Hey all!

In the food thread I talked alot about carb counts and how you would know what is since carbs are typically not listed on the food. Innova EVO is the ONLY food to do this.

So here is some info that I hope will help with carbs as well as protien for reading labels.

*How to read food labels in regard to protein content versus carbohydrate
content:*
*The following information is taken from the book, “Your Cat, Simple New
Secrets for a Longer, Stronger Life” by Elizabeth M Hodgkins, DVM.*
*
*
The rules of pet food labelling call for the manufacturer to list some
basic nutrient percentages on the label. A “typical” canned food label may
have a guaranteed analysis that looks like this:

Crude protein: Min. 9.5%
Crude fat: Min. 5.0%
Crude fiber : Max 0.8%
Moisture: Max 75%
Ash: Max 2.0%

But there is no listing for carbohydrates, which a very important
consideration when choosing cat food. But Dr. Hodgkins says that there is
an easy way to find out approximately how much carbohydrate is in such a
food. Simply add all of the listings from protein through ash only (not any
other listed ingredients) together. So in the sample case above, we would
add 9.5% + 5.0% + 0.8% + 75% + 2% for a total of 92.3%. Then subtract this
from 100 to get the remainder, which is carbohydrate. She says not to worry
about the fact that these are “minimums” and “maximums”, it will still get
us very close to the true carb number, thus allowing comparisons between
foods in a way that is fair and consistent.

She uses the term “dry matter basis” (DMB) which means the amount of a
particular ingredient or nutrient, expressed as a percentage of the total
in the can or bag, if the moisture of the food is removed. She says that
this is a very important concept because it allows comparison of dry and
canned foods, with their very different moisture content, in a fair way;
allowing the pet food shopper to compare “apples to apples”.

Dry kibble has about 10% moisture; this means that the rest of the
ingredients compose 90% of the food. So to calculate the DMB of a dry food,
for example, you have to divide it by .9 (the mathematical equivalent of
90%). So if the protein listed on the label is 25%,
you must divide that by .9 to get 27.8% protein on a DMB.

Canned, pouched and homemade wet foods have about 75% moisture, the rest of
the ingredients compose 25% of the food. To remove the moisture and reduce
the contents to only the dry matter that is in the food, we must perform
the same calculation. Only this time we divide it by .25 (the mathematical
equivalent of 25%). So if a canned food says “10% protein”, we divide that
10% by .25 to get 40% protein on a DMB.

These calculations can be performed on ALL the nutrients listed on the
label. So that’s why dry foods may *look like* (on the label) that they
have more protein than canned, but if you do the calculation, bringing both
products down to basic DMB, it becomes apparent which product actually has
the MOST protein (and it is usually NOT dry food). This is all very
important, because as we know, our cats are obligate carnivores. She says
that studies were done to determine the energy composition of small mammal
prey (the kind that cats in the wild would typically consume) and that such
prey generally contains about 55% dry matter protein; about 35% dry matter
fat; and less than 2% carbohydrate. Obviously, most commercial foods are
not even remotely similar to the natural foods of cats. She recommends
looking for foods with high protein (ideally greater than 40% DMB); 25-35%
fat (DMB); and less than 10% carbs (DMB).

I just find it interesting...although the protein can be confusing when comparing dry to wet. My rule of thumb is that the protein in wet food needs to be over 8.5% -- idealy 10% to reach at least 40% protein in canned food.

Anywho -- not trying to stress anyone out. Personally I am sticking to the TOTW dry but am going to try to add more wet food to their diet and feed less dry if they will go for it. Wish me luck!

wow thanks that is great information

Thanks Heather - I always wondered about canned food because the protein percent was so low compared to dry, I didn't think it had enough. Just wondered which TOTW do you use? I went and bought Rocky Montain, but there was another choice - can't remember what it was.

I use the Rocky Mountain (green bag) myself. I tend to steer away from fish as much as I can. It is hard to avoid but rather it be father down the list of ingredients myself. Fish typically can cause urinary issues due to the ash content...and with whole males it can really be a buggar! So I just feed the chicken, beef, etc.

I use the green bag also... I think venison is the main protein in it. Puffy likes it. Of course, she likes the Natural Balance Chunk eats more

Its like kids Aunty Kira.... they always want what is in the other plate!!!!!!!!

Great info! Thanks!!!!!