Commercial Foods

Lisa A. Pierson, DVM

Ingredients

Composition

By-products

Cost and quality

Calculating carbohydrate percentage (This may give you a headache.....)

Contacting Pet Food Companies

Skip right to the food list

As fed, dry matter, calories

Before you get too confused when reading this page, I will say at the outset:  I would much rather see a cat eat any canned food versus any dry food - regardless of quality level of the canned food.  This includes Friskies, 9-Lives, Sophisticat, Fancy Feast, etc.

This is because:

1. All canned foods contain an appropriate (high) amount of water which is critical for urinary tract health.  Please see Opie's page - Feline Urinary Tract Health.

2. The protein in canned food is more apt to be higher in animal-based protein versus plant-based protein - contrary to most dry foods.  Keep in mind that we are feeding cats (strict carnivores) not cows.

3. The carbohydrate level of most canned foods is lower than that of most dry foods.

There is no dry food that covers all of the very important points listed above.

Important note:  Keep in mind that grains and vegetables contribute to both the carbohydrate and protein content of food but understand that the protein from these ingredients is plant-based, not animal-based.  As explained in my Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition, cats are strict carnivores and need to get their protein from other animals - not plants.

Therefore, when comparing two foods with the same percentage of protein, it is very important to note the quality (biological value) of the protein.  Plant-based proteins are very low in quality/biological value.

If you do not want to read any further and want two quick bullet points, here they are:

• Get the dry food out of your cat's diet.  (See Feeding Your Cat:  Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition and Feline Urinary Tract Health.)

• Feed canned food with less than 10% of calories from carbohydrates. (See this chart or call the pet food manufacturers.)

When determining the quality of a pet food, there are two main factors involved:

1. ingredients - what is in the food - with amount of each item an important issue but not available on the label

2. composition - the percentage of calories that come from protein, fat, and carbohydrate sources

Unless you are dealing with an allergy to a specific ingredient, the composition of a diet is generally more important than the ingredients as long as you pay attention to where the protein is coming from (i.e.- animals versus plants).

The composition of a feline diet is important because cats are designed to eat a high protein (~50% of calories, or more), moderate fat (~40% of calories or less), and very low carbohydrate (well below 10% of calories) diet.

Unfortunately, this fact is at odds with the issue of profit margin given that carbohydrate and fat sources are cheaper than animal-based protein sources.

Ingredients

When looking at the ingredient list on a label, it is very important to keep in mind that the label tells us nothing about the amount of each ingredient.  This is where the issue of composition (discussed below) helps us out.

For instance, if you see species-inappropriate, carbohydrate-based/plant protein-based ingredients such as rice, potatoes, broccoli, blueberries, etc. on the label, you know that the amount of these inappropriate items must not be very high if the carbohydrate level is low.

On the other hand, if we are dealing with a known allergy to any ingredient, we do not want that ingredient to be present in any amount so that is where the ingredient label does provide value.

Here are a few general guidelines that I like to focus on:

• Stick with poultry (chicken and turkey) and rabbit as the bulk of your cat's diet.  Fish and beef are fairly common food allergens in the cat and can cause inflammatory bowel disease and skin allergies in some cats.   Think 'feathers and long ears', not 'horns and fins'.

Fish is also more apt to be contaminated with heavy metals and PBDEs.  PBDEs are fire retardant chemicals that have a possible link to hyperthyroidism.  Because fish is so palatable to most cats, many cat foods do contain some fish so be careful to read the labels.

If you want to feed a fish-based food as a treat, please limit it to once or twice a week.  (That said, I do not feed my cats any fish on a regular basis.  Luckily, most of my cats don't even like fish.)

• Look for a muscle meat as the first ingredient - rather than a by-product or liver.  This will be listed as "chicken" or "turkey" - not "chicken by-products" or "meat by-products", or "liver".  However, please keep in mind that any canned food is better than any dry food - even canned foods like Friskies or 9-Lives that are by-product based - because they usually have the Big Three covered:

1) They all contain an appropriate (high) water content - critical for urinary tract health.

2) They are usually lower in carbohydrates than dry food. (Hill's and Purina are notable exceptions. In order to enhance their profit margin, these companies make canned foods that are often very high in carbohydrates).

