Food information

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What part of the forum can I find a guide on food and proper food calcs for carbs? I want to make sure I'm doing the calcs right and understand what I'm supposed to avoid in food (in general and for diabetic).
 
Most of us rely on information from Lisa Pierson, DMV's website on feline nutrition. If you look on the menu bar on the right side of the page, there's a link to a chart that contains information on the nutritional content of most of the canned food that's available in the US. That information includes the amount of carbohydrates which is one of the important considerations with a diabetic cat.

The big thing to avoid is dry food. Cats have a limited thirst drive and overall, canned food is far better for them.

You want to select foods that are under 10% carbohydrate. Most of the members here, however, feed their cat food that is in the 5% range.

There are a number of cat food carb calculators on the web. You can use any one of them. The limitation of the calculators is that the nutritional content that's on the cat food can or on the manufacturer's website is likely to be the guaranteed analysis. The amounts are given as minimums/maximums. In order for the calculations to be accurate, you need "as fed" values. You would need to use Dr. Pierson's chart where she's done the work for you or you need to contact the pet food manufacturer.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
You would need to use Dr. Pierson's chart where she's done the work for you or you need to contact the pet food manufacturer.
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I will use the chart. Thinking of switching to friskies. Lower carb options available it seems. Which part should I go with? He likes poultry and beef. I usually feed a 6 or 7% fancy feast. Would like to keep well under 10% if possible.
 
I'm not quite sure what you mean re. "Which part should I go with?" If your cat likes poultry and beef and if it's low carb, you can use any variety.
 
Most food doesn't list the carb count on the can. It's not required for the manufacturers to list carbs. That's why it's such a headache to track down the information. Very few even list it on their websites.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Most food doesn't list the carb count on the can. It's not required for the manufacturers to list carbs. That's why it's such a headache to track down the information. Very few even list it on their websites.
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I get that. I use the calculator https://www.caticles.com/carb-calculator-for-cat-food/ or https://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

Are those OK?

Or can I just cut out the hassle all together and assume whatever is in that list from Dr Pierson is close enough and forget about it? That's what I'd like to do. Is it going to impact anything if I do that?
 
Like Diane, I've aways used the chart. While the chart is largely comprehensive, manufacturers can change their formulas or come up with something new. Having a back-up system for a rough calculation can be helpful. I've used Scheyderweb over the years. I suspect any one is as good as another. I've compared a couple when I think of it and the numbers are typically pretty close.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Like Diane, I've aways used the chart. While the chart is largely comprehensive, manufacturers can change their formulas or come up with something new. Having a back-up system for a rough calculation can be helpful. I've used Scheyderweb over the years. I suspect any one is as good as another. I've compared a couple when I think of it and the numbers are typically pretty close.
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Do you just randomly check a can or two from each new batch you get?
 
The only time I would check is if my cat's numbers were consistently higher with a particular food. The members here are very good about asking if anyone else is noticing a change and some will, in fact, contact the manufacturer to ask. I always worked from the assumption that everything was the same. In the 6.5 yrs that Gabby was diabetic, I don't think I ran into a problem with a change in the carb count in what I was feeding her.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I've aways used the chart. While the chart is largely comprehensive, manufacturers can change their formulas or come up with something new. Having a back-up system for a rough calculation can be helpful. I've used Scheyderweb over the years. I suspect any one is as good as another. I've compared a couple when I think of it and the numbers are typically pretty close.
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The doctors table is very far off in all four columns for poultry platter. Table says 3% carb, cans calced out at 16% dry matter. Over 5x the carbs listed in the table. For liver and chicken dinner it's 14% vs 5% dry matter.

Fancy Feast Turkey and gib is 6% dry matter.
 
If you are comparing the values on the cans vs the table, please keep in mind that the numbers on the can (or most of the manufacturer's websites) are from the guaranteed analysis. They are expressed as minimums or maximums. The numbers on the table are "as fed" values. Dr. Pierson contacted the manufacturers and got the actual values vs approximations. You may want to take a look at her explanation of how the numbers were calculated on her website.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If you are comparing the values on the cans vs the table, please keep in mind that the numbers on the can (or most of the manufacturer's websites) are from the guaranteed analysis. They are expressed as minimums or maximums. The numbers on the table are "as fed" values. Dr. Pierson contacted the manufacturers and got the actual values vs approximations. You may want to take a look at her explanation of how the numbers were calculated on her website.
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Too much to read and find exactly where that explanation is in all that, but I understand what you're saying. What I will say is I've also noticed the signs and symptoms of high carb foods in cats as well since the change. So the result correlates strongly with what the can label says. How old is her work? Things changed a lot after 2020.
 
That's up to you, I still use the chart and have had no issues with it --- I expect it is still accurate for the most part. Other people prefer to try to do their own calculations, reach out to manufacturers for more information, that sort of thing.
 
Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
That's up to you, I still use the chart and have had no issues with it --- I expect it is still accurate for the most part. Other people prefer to try to do their own calculations, reach out to manufacturers for more information, that sort of thing.
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Yeah the Friskies is definitely not right. He's hitting 500 BG levels. Never had that on Fancy Feast. Also now acting carb-addicted again. Back to fancy feast.
 
I feed mostly Fancy Feast Chicken Feast Pate, but about twice a month, Newman seems to get bored with it. At those times I have substituted Friskes Pate, Poultry Platter with no discernible difference. I have Friskies Turkey and Cheese bits in Gravy as my Medium Carb stash. That clearly makes a difference, but of course that would be the intent of using it.

I rely on Dr. Pierson's Food Chart.

I hope that you will figure out what works best for Artemis.
 
Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
which Friskies variety?

Never fed Friskies much at all, stayed with FF, raw, Stella&Chewy's, tiki, weruva
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Poultry platter, salmon, all the lowest carb pate listed in the list. He blew up and looked like a basketball earlier this year before getting his diagnosis on friskies... I figured I would try specifically the low carb varieties shown on the list. Doesn't seem to make a difference. I'm going back to fancy feast. I have yet to see him in the 500s until today after 5 days on friskies.
 
Linda and Newman said:
I feed mostly Fancy Feast Chicken Feast Pate, but about twice a month, Newman seems to get bored with it. At those times I have substituted Friskes Pate, Poultry Platter with no discernible difference. I have Friskies Turkey and Cheese bits in Gravy as my Medium Carb stash. That clearly makes a difference, but of course that would be the intent of using it.

I rely on Dr. Pierson's Food Chart.

I hope that you will figure out what works best for Artemis.
Click to expand...

I think Friskies is just a no go for old Arto. I can hear the carb cravings in his meow now. Fancy Feast seems to keep him way more stable. I'll stick with this for the foreseeable future I think.
 
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