In-depth guide · Growth
How big will my puppy get? What real growth data shows
How to estimate your puppy’s adult weight from its weight, age and size class, with honest ranges, a worked example and why calculators disagree.
22 guides4 in depthall updated
Guides, one question each.
Each guide answers one question from published veterinary sources and open data, works it through on real numbers drawn to scale, and lists its sources with the date they were read.
Growth
How big puppies and kittens get, how fast, and how sure anyone can be — read from the open data behind the best-known growth charts, with the folk rules measured against it.
Guide · Growth
Double at 16 weeks? Puppy weight rules tested on real data
Six popular puppy weight rules tested size by size on U.S. vet-visit data: how far each one misses, how often it lands within 10%, and what to use instead.
Guide · Growth
Kitten weight by week: what the growth data shows
Typical kitten weights by week for females and males from U.S. vet data, how fast kittens gain, when they finish growing and when to call your vet.
Guide · Growth
Mixed-breed puppy size: parents, DNA tests and paw myths
How to estimate a mixed-breed puppy’s adult size from its own weight and age, what parents and DNA tests can add, and what paw size can’t tell you.
Guide · Growth
When do puppies stop growing? Ages by adult size
When puppies finish growing, by adult size: three sources side by side, the ages at 90% and 95% of adult weight, and what a 7-month-old has left.
Food & weight
Calories from the exact formula, cups and grams from the label, body condition in plain words and weight loss planned on the ideal weight — with your vet, never instead of them.
In-depth guide · Food & weight
How many calories does my dog need? RER, MER and honest ranges
Why dog calorie calculators disagree: the resting-energy formula, AAHA and Merck factors, the WSAVA chart and a ±30% range, worked through for a 22-lb dog.
Guide · Food & weight
Dog body condition score 1–9: how to check your dog
The 9-point body condition score in plain words: feeling ribs, waist and tuck, why owners score too low, and how a score becomes an ideal-weight estimate.
Guide · Food & weight
Dog food labels: finding kcal per cup and why it matters
Where the Calorie Content statement is on a dog food label, why a cup of one food isn’t a cup of another, why grams beat cups, and estimating calories.
Guide · Food & weight
Feeding a large-breed puppy: growth rate, calcium and when to switch
How to grow a big puppy slowly: 3.0 then 2.0 × RER, a lean body condition, no extra calcium, and when AAHA and Merck say to switch to adult food.
Guide · Food & weight
Helping an overweight cat lose weight safely
Why cats must lose weight slowly (hepatic lipidosis), how a target weight and calories are set, and how long 0.5–2% a week takes for a 14-lb cat.
Guide · Food & weight
How much to feed a cat: wet, dry and mixed feeding
Cat calorie needs from the cat factors (not dog ones), the ±50% spread between cats, and how to split a day between cans and kibble from the label.
Guide · Food & weight
How much to feed a puppy, by age and weight
Puppy calories from the guidelines: 3.0 × resting energy before 4 months, 2.0 after, turned into cups and grams for four example puppies, with ranges.
Guide · Food & weight
Weight loss for dogs: how fast and how many calories
How vets plan a dog’s weight loss: calories on the ideal weight, 1–2% of body weight a week, a 60% floor, treats in the budget and 10% adjustments.
Pregnancy & heat
Due dates counted on local calendar days, the published windows, temperature checks and the signs that mean call the vet now.
Calculators
In-depth guide · Pregnancy & heat
Dog pregnancy timeline: due date, week by week and red flags
When a pregnant dog is due, counted from breeding, ovulation or the LH surge, what happens each week, how to check her temperature and when to call your vet.
Guide · Pregnancy & heat
Signs of labor in dogs: the temperature drop and the red flags
Is your dog in labor? The temperature drop, stage 1 and 2 signs, normal gaps between puppies, and the exact points at which to call your vet now.
Guide · Pregnancy & heat
The dog heat cycle: how often, how long and the signs
How often dogs come into heat (about every 7 months, 4–13 is normal), how long each stage lasts, the signs, and why the fertile days need a blood test.
Age
Life stages by size, “human years” from published studies, and why the ×7 rule is a myth.
Guide · Age
Cat years to human years and the four life stages
When a cat counts as a senior under the 2021 feline guidelines, how the 15-24-plus-4 human-age chart works, and where that chart really comes from.
Guide · Age
Dog years to human years: why times seven is wrong
Why the ×7 rule fails, what the Labrador DNA-methylation clock says, where the 15-9-5 rule came from, and why vets prefer life stages by size.
Health, safety & cost
What to do when your pet eats something it shouldn’t — the phone numbers first — and what a dog or cat really costs, from dated surveys.
Calculators
In-depth guide · Safety & cost
Dog ate chocolate, grapes or xylitol? What to do right now
Your dog ate chocolate, grapes, raisins, xylitol, onion or a pill: who to call now, what to have ready, and how vets judge the risk from published thresholds.
Guide · Safety & cost
How much water should a dog drink? When it’s too much
Why no source gives a normal daily amount, the 90–100 mL a day per kg vets treat as too much, how to measure 24-hour intake, and what differs for cats.
Guide · Safety & cost
Puppy vaccine schedule: AAHA core shots and timing
Which shots the 2022 AAHA canine guidelines (2024 update) call core, why puppies need a series ending after 16 weeks, and when boosters come.
Guide · Safety & cost
What a dog costs in 2026: first year, yearly, lifetime
Four dated sources on what a dog costs, from ASPCA’s line items to 2026 survey ranges, why they differ, and how vet price rises change the picture.