Food question

Hi folks, I hope all your kitties are doing well! You too!

So I'm looking at a can of Instinct Original Grain Free Pate, Real Lamb Recipe, 95% lamb turkey and liver.

The "Guaranteed Analysis" says there is 10% crude protein, 9% crude fat.

OKAY..... so what am I to understand about how much protein is actually in there? 95% or 10%? If only 10% does that mean most of it is liquid? Lamb and turkey broth?

How does this translate into my understanding of how good this is for my little diabetic kitty?

Thanks for any insight!

Cheers,
Jan

 

Hi Jan.

In an ideal world, the guaranteed analysis should give the following % values:

* Crude Protein
* Crude Fat
* Crude Fibre
* Crude Ash
* Moisture

Usually moisture content is 70%+ in commercial wet foods (raw meat has a similar amount). Because the amount of moisture can vary from product to product, when comparing foods it's done either on a dry matter basis (i.e. the percentages of the stuff in the food if all the moisture had been removed), or on the amount of energy provided by protein, fat and carbs (that's what we're interested in for our little sugars - we consider a food to be suitable low carb option if less than 10% of the calories the food contains come from carbohydrates.

Dr. Lisa calculated the %s in her list based on the 'as fed' information she obtained from manufacturers. In the US, I think that pet food manufacturers are only required to provide guaranteed analysis values (maximum and minimum values, not 'typical' values).

Here's an online calculator that you can plug the guaranteed analysis %s into and it will give you an estimate of the % of kcals in the foods you're interested in (% ME from carbs).:

Metabolisable energy calculator

Also, here's a relevant info post from the forum FAQs which goes through how to work out dry matter and kcal %s:

Calculating % calories from carbs

If any of the basic info is missing from the label/webpage of a food you're interested in, have a look to see if Chewy's stock it. If they do you might find the info in the Q&A section for the food, or else you can try asking their customer service team for the details you need.


Mogs
.

 

When I fed carbs by guaranteed analysis, both my late Stubbie's and now Hope's (left) BGs really rose: That is, until I started using Dry Matter Analysis (DMA) carb count. I seem to spend SO much time going back and back to sites such as:

http://catfooddb.com/ and

https://www.pawdiet.com/

and Dr. Lisa's 2017 site, BUT I have FOUND the DMA to vary radically between the sites (argh).

I have math aversion so I want someone to tell me, accurately, which wet foods have DMA around 0% or 1% because Hope cannot have anything much above that. I feed dry Dr. Elsie's Clean Protein Dry (chicken NOT salmon) and WYSONG Epigen 90--that one for years with both diabetic cats. Does anyone here have a list saved with correct calculations re DMA for cat wet food? I just must stick to that method for Hope. Thanks bunches! Looking up each food and calling the manufacturer is challenging and it seems like there should be a reliable place to find this, right?

Hope your kitties are doing superb!

 

This calculator is interesting, thanks for linking it. I know it's just an estimate, but I threw in a few Tiki Cat varieties I feed my guy and most are slightly upwards of 10%. Especially the After Dark ones. Explains why he's always up after I feed him certain Tiki cans. Everything else he eats is 5% and under, no real spike with those. I'm not sure Tiki is as low carb as it's touted to be.

 

Hi Mogs, Steph, and Angela, Thank you so much everyone for your very thoughtful answers. I'm even more math averse than Steph and I'm also complication averse, so if I understand correctly, I shouldn't be looking at the amount of protein, I should be looking at the amount of carbs and best if less than 10%. I can manage that LOL. And Tiki is good, especially After Dark.

I like simple!

Thanks Gals! Pets to your kitties!!!

Jan and Squeaky

 

Well this is NOT working. They don't give the values for percentage of carbs on the labels of the food.

This is like having no information at all.

Or am I reading it wrong?

Why do they make this so complicated? I am totally not managing his food well. I wish someone could come over here and look at the food I have and help me know what in it. When I get stressed (like I am today), then I have trouble with such complication.