Questions on carb counts for some foods

[LaraB]

Today was grocery shopping day, so once again I was checking carb counts on various foods. Because we have a couple cats who will not touch pate-style food (at least not yet) - I keep searching for any possible chunky variety canned food.

A couple have me confused. Two Fancy feast Elegant Medleys varieties, going by the guaranteed analysis alone, both came in at 8.3% on my phone app carb calculator (calculated to 6% using the carb calculator here: http://fnae.org/carbcalorie.html ). The two flavors were the Tuna Primavera and White Meat Chicken Primavera. However, reading past posts here and looking at some of the food charts, I'm seeing they may actually be too high in carbs. I realize the guaranteed analysis may not be the precise amounts - have people called the company and talked to any one there about these?

Another one that surprised me, going by guaranteed analysis alone, was the Fancy Feast Broths (Classic with Chicken & Vegetables) - this actually calculated out to negative carbs. This doesn't seem right considering the high carbs most gravy foods have.

The carb percentage I'm going by is the percent calories from carbs. I bought a few cans/pouches of these two, but I now don't feel confident feeding them. Should I just set these aside as food to feed if Joshi happens to go hypo? What else do I need to pay attention to on the label? Joshi has never been a fan of chunky, but we have multiple cats, so I don't want any of their food to be high carb in case Joshi decides to sample the others food at feeding time (she can be sneaky, the little brat. )

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

The two flavors were the Tuna Primavera and White Meat Chicken Primavera.

I use the Primavera's as high carb for China (and they work) so I'd hold onto those for when you need them

I use the Florentine for Medium Carb

The problem with the "Broths" is that they're not nutritionally complete....they're called "Cat Compliments" instead of complete cat foods...and when they specifically say "vegetables" in the name, that's a good clue that they're probably not low carb....the Classic with Chicken & Vegetables contains sweet potatoes...a starch that converts to carbs in the body...as well as spinach, carrots and tapioca starch....the ingredient list can help you out too!!

 

[LaraB]

Well crap. *sighs* Guess I'll have to have a list of ingredient "no-nos" to bring with me as well. I'll probably end up ordering food once I find some that don't get completely rejected, but it is nice when it's something readily available. They all seem to like the Purina DM chunky that we can get from the vet in the meantime. Not something I want to continue feeding, but better than nothing. Again, thank goodness this is not an issue with Joshi. She thinks she's hit the jackpot with the all the pate food she gets now.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I was lucky as well...especially when I hear some of the horror stories that others tell about getting their cats off dry food!

I picked up the dry food, put down canned and the only problem I had was the look on my cats faces that said "Where you been hiding the GOOD stuff all our lives"??....LOL

I actually had to go buy a small magnifying glass so when I went food shopping, I could read the ingredient labels (the print is so tiny!!) If I saw grains, starches or veggies, especially in the top 3-4 ingredients, I put it back on the shelf. They do have to list the ingredients in order, so if chicken is the first ingredient, that food contains chicken first...then the other ingredients are listed in order of how much is in the food....that's how some of the Friskies can have rice and still be low carb...it's so far down on the ingredient list there's not enough to really matter

Have you tried the Chunky Fancy Feasts? The chicken is one of China's favorites

 

[LaraB]

The chunky Fancy Feast was loved by some of ours, but not by our hardcore pate hater, Mikiri. Apparently, it wasn't the "right" kind of chunky for him. If he really hates a food, he will actually try to "bury" it. He's going to be our toughest one, I think. We have found a few he will eat, so we may have to rely on those. Another thing about Mikiri - he is quite possibly the smartest cat I've ever had the pleasure of living with, but you can't trick him into things easily.

 

[sherrib]

about burying food he doesn't like

 

[Jeanne & Dottie]

burying dinner ...that and the look on their faces as they walk away, " Mom, Really? Gonna pass on this one. Bye..."

Just found an app called Carbs Calculator for Cat Food. Not sure if it's on both the Apple and GooglePlay sales sites. I have the android version. Anyway..You can enter Carb Calc in the search box, and the app will pop right up. The icon is a black kitty silouette. Fill in the blanks with the percentages of protein, moisture, fiber, ash and fat and the app spits out a yes or no as to whether the food's truly feline friendly.

 

[Critter Mom]

Well crap. *sighs* Guess I'll have to have a list of ingredient "no-nos" ...

Keep an eye out for soy and vegetable protein - they can really spike some cats' blood glucose.

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[LaraB]

burying dinner ...that and the look on their faces as they walk away, " Mom, Really? Gonna pass on this one. Bye..."

Just found an app called Carbs Calculator for Cat Food. Not sure if it's on both the Apple and GooglePlay sales sites. I have the android version. Anyway..You can enter Carb Calc in the search box, and the app will pop right up. The icon is a black kitty silouette. Fill in the blanks with the percentages of protein, moisture, fiber, ash and fat and the app spits out a yes or no as to whether the food's truly feline friendly.

