Calculation for carbs?

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sherrib

sherrib

Member Since 2015
I had the link to site for calculation to find out the carb count on food BUT I can not find the info now. Can someone please give me information again? I have some food I need to see what the carbs are. If they are to high, I need to return it. I actually got this food to feed a stray but now I might have to use it for skittles. It's a store brand of one of my local grocery stores ( Food Lion is the store if anyone else has one around them )
 
Can someone help me figure out the carbs and if there are safe for skittles. Thank you so much I am so bad at math and I stayed up all night with him last night because it was the first Day in 7 days that I gave him insulin and he dropped really fast so I was scared to go to sleep and not watch him. Today his numbers have been high compared to what he has been running. He has been off of that antibiotic for his infected tooth for almost 4 days, and his BG levels are on the rise. The food below is the store brand for one of my local grocery stores and are not on the list made by Dr. Lisa. The grocery store is called Food Lion and get the food is called home Pet which is made by home 360, that's the store brands name versus name brand name foods ( clear as mud LOL! )


This is what I have for 3 different flavors
Ocean white fish & tuna
Protein= 11.0 %
Fat= 4.0
Fiber=1.5
Moisture =78.0
Ash=3.7
Taurine =0.05

Turkeys & giblets
Protein=10.0
Fat =5.0
Fiber =1.5
Moisture =78.0
Ash=7.7
Taurine =0.05

Mixed grill
Protein=10.0
Fat=6.0
Fiber=1.5
Moisture =78.0
Ash=2
Taurine =0
 
I haven't given him any of this food, I got that to give to a stray cat that I have been feeding, but if the carbs are low enough then I might give it to skittles since I have switched over to fancy feast from Friskies because I'm not sure if Friskies change their carb count, but I'm feeding 2 cats and the 3 ounce cans of FF is just not working for me financially
 
I did the math on the 3 foods you listed, based on that link. I am still working on figuring out the margin of error for that formula because I think there is one.
Ocean Whitefish and Tuna = ~8.2%
Turkey and giblets = ~<1% (calculation came to 0%)
Mixed Grill = ~11.4%

~ means about since I don't think it is an exact calculation.
This should at least help with a general carb content :cat:
 
Last edited:
Yong said:
I did the math on the 3 foods you listed, based on that link. I am still working on figuring out the margin of error for that formula because I think there is one.
Ocean Whitefish and Tuna = ~8.2%
Turkey and giblets = ~<1% (calculation came to 0%)
Mixed Grill = ~11.4%

~ means about since I don't think it is an exact calculation.
This should at least help with a general carb content :cat:
Click to expand...
So based on the calculations it looks like turkey & giblets has zero carbs?
Looks like the mixed grill have way too many carbs and the ocean fish is under 10 carbs and I like to keep him around 9 and lower
 
According to the formula I found to calculate carbs. Only other way I could think of is to call the Food Lion manufacturer and see if they know.
 
sherrib said:
I had the link to site for calculation to find out the carb count on food BUT I can not find the info now. Can someone please give me information again?
Click to expand...

Hi Sherri,

Well, it all depends on how you want to calculate the carb content. Different people/sites prefer different methods. So, it's important to know which method you're using so that you can 'compare like with like' across different foods.

The calculator that Yong has linked to above calculates the % amount of dry matter carbohydrate in the product. This calculation is, I think, favoured by all of the sites that use Dr Hodgkins' protocol/s for managing feline diabetes.

The calculation we usually use here on FDMB (and which is also used on Dr Lisa Pierson's catinfo.org site) gives the percentage of calories from carbohydrates.

Many folks here use the Scheyderweb online calculator to help them work out the percentage of calories from carbs (it does all but the last part of the calculation).
http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html
....Once you've done the Scheyderweb calculation you grab a calculator and do this (using the data from that calculation): Divide the 'calories from carbs per 100g' by the 'total calories per 100g', and then multiply by 100. That should give the percentage of calories from carbs.

