Pet Care Guides

The "multiply by 7" rule is a myth. Here is how dogs really age by size, and the breed-size-adjusted method vets use instead.

How to size your dog's daily portion using the RER/MER formula vets and nutritionists use, by weight, activity and life stage.

How many calories your dog needs a day: an RER calculator (70 × kg^0.75), the factor for puppies, adults and seniors, and a calorie chart from 10 to 120 lb.

Puppy calories by age and weight: 3 × RER before four months, 2 × RER after, the NRC growth equation compared, worked tables by breed size, and meals per day.

A balanced look at raw and BARF diets for dogs: the pathogen and balance risks the AVMA and FDA flag, and how to feed raw more safely.

How to size a raw or BARF portion: the 2 to 3 percent of body weight rule, puppy and weight-loss adjustments, and the 80/10/10 split, with a worked table.

What a healthy growth curve looks like for toy, small, medium, large and giant puppies, and when each size reaches its adult weight.

What the "human-grade" label legally means, how it differs from feed-grade, and how to judge whether it is worth the price for your dog.

How many calories a cat should eat per day by weight, from 6 to 20 lb, how to calculate it (RER × factor), and what it means in cups, grams and cans of wet food.

How much and how often to feed a kitten from weaning to 12 months: daily calories by age and weight, cups and cans, meals per day, and when to switch.

The n+1 rule, where to place boxes, and why the right number of litter boxes prevents most house-soiling problems in multi-cat homes.

Why the one-inch-per-gallon rule fails, and how bioload weighting, adult size, minimum tank size and group size really decide how many fish a tank holds.

How many fish a 20 gallon tank really holds, by species and by stocking plan: neons, guppies, corydoras, bettas, mollies and barbs, computed from bioload instead of the inch rule.

Fish tank weight from 5 to 125 gallons: empty glass, water, gravel and the full total, freshwater and saltwater, plus what that load means for a stand and a floor.

Bioload is the ammonia your fish produce against what your filter and water changes remove. How to put a number on it, and the four levers that change it.

The nitrogen cycle explained in plain English, plus a step-by-step fishless cycling method and the test kit you need to do it right.