I have the Carb Calc app for my iPhone - very handy! Of course, when I'm at the store, people see me standing in the cat food aisle looking intently at cans and typing in numbers. Which always leads to conversations, of course. So many are surprised that cats can get diabetes and can be treated for it, so I hope I'm educating a few people along the way.

 

[LaraB]

Keep an eye out for soy and vegetable protein - they can really spike some cats' blood glucose.

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Is there a list of ingredients somewhere that I can reference? Like with human food, so many companies use the chemical names rather than common names, so it can be hard to decipher. (I'll do some searching on my own, too)

If I could learn how, I would love to develop an app where you just scan the the code on the can and it would automatically tell you whether it's diabetic friendly or not. I imagine building and maintaining the database for that would be full time job! I think I saw some apps for humans that did this, though.

 

[Critter Mom]

Is there a list of ingredients somewhere that I can reference?

Not that I've come across. I've just had to pick things up as I went along. @Elizabeth and Bertie should be able to give you the name of the veggie protein thang which badly affects some kitties.

FWIW, it's not just 'iffy' ingredients that may cause problems: some cats' BGs may get spiked by different protein types. (Beef's a common offender.)


Mogs
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[manxcat419]

If he really hates a food, he will actually try to "bury" it.

My Regan does that too - and sometimes with food she's eaten quite happily just a few days earlier. She's definitely been our tough one to convert, but with a lot of trial and error, we have found pate style food that she will eat. Part of it for us is routine - Regan is much, much pickier about the wet food when I take Rosa to boarding the day before we travel...she misses her twin and knows if she's difficult enough and refuses enough flavors, she might just get some dry food instead while there's no risk of Rosa getting into any of it!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Is there a list of ingredients somewhere that I can reference?

Pretty much, the foods you CAN understand are the "real foods"...like protein sources (chicken, chicken meal, turkey, turkey meal, etc....) and things like water, animal "by-products" and then stuff like grains, starches, veggies and fruits.....all these things should be names you understand....cat's don't need grains like corn, rice, barley or starches like potatoes or sweet potatoes ....they also don't need things like spinach, broccoli, blueberries, cranberries, etc...etc..etc..although some foods use some veggies and fruits to add necessary vitamins

The key is to look at how far down the list these "undesirable" foods are....if they're close to the top of the ingredients, that means there's quite a lot of that ingredient contained in the food....the further they are away from the beginning of the ingredient list, the less there is of that ingredient

The "chemical" things are generally the things that are last on the list of ingredients and are vitamins and minerals...and impossible to pronounce!

Some people don't like feeding foods with carrageenan in them (it's a seaweed that "thickens" stuff) and it's in a LOT of pet foods....some cats don't do well on foods that contain it while others it doesn't seem to bother as much. It's a controversial subject but here's some reading for you

Carrageenana: A Controversial pet food additive

 

[Jeanne & Dottie]

An app that scans the bar code on wet foods would be a godsend! The print on those cans is like the fine print found on legal contracts. Of course,some cans are so tiny anyway.

Beef is not so good? Ack. Perhaps that's why Dottie is refusing to even taste Purina One Smartblend's classic beef. I even tried watering it down but she gives me The Look when I offer it to her. It DOES smell a bit liver-y, so perhaps the odor makes her sick. But she loves the deli London Broil our grocer sells.

I'm having trouble with Google Play when I try to dl the spreadsheet. When I grab the link, it prompts me to log in on GP, but even when I'm logged in, the link sends me back to the login page as though I haven't already logged in. The tutorial provided kind of goes over my head, but that's my fault, not the tutorial's. Computers and I are somewhat at odds lately. Eek, is my mind going to take a holiday and leave me behind? A few years back and this wouldn't pose a problem.

I am keeping daily records, but it's going to have to be my system right now or I'll founder. All this is so much information, my mushy brain needs a defragging.

 

[Critter Mom]

@Jeanne Skadowski - If you go to the main forum home page then go to the tech support board, they might be able to help you with the Google problem.

On beef, it depends on the cat. If you're home testing you can actually assess Dottie's response to different foods as follows:

1. Feed regular food. Test at +1 and +2 hours after the feed.

2. Feed the food you're trialling. Mix in a little of Dottie's regular food to avoid tummy trouble.

4. Test at +1, +2 and - if possible - +3 hours after the trial food was eaten.

If you get a marked difference in the rise of BG after the trial food it will give you an idea of whether to be cautious about feeding it.

I am keeping daily records, but it's going to have to be my system right now or I'll founder.

If you can manage it, try to record it in a spreadsheet as soon as possible. You can add journal notes about food and all manner of stuff in the Remarks column. The reason I recommend it is that if you get into the habit of keeping journal notes in electronic format it builds an invaluable reference source for your kitty - and it is far more easily searchable than paper records. Have a look at the link to one of Saoirse's spreadsheets in my signature to see what I mean. I'm suggesting this because I didn't put Saoirse's stuff on computer when I first started out and I ended up in a complete heap. It was then a major ordeal to type in all the backdated notes from the paper journal. Making quick notes as and when you've got something to record is soooooooo much easier and it builds into a terrific information source in a relatively short space of time.



Mogs
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