However... In the US foods are usually labelled with 'guaranteed analysis' ('GA') of maximum and minimum values for certain elements of the food. That means that what you see on the label may, or may not, be an accurate representation of what is in the can at any given time. And to find out what is in that can right now you'll need to get the current 'as fed' values from the manufacturer. Manufacturers vary enormously in their willingness to supply that information....

If you can't get the current values from the manufacturer then, when it comes to using the food or not, you will have to make a decision using the data/info that you do have available. ....You could do a calculation using the data as it is written on the product label (knowing that it may not be accurate), and combine that with a thorough reading of the ingredients list (for any sources of carbs). That may give you enough info to enable you decide whether that food is worth a punt. And after that, it will be a matter of seeing how that food affects your own cat's blood glucose. The 'proof of the pudding will be in the eating'.... ;)

Eliz
 
I did mention from the start that the calculations were probably not 100% accurate but I was just trying to help. I kept finding that similar formula and when sherrib needed help with the math I just calculated them out for her. Seemed like she was looking for an answer kind of quick so I did not want to "pass the buck" and wait for someone else to respond. I thought everyone has been so helpful and I want to try and help where I can, I can totally google for carb calculators and test results for information I have! lol.:cat: I actually did find a similar calculator like the one Eliz linked too but I wanted to know how it worked by doing the math myself. Hope I didn't cause any issue for sherrib.

Oh! I entered the numbers for the food to the calculator Eliz linked and the numbers came out about the same. Eliz obviously knows a lot more than me though :)
 
Yong said:
I did mention from the start that the calculations were probably not 100% accurate
Click to expand...
I doubt that any calculations are 100%. There are too many variables. ;)

Yong said:
Hope I didn't cause any issue for sherrib.
Click to expand...
No reason at all why you should have. :bighug:
As I said, different people/sites just calculate carb values in different ways. If those sites have lists of foods all calculated the same way then it makes it easy for folks on those sites to compare foods.

The calculations differ in these ways:
The dry matter calculation in your link does this: Adds up %'s for protein, fat, fibre, ash, and moisture; and then subtracts from 100 to get the percentage of carb in the food. Then water content is subtracted to get the dry matter percentage of those ingredients, including dry matter % of carbs.

But if you want to know the percentage of calories from carbs you need to take the calculation a bit further.
To get calorie values you use the following multipliers for the %'s of protein, fat, and carbs (using wet or dry matter values, they should be the same or very similar):
Protein x 3.5%
Fat x 8.5%
Carbs x 3.5%

The total of those gives the total calories per 100g of food.

To get the percentage of calories from carbs you then divide the 'calories from carbs per 100g' by the 'total calories per 100g', and then multiply by 100. That should give the percentage of calories from carbs.

.
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Hi Sherri,

Well, it all depends on how you want to calculate the carb content. Different people/sites prefer different methods. So, it's important to know which method you're using so that you can 'compare like with like' across different foods.

The calculator that Yong has linked to above calculates the % amount of dry matter carbohydrate in the product. This calculation is, I think, favoured by all of the sites that use Dr Hodgkins' protocol/s for managing feline diabetes.

The calculation we usually use here on FDMB (and which is also used on Dr Lisa Pierson's catinfo.org site) gives the percentage of calories from carbohydrates.

Many folks here use the Scheyderweb online calculator to help them work out the percentage of calories from carbs (it does all but the last part of the calculation).
http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html
....Once you've done the Scheyderweb calculation you grab a calculator and do this (using the data from that calculation): Divide the 'calories from carbs per 100g' by the 'total calories per 100g', and then multiply by 100. That should give the percentage of calories from carbs.

However... In the US foods are usually labelled with 'guaranteed analysis' ('GA') of maximum and minimum values for certain elements of the food. That means that what you see on the label may, or may not, be an accurate representation of what is in the can at any given time. And to find out what is in that can right now you'll need to get the current 'as fed' values from the manufacturer. Manufacturers vary enormously in their willingness to supply that information....