3) All or most of the protein comes from animals - not plants.  (Again, Hill's and Purina are 2 examples of companies that use high levels of grains to enhance profit margin. Therefore, a significant portion of the protein in some of their canned foods come from plants.)

1. Moisture content:  Here is where a company can really increase their profit margin.  Most canned foods are ~78% water which helps keep a cat properly hydrated given their low thirst drive. This leaves 22% (100% - 78%) as dry matter (ie - food/calories/nourishment, fiber, and ash).  I recently encountered a pouch food with 87.5% moisture.  Subtracting 87.5% from 100% left only 12.5% dry matter.  You can readily see that the food with only 78% moisture has nearly double the amount of dry matter in the can/pouch.  Water is cheap yet this particular company is billing this 87.5% moisture-food as a "premium" food and is charging a premium price for it.

I have noticed that many of the products that come in pouches are very high in moisture content and are not giving you much 'bang for your buck'.  Water is a critical nutrient but if you think your cat will benefit from more water in his diet than the usual 75-78% because he has urinary tract issues, you can just add water on your own.

Note: I am trying not to make this subject too complicated.  However, for the sake of completeness, I do need to mention ash content.  Ash is what his left over when all of the protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and water are removed.  Think of a cremated living being and what is left over after the cremation process is completed.  Ash comprises the mineral content that is left over and is part of the 'dry matter' in the above example.  The higher the ash content, the less actual food (calories) is in that dry matter.

Please don't get bogged down with the issue of ash right now.  However, understand that if you are comparing two foods with equal dry matter, the one with the lower ash value is going to give you more food...ie...more calories..... in the can.

• Grains do not belong in cat food although I will discuss this issue in more detail below.  They are there to add cheap bulk to the food and increase the profit margin of the company. When you see a food called "Chicken and Rice", please understand that the rice is there to appeal to a human who is not educated regarding the cat's obligate carnivore status.  Please do not reward these companies by purchasing their products.

• Vegetables:  Cats have no dietary need for vegetables yet companies like Hill's Science Diet and Iams - clearly without your cat's best interest in mind - play on the fact that the average person really does not understand the obligate carnivore status of the cat.  Note that on, for one example, Hill's Nature's Best dry food there are 5 pictures: 1) rice 2) peas 3) wheat 4) carrots 5) fish or chicken.

Do you see that the above ingredients (1-4) are simply catering to what many humans perceive as healthy items to be included in their own diet?  These first 4 ingredients add to the carbohydrate load of the diet (30% of calories in this case) and also please note that wheat is a very hyperallergenic ingredient that does not belong in cat food.  These ingredients simply increase the profit margin of the companies and are marketing ploys to get unsuspecting consumers to purchase their species-inappropriate diets.

Also note that Hill's does not put an ear of corn on the front of the bag since most people know that corn is not the most nutritious vegetable available yet if you look at the first ingredient in this food, it is cheap, species-inappropriate corn.

Another marketing ploy that Hill's is now incorporating into their labeling is the substituting of the word "corn" with "maize".  Maize IS corn and since this company is well aware of the fact that consumers are becoming more savvy about pet food ingredients, they have decided to try to disguise the corn in their diets by calling it "maize".  These deceptive marketing practices should be abhorred and certainly not rewarded with you purchasing dollars.

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As mentioned above, the biggest problem that we encounter when trying to evaluate a pet food by its ingredient list is that we have no idea how much of each ingredient is actually in the food.

This is an important point to consider because most commercial canned foods do contain some species-inappropriate ingredients such as rice or potatoes and we need to pick our battles lest we go crazy trying to find a decent cat food.

Take, for example, Pet Promise.  I got annoyed when I picked up a can of this food and saw brown rice on the label because, as stated above, rice is nothing but a cheap filler to add to the profit margin of the company.  I liked the rest of the ingredients so I checked Janet and Binky's chart for this food's composition (see below) and saw that it is listed at a very low 2% of calories from carbohydrates.  If this value is to be believed (which I do not think it can be), this is an acceptable food to feed. 

I will admit that my level of trust for the pet food industry is not high.  This is why I made the comment above regarding skepticism of the carbohydrate number of 2% for Pet Promise considering how visible the rice is in this food.

Update 1/4/10:  Pet Promise is no longer being manufactured but I am leaving the above paragraphs intact to use as an example.

