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Animal Fluid Therapy Rate Calculator

Work out animal fluid therapy rate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Animal Fluid Therapy Rate Calculator

Adds the hourly maintenance requirement to the deficit spread over the chosen replacement period, the standard small animal fluid plan.

Formula

Animal fluid plan

Maintenance = weight x mL/kg/day (about 60 in dogs, 50 in cats); deficit = weight x 1000 x dehydration fraction; rate = maintenance/24 + deficit/replacement hours

Worked example

With the default values below, Animal Fluid Therapy Rate Calculator returns Infusion rate of 91.7. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Animal weightaccepts 0.1–800 kg
20 kg
Maintenance requirementaccepts 20–120 mL/kg/day
60 mL/kg/day
Estimated dehydrationaccepts 0–15
5
Hours over which to replace the deficitaccepts 2–48
24

Results

Infusion rate
91.7 mL/h
Daily maintenance volume
1,200 mL
Deficit to replace
1,000 mL
Total volume for the day
2,200 mL

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Animal fluid plan
  3. 3Infusion rate= 91.7 mL/h
  4. 4Daily maintenance volume= 1,200 mL
  5. 5Deficit to replace= 1,000 mL
  6. 6Total volume for the day= 2,200 mL

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
  • Educational estimate only. Not a substitute for professional clinical judgement, and must not be used to make treatment or dosing decisions.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Educational estimate only. Not a substitute for professional clinical judgement, and must not be used to make treatment or dosing decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are allometric formulas better?

For very small or very large animals yes; 132 x weight^0.75 mL/day is often used instead of a flat mL/kg figure.

What about ongoing losses?

Vomiting, diarrhoea and polyuria are added on top of maintenance and deficit.

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Animal Fluid Therapy Rate Calculator | Calcrivo