If you can't get the current values from the manufacturer then, when it comes to using the food or not, you will have to make a decision using the data/info that you do have available. ....You could do a calculation using the data as it is written on the product label (knowing that it may not be accurate), and combine that with a thorough reading of the ingredients list (for any sources of carbs). That may give you enough info to enable you decide whether that food is worth a punt. And after that, it will be a matter of seeing how that food affects your own cat's blood glucose. The 'proof of the pudding will be in the eating'.... ;)

Eliz
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will try to figure this out ( I suck at math )
 
Yong said:
I did mention from the start that the calculations were probably not 100% accurate but I was just trying to help. I kept finding that similar formula and when sherrib needed help with the math I just calculated them out for her. Seemed like she was looking for an answer kind of quick so I did not want to "pass the buck" and wait for someone else to respond. I thought everyone has been so helpful and I want to try and help where I can, I can totally google for carb calculators and test results for information I have! lol.:cat: I actually did find a similar calculator like the one Eliz linked too but I wanted to know how it worked by doing the math myself. Hope I didn't cause any issue for sherrib.

Oh! I entered the numbers for the food to the calculator Eliz linked and the numbers came out about the same. Eliz obviously knows a lot more than me though :)
Click to expand...
Thank you very very much for helping me , I understood about " not 100% accurate "'part :bighug:
And yes, I was in a hurry and needed help asap
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
I doubt that any calculations are 100%. There are too many variables. ;)


No reason at all why you should have. :bighug:
As I said, different people/sites just calculate carb values in different ways. If those sites have lists of foods all calculated the same way then it makes it easy for folks on those sites to compare foods.

The calculations differ in these ways:
The dry matter calculation in your link does this: Adds up %'s for protein, fat, fibre, ash, and moisture; and then subtracts from 100 to get the percentage of carb in the food. Then water content is subtracted to get the dry matter percentage of those ingredients, including dry matter % of carbs.

But if you want to know the percentage of calories from carbs you need to take the calculation a bit further.
To get calorie values you use the following multipliers for the %'s of protein, fat, and carbs (using wet or dry matter values, they should be the same or very similar):
Protein x 3.5%
Fat x 8.5%
Carbs x 3.5%

The total of those gives the total calories per 100g of food.

To get the percentage of calories from carbs you then divide the 'calories from carbs per 100g' by the 'total calories per 100g', and then multiply by 100. That should give the percentage of calories from carbs.

.
Click to expand...
none of this makes sense to me :( Math for me is like trying to read another language written in cursive and backwards LOL
 
sherrib said:
Math for me is like trying to read another language written in cursive and backwards LOL
Click to expand...
I felt the same way!!! ....I only got involved in doing any math at all because of Bertie becoming diabetic 10 years ago.... ;)

Sherri, I usually use an old Excel doc to do carb calculations (because I do a lot of them). An FDMB member sent it to me years ago. It's basic but effective. You just write in the percentages for protein, fat, ash, fibre and moisture, and it does the calculation for you. If you'd like me to send it to you just PM me your email address.

Eliz
 
Yong said:
The link the Eliz sent for the calculator does the math for you ;)
Click to expand...
Almost... ....Well, all except for the last bit of the calculation, which will need to be done manually (as described above) if the Scheyderweb calculator is used. It's the last part of the calculation that gives the percentage of calories from carbs....

Link to above post:
Calculation for carbs?
.
 
Last edited:
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Almost... ....Well, all except for the last bit of the calculation, which will need to be done manually (as described above) if the Scheyderweb calculator is used. It's the last part of the calculation that gives the percentage of calories from carbs....

Link to above post:
Calculation for carbs?
.
Click to expand...
I really don't need the calories if I'm not trying to help him lose or gain weight do I ?
 
sherrib said:
I really don't need the calories if I'm not trying to help him lose or gain weight do I ?
Click to expand...
You only need to know calories (weight management aside) if you are comparing carb values by the 'percentage of calories from carbs'; in which case we're looking for foods that have less than 10% calories from carbs. That's the format that most folks here use, and is also used in the catinfo.org food comparison tables. It's just a matter of comparing like with like.
.
 
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