Another example of a product with an insignificant amount of species-inappropriate ingredients is Wellness canned food. It lists several ingredients (such as carrots, broccoli, blueberries, etc.) that are high in carbohydrates but when you look at the actual carbohydrate content of the food, it is very low.  What does that tell us?  It tells us that those inappropriate ingredients are present in very low amounts and are listed on the label to appeal to the human who thinks that fruits and vegetables are good for cats.  Cats have no need for fruits and vegetables but they are acceptable ingredients if present in low amounts.

Another issue that needs to be mentioned is that of ingredient splitting.

We all know that ingredients are listed in descending order by weight but that does not tell the whole story.  For instance, the ingredient splitting trick allows pet food manufacturers to split up the grain fractions or the by-product fractions so that they can be listed lower on the ingredient list.  However, when all of the grain or by-product sources are added together, they often total more than the meat that is listed first.

Given the fact that most commercial canned foods contain some species-inappropriate ingredients, and that the ingredient splitting trick is often used, we have to look at the composition of the food to determine if it is a reasonably appropriate diet to feed.

Composition

Composition refers to the breakdown of the 3 basic food components that provide calories:

• protein

• fat

• carbohydrate

One of the most confusing aspects of food evaluations involve the terms:

• as fed ('wet weight')

• dry matter basis ('dry weight')

• metabolizable energy (ME) - calories that come from protein/fat/carbohydrate

The most accurate way to evaluate food is to consider the calories (ME) that come from the protein, fat, and carbohydrate fractions.  This allows us to compare various diets with worrying about their different water (moisture) levels.

Janet and Binky's chart uses the ME values. 

(For those readers who want to read more about wet weight versus dry weight, I will include a section discussing those methods at the bottom of this webpage.)

Unfortunately, pet food labels ("Guaranteed Analysis") give us very little usable information regarding composition since they do not list the carbohydrate percentage and they only list the protein and fat in terms of minimums and maximums.

For instance, if a food states that the fat is a minimum of 6%, it could very well be much higher than that.  By definition, any value listed as a "minimum" or "maximum" is inaccurate and not very helpful.

Human food labels list the actually measured grams of protein, fat and carbohydrate - not just minimums and maximums.

All is not lost, however. 

Let's say you pick up a can of food that is grainless and free of vegetables.  You know that this food is going to be very low in carbohydrates.

However, you still have no idea what the fat and protein levels are.

As discussed below, since fat is cheaper than protein, many of the grain-free, low-carb canned foods are very high in fat and low in protein.

What is really crazy is that the pet food manufacturers are allowed to list fat as a 'minimum' - not a 'maximum'. This gives them free-rein to make super high fat (read: high profit margin) pet foods.

An example using the can's Guaranteed Analysis values follows:

I often hear people say that you can determine the carbohydrate content of a food by adding up the water ("moisture") + protein + fat + fiber + ash and then subtracting the sum from 100%.  Unfortunately, this can be extremely misleading in some cases.

Since profit margin is a pet food company's number one priority, you can bet that the protein amount will be pretty close to the minimum value listed on the can. This is because protein - especially when in the correct form (meat - not plant protein) - is expensive.

On the other hand, fat is often present in far higher amounts than the minimum value listed on the label.  This is because fat is inexpensive.

Let's use Wellness canned Chicken as an example of how misleading the carbohydrate calculation from the label values can be:

Guaranteed Analysis:

• Protein (min) 10.0%

• Fat (min) 6.0%

• Fiber (max) 1.0%

• Moisture (max) 78.0%

• Ash (max) 1.8%

If you add up all of those numbers, you get 96.8%.  Subtract this from 100% and you get 3.2% carbohydrates on a wet-weight basis.  However, values should be considered on a dry matter basis (DMB).  In order to convert that 3.2% into a dry matter basis, we must divide it by the dry matter in the food which, in this case, is 22%.  (100% - 78% moisture = 22% dry matter.)  3.2% divided by 22% = 14.5% carbohydrates on a DMB.  Most of us would walk away from a food with that carbohydrate level.

However, when I obtained the more accurate measured values (versus minimums and maximums) from the company, it turns out that the fat content is closer to 11% - not 6% as listed on the label (as a minimum) and the protein was actually 12% not 10%.  The moisture content was measured at 73% - not 78%.   The wet-weight carbohydrates measured at 1.7% and the carbohydrates on a DMB were 6.5%.

