Pet-food energy is calculated as Metabolisable Energy (ME) via the modified Atwater method

calorie_pet_food_energy_methodology

The text below is reproduced verbatim from the first-hand source (FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines 2025).

> Digestible energy and metabolisable energy (ME) are > more accurate way of expressing the energy density > ME reflects better the energy that is utilised by > modified Atwater method in dry pet foods > European Standard EN 16967

Source: pdf-raw/fediaf-historical/fediaf_nutritional_guidelines_2025.txt (first-hand official guidelines, whitespace-normalised for C1 matching).

Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)

Digestible energy and metabolisable energy (ME) are
more accurate way of expressing the energy density
ME reflects better the energy that is utilised by
modified Atwater method in dry pet foods
European Standard EN 16967

Analysis (not a C1 claim)

Because pets use a species-specific modified Atwater estimation and an ME energy basis (rather than the human general Atwater factors), pet-food energy values are calculated on a different system from human-food calories. This is the documentary basis for the answer to "are pet-food calories the same as human calories?" — they are not computed on the same basis.

Sources

Pet-food energy is calculated as Metabolisable Energy (ME) via the modified Atwater method — species-specific, not the human system

Source document: FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines for Dogs and Cats (2025)

FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation)retrieved 2026-07-28

Verification file: pdf-raw/fediaf-historical/fediaf_nutritional_guidelines_2025.txt

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