or cat food calculator.