So you can see by the above example (14.5% versus 6.5%) just how misleading it can be to try and evaluate the carbohydrate content by looking at the guaranteed analysis values on the can.  When using the values on the can, the carbohydrate number came up at more than double the actually measured amount - and the fat content appeared to be about half of the actually measured amount.

Keep in mind that all food products are going to vary from batch-to-batch so it is conceivable that one batch of Wellness Chicken may actually be closer to the 14% carbohydrates if the protein and fat amounts are closer to the minimums for that batch.  The same is true for all of the numbers on Janet's chart.  I often hear people get a bit too fixated on the chart's numbers - comparing a food that is 3% versus 8% of calories from carbohydrates without realizing that the food marked "3%" today could be 8% with the next batch.....and the food marked "8%" could be 3% on the next batch.

Nothing in life is 100% consistent but I would much rather base my decisions on the actual measured values rather than the values found on the can under minimums and maximums.

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Ok - so we have determined that the label does not give us much usable information but let's say that you are either calling the company for measured values (versus the guaranteed analysis on the can) or are using Janet and Binky's chart.

Let me repeat what I said at the top of this page:

Cats are designed to eat a high protein (~50% of calories, or more), moderate fat (~40% of calories or less), and very low carbohydrate (well below 10% of calories) diet.

Unfortunately, this fact is at odds with the issue of profit margin given that carbohydrate and fat sources are cheaper than animal-based protein sources.

So what does all of this mean with respect to our choices of canned food?

Let me use Merrick Cowboy Cookout as an example.  Note on Janet and Binky's chart that its ME breakdown is as follows:

• Protein calories = 52%

• Fat calories = 42%

• Carbohydrate calories = 5%

This profile is very close to what would be found in a cat's natural prey such as a mouse.

Now let's look at Natura EVO 95% duck:

• Protein calories = 26%

• Fat calories = 70%

• Carbohydrate calories = 4%

Note that the profit margin for a pet food company making a meat-based 70% fat/26% protein diet will be higher than it will be for a company making a 42%  fat/52% protein diet because fat is cheaper than animal (meat)-based protein.

Keep in mind that the percentage of calories from protein/fat/carbohydrate must add up to 100%.  Therefore, you can see that if you lower one fraction, either one or both of the other fractions must rise.

With the introduction of the 'grain-free', 'low-carb' diets, in marched the high fat diets. 

If we want to keep the carbohydrates below 10%, that leaves 90% left over to split up between fat and protein.  Given that animal-based protein is expensive and fat is cheap, it is not surprising that, in the interest of profit margin, pet food companies are now making high fat diets.

Does this annoy me?  You bet it does given how much some of these pet food companies are charging for the so-called 'premium' diets.  Considering what they are charging, it would be nice to see a higher protein/lower fat level - especially for any chubby cat that is on a weight loss program.  Otherwise the cat can end up in a state of protein malnourishment when the calories are restricted for weight loss.  (See my Feline Obesity page.)

That said, we must pick our battles with the pet food industry and, on a good note, most cats do very well on high fat diets.  In most cases, fat is a healthier source of calories for a cat than carbohydrates.

For instance, I have had ~550 cats and kittens go through my foster room over the years that have grown and thrived on adult canned Wellness - Chicken or Turkey.  (I use Wellness because it comes in 12 ounce cans which is more economical than Merrick which comes in smaller cans.)

• Protein calories = ~30%

• Fat calories = ~65%

• Carbohydrate calories = ~5%

Note that kittens do not need "kitten" food.  They just need plenty of canned, species-appropriate (low carb/meat-based) adult food.  Remember....there are no mice running around in the wild with "kitten" stamped on them.  Kittens eat just what their parents eat - just more of it on a per-pound-of-kitten basis.

Important note:  When going through Janet and Binky's chart, you will notice that a lot of the higher protein foods are fish-based. This is not a good thing since we do not want to feed a lot of fish to cats.  In addition to the problem of cats becoming fish addicted, fish is high in phosphorus (not a good thing for our older cats with aging kidneys) and are also often high in PBDEs which are fire retardant chemicals known to negatively influence the thyroid gland.

