? Fancy Feast Pate Carb Content Confusion

[CB1987]

Hello, I've been trying to find a good substitute food for my diabetic cat.

The vet had her on Purina DM, which was keeping her levels in a good spot, but she is allergic to something in it and her lip kept swelling and she was always itchy. The vet wanted me to give her allergy medication and antibiotics daily, which I didn't really want to do.

I've been reading around here that Fancy Feast Pates can be good for diabetic cats, so I picked up cans of the Ocean Whitefish and Tuna Feast Pate, as it was quite low in carbs according to the catinfo.org food chart.

Protein 48
Fat 51
Carbs 0

However, I've run the information on the can through the calculator found at http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html and it tells me there is 2.8% wet matter and 13% dry matter carbs.

Is one of these inaccurate, if so, which one? Is this a safe option?

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

That flavour of FF pate is 0% carbs so yes it is a safe option. Any of the FF pates are fine and most are very low in carbs. Other FF varieties such as those with gravy are higher in carbs. The guaranteed analysis on the can gives you minimum and maximum values. What you need to calculate carb % is the "as fed" values and those have to be obtained directly from the manufacturer. We have a food chart that was updated in 2017 HERE put together by a veterinarian (first 2 docs in the listing) with the calculations based on the "as fed" information so you can find other options for your extra sweet kitty.
One word of warning.....the Purina DM pate is 6% carbs while the Purina DM Savory Select is 10% so you may find that the dose of insulin your kitty is on will need to be lowered given the lower carb content of the FF pate you've chosen particularly if the DM you've been feeding is the Savory Select variety.

 

[CB1987]

Thank you so much for your detailed response. It's fairly frustrating that we have to jump through these hoops to accurately determine the carb content.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Indeed it is but there are no regulations requiring manufacturers to provide carb count on their labels or even "as fed" values. Unfortunately, while we could use that info, most folks have no clue what is in their pet food until they have a medical issue so there is no push for more detailed labelling. There are a couple of manufacturers who offer up the info on their websites but they are a rarity rather than the norm.