2/16 clarification on determining carb %

Monster's Mom

Member Since 2025
I want to.make sure I'm finding the correct carb % so I don't screw up and Monster comes out of remission because I'm feeding her high carb by mistake.
I recently asked on the Facebook group and was told by a moderator

"Regan - nope, we are looking for the ME analysis for both dry and wet food. The ME (or Metabolic Energy) analysis tells us what percentage of calories come from carbohydrates, and that's what we need to know, and that's what we need to keep below 10%."

But when i use this calculator it has at the bottom dry matter carbs and thats the number we are supossed to go by.

So once again I'm confused and not sure what number I'm supposed to use.

Please help!
 
Thanks Tim, it helps to explain it a little.

I cant imagine I would calculate all of that when looking at foods because that's alot to do, which is why I would use the calculator. I know it's not 100% accurate, but it's the best way to quickly look up a food at the store.
It has to be simpler than all that math while standing in the aisle at the store.

One example would be on Chewy, when people ask what the carb % is and they answer with **% as fed and **% carbs on a dry matter basis... which one do I use?
 
I want to.make sure I'm finding the correct carb % so I don't screw up and Monster comes out of remission because I'm feeding her high carb by mistake.
I recently asked on the Facebook group and was told by a moderator

"Regan - nope, we are looking for the ME analysis for both dry and wet food. The ME (or Metabolic Energy) analysis tells us what percentage of calories come from carbohydrates, and that's what we need to know, and that's what we need to keep below 10%."

But when i use this calculator it has at the bottom dry matter carbs and thats the number we are supossed to go by.

So once again I'm confused and not sure what number I'm supposed to use.

Please help!
First of all, don’t use the calculator you linked. It is based on Guaranteed Analysis (GA) which means maximums and minimums and not real values.

You can calculate the % calories from carbs using “as-feds” or “dry matter basis” but no food is going to have that in the label at the store. They are only required to have GA values & there is only so much room on the can.

I’d suggest you look online first at the foods you might be able to buy and then do the calculations. I only did that long post on how to do the calculations yourself because our former Moderator, Jill (may she RIP), asked me to do it so members could see how it is done.

There is a fast calculator you can use at home but you’ll still need the AF or DMB numbers from the company’s website or by calling them. And also, even though this is FD and not CKD, Tanya’s CRF website has more updated DMB values in canned US foods then Dr. Lisa’s website.

A former member did an Excel SS that you can use to calculate accurately % calories from carbs using either AF or DMB. The link is here. On that page, you can scroll down just a bit and see a link to the SS which you can download. You’ll want use the upper portion but you can use either AF or DMB. That shortens the process I wrote about in the post but it won’t help you in the store.

Please let me know if you have questions.
 
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