See below for a list of other canned food choices.

By-products

This is an area of controversy and there are no clear-cut answers as to whether to feed products containing them because the quality and quantity can vary with each company and batch of food.  By-products are normal parts of a carnivore's diet and consist of some very nutritious organ meats such as liver, spleen and kidney.  On the other hand, by-products can also include feet and feathers which are of very low biological value.  The problem is that it is impossible to tell the actual composition and level of quality of the by-products in any food. 

By-products do include some very nutritious items but they also contain organs that have been deemed "unfit for human consumption" and this is where personal reluctance enters into my decision to feed a food without by-products.  Organs that show signs of disease such as cancer or infection are 're-routed' from the human meat market to the pet food market.   The fact that cats eat by-products in the wild cannot be disputed.  However, by-products that are consumed fresh 'on the hoof' are not the same as those that have been designated as unfit for human consumption.  Therefore, the two situations are not entirely comparable. 

It would not bother me to feed by-products to my cats if the reason they were deemed unfit for human consumption was simply due to the human-perceived "ick" factor...i.e....most humans do not want to eat animal brains (mad cow disease, not withstanding) or animal spleens.  The problem is that it often goes past the aesthetics issue when considering the issue of diseased organs being included in the by-product mix.

The whole issue of by-products or no by-products is a personal one.  We also have to pick our battles with our cats.  For instance, many cats love Friskies, 9-Lives, and Fancy Feast varieties that contain by-products and we all know how picky cats can be and how important it is for them to eat - especially when they are ill or are diabetic and must eat on schedule.

I would much rather see a cat eat an all-by-product canned food than any dry food. 

On a favorable note, at least by-products are not hyperallergenic, do not contribute a carbohydrate load to the food, and are of animal origin - not plant origin.  It also makes more sense to include some animal-derived by-products in a carnivore's diet than it does to add potentially hyperallergenic, high carbohydrate grains like corn, wheat, rice, or soy.

If feeding a diabetic cat, a completely grain-free food that contains by-products (such as most varieties of Fancy Feast) is going to be lower in carbohydrates than one with grains and is therefore a better choice for a cat with this disease.  However, always check the carbohydrate content of any food that you are feeding to a diabetic cat. 

Cost and Quality

Economics must be factored into any decision regarding what we feed our pets.  The foods listed below can be quite expensive and may be outside of a person's budget so let's look at this further and prioritize things a bit.  Of course all levels of quality can be mixed and matched according to a person's budget and the needs - and always-picky taste buds - of the cat.  Some cats really like the lower quality (all by-products) foods better than the 'higher end' foods so this is where the 'taste bud negotiation' comes into play. 

If you want your cat to eat a higher-end food but all he wants is Friskies or 9-Lives, play around with the percentage of each.  He may eat the higher-end foods at 80% if you mix in 20% of the lower-end foods.....or 50:50....or......

Generally speaking, there are 4 basic levels of canned food:

1. Products that contain all by-products and no muscle meat such as Friskies and 9-Lives.  Please note that Friskies has started to add rice to some varieties of these foods which is very disappointing as it just adds carbohydrates to an otherwise low-carb food.

2. Products that have a muscle meat listed as a first ingredient followed by by-products.  Examples include some varieties of Fancy Feast.  (Always read the labels because some flavors of Fancy Feast start with by-products as a first ingredient and do not list any muscle meat after the by-products making these varieties fit into category 1.)

3. Products that contain only muscle meat and no by-products but also contain grains.  Examples of these types of foods are found below under the heading With Grains.

4. Products that contain only muscle meat and no by-products or grains.  See the Grain-Free list below.

It can be argued that category 2 and 3 could be switched depending on the level of grains.  I would use the carbohydrate content as my guide - feeding the lowest carb choice.

Keep in mind that if the carbohydrate content of a food is high, that tells you that a substantial portion of the protein in the food may be coming from plants - not animals.

Remember that whole grains are a source of carbohydrates and protein.  So if you see something like "whole grain corn" in the food, this tells you that some of the protein listed on the can is coming from plants, not animals.

See Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition for an explanation of why we need to feed obligate carnivores animal-based proteins, not plant-based proteins.

Innova makes a dry food called EVO that is approximately 10% carbohydrates (even lower than some canned foods) and is grain-free.  Unfortunately, it is still a dry food and is still far too low in water content to be an appropriate diet for a cat.

If you are considering feeding  this water-depleted diet, please see Feline Urinary Tract Health before you do so.  Consider what Opie, and many other cats like him, went through due to being fed a dry food diet.

EVO dry food is also very high in calories and often results in an unhealthy weight gain for many cats fed this diet. Also please consider that all dry foods are cooked for long periods of time at very high temperatures and this alters the biological value of many nutrients.

EVO does have its place, however, and can be used as a low-carb dry food during the transition stage when moving a dry food addict to canned food.  These dry food addicts can at least have their carb load decreased substantially while their caretakers work to get them on a more nutritious low-carb canned food.

In general, it is best to stay under 10% of calories from carbohydrates - especially if your cat is diabetic.  If you are caring for a diabetic cat please read Feline Diabetes - especially the STOP sign section - and make sure that you understand the highly probable need to decrease the insulin dosage if you are decreasing the carbohydrate intake of your cat. 

While most canned foods are low in carbohydrates, the Hill's Science Diet line of canned foods are notable exceptions.  Many of these foods (both the prescription and non-prescription foods)  are very high in carbohydrates and are not diets that I would recommend feeding.

For the math-inclined, I have added a section below showing two methods to roughly calculate the percentage of carbohydrates in food.  You can skip this section if you plan to call the company for more accurate 'actually measured' values or if the food that you are feeding is listed on Janet and Binky's chart.  

Calculating the Carbohydrate Percentage

(Even though I discuss above just how inaccurate the labels are, I will include this section anyway.  You really can skip this section and go right to the Contacting Pet Food Companies if you don't want a headache.)

You will see conflicting carbohydrate values listed for the same food depending on how the value is calculated.  There are three basic methods used to calculate the value of an individual nutrient:

1. As a percentage of food weight (includes water)

2. As a percentage of dry matter 

3. As a percentage of calories  (Janet and Binky's site)

When determining the carbohydrate content of a food, method 2 and 3 will yield roughly the same number.

Even though it is preferable to discuss nutrition in terms of the percentage of calories that a nutrient provides, most pet food manufacturers list their products' nutrients in the form of percentage of weight.

Nutrient information may be listed in two different formats on the manufacturers' websites.  One is the guaranteed analysis (GA) figures (should be on all websites and on the side of the actual can of food).   However, as discussed above, GA values are only minimums and maximums and can be very misleading.

The other format is the actual measurement of the ingredients in one sample of the food.  These values more accurately reflect what is in the product and you should try and obtain them from the company - especially if you are dealing with a diabetic cat.

Even though the GA values are not terribly accurate, they can provide a rough guesstimation of the contained nutrients.  However, whenever possible, try to obtain the actually measured values.

To calculate the approximate weight of the carbohydrate in a food, add up the values for moisture, protein, fat, fiber, and ash and subtract this value from 100%.  Here is an example from the PetGuard website for their Organic Chicken and Vegetable Entree:

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:
Crude Protein 9.0% Min
Crude Fat 7.0% Min
Crude Fiber 1.0% Max
Moisture 78.0% Max
Ash 2.3% Max

If we add up the above figures, and then subtract this value from 100%, we come up with a rough idea of the carbohydrate content of this food: 3%.

But we are not finished yet.  The value of 3% needs to be converted to a 'dry matter basis' (DMB) for accuracy.  This calculation takes the water component out of the equation and then allows values for canned and dry foods to be comparable.

For the DMB value, we see that there is 78% water in this food.  That leaves 22% as dry matter.  If we take our 3% and divide it by 22% we come up with 14% carbohydrates (by weight) on a dry matter basis.  With further calculations (see below) to compute the calories from carbohydrates, we come up with a value of 11%.

Calculating the percentage of calories from the carbohydrate part of the diet can be done with a few equations (shown below).  This will come in handy if you interested in a food that is not on Janet's chart and you are able to get the actual measured weight values from the company.

Again, less than 10% of a carnivore's calories should be derived from a carbohydrate source.

When calculating the percentage of calories derived from the proteins, fats and carbohydrates we use the figures of 3.5 calories contributed by every gram of carbohydrate.  For every gram of protein, 3.5 calories are provided and for every gram of fat, 8.5 calories are added. 

For these calculations, you don't have to worry about converting the values to DMB  since the water content does not matter when looking at the percent-of-calories issue.  (You must stay consistent, however, by using all figures leaving the water in [as fed or "wet weight"], or using all figures taking the water out [DMB]) This is the nice thing about '% calories' values - you can compare canned and dry food and not worry about the vastly different moisture content of the two types of foods.

We will use the PetGuard example above - keeping in mind the limitations for accuracy when using GA numbers:

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:
Crude Protein 9.0% Min
Crude Fat 7.0% Min
Crude Fiber 1.0% Max
Moisture 78.0% Max
Ash 2.3% Max

We see that 9% of this food is made up of protein (9 grams of protein per 100g of food) so 9 X 3.5 = 31.5 calories from protein.  Repeating the calculation for the 7% fat, we get 7 X 8.5 = 59.5 calories and from our calculations above, we know that this food is 3% carbohydrates.  3 X 3.5 = 10.5 calories from carbohydrates.

31.5 + 59.5 + 10.5 = 101.5 total calories per 100 grams of food

To calculate the percentage of overall calories from each food source, divide each amount by the total calories:

Protein: 31.5 divided by 101.5 = 31%

Fat:  59.5 divided by 101.5 = 59%

Carbohydrate:  10.5 divided by 101.5 = 10%

To double-check your math, add up the percentages to make sure they equal 100%.

31% + 59% + 10% = 100%

Contacting Pet Food Companies

I frequently receive emails asking me to evaluate various canned food choices on the market.  Unfortunately, it is just too time-consuming to answer these requests individually.  I wrote this webpage to help the reader decide for themselves what could potentially be a suitable diet. 

It is up to the reader to do their own research if they are interested in feeding a diet that is not on Janet and Binky's chart.  This means calling the company if you want to know the percentage of calories coming from protein, fat, and carbohydrates (also known as the "metabolizable energy profile") or the phosphorus level which is important for cats with kidney disease. 

Keep in mind that new products come out on a regular basis and it would be impossible to keep Binky's chart completely up-to-date.  Plus, companies can change recipes within their food lines so the information on Binky's chart may - or may not be - current.

To ensure the most current values for any food, you will need to contact the company who manufactures it.  However, please be aware that it can be like pulling teeth to get usable information from the pet food companies.  Some companies are better than others but you have to be persistent with many of them.

If a company does not willingly divulge the nutritional information, then I will not  use their products.

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Use the following dialog when calling the companies:

"I would like to know the percentage of calories that comes from protein, fat, and carbohydrates."  This is also known as the "metabolizable energy profile".

Stress that you do not want the 'guaranteed analysis' figures as they are nothing more than minimums and maximums and this information (as it pertains to protein and fat but not carbs or phosphorus) is already contained on the can.

Values expressed as minimums or maximums are, by definition, unreliable since there is no floor or ceiling with regard to the amounts. In other words, if a can lists a "minimum of 6% fat", it could be 10%....or 12%....or 15%....or...

If you have a cat with kidney problems, you will also want to ask:

"How many milligrams of phosphorus are in the food per 100 kcal."

Many companies will give you the phosphorus value in terms of dry matter percentage and will not provide the mg/100 kcal value.

This is a complicated subject that is impossible to cover in one webpage article.  If the reader needs more detailed help, I am available for phone consultations.

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Note:  The frustrations associated with trying to pick a suitable commercial cat food based on the very limited information provided on pet food labels are what led me to finally start making cat food.  I fully realize that this is not the direction that most people want to go in so I wrote this page in order to help the reader as much as possible.

Commercial Foods

Note:  If you are tempted to write to me to ask about a certain food, please see the section above: Contacting Pet Food Companies.  If you need more help past what is contained on this extensive website, you will need to set up an appointment for a phone consultation.  Advice cannot be given via email.

Please check any food that you feed for its current ingredient list.  The comments below were written in ~2006 and may or may not be accurate at this time.

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No commercial cat food you buy is without some drawbacks, but listed below are some products made by companies that have gone the extra mile to either use no grains or minimize them and other plant-based “fillers” in their foods and use meat as the primary ingredient - not a meat by-product.  The listed foods are also void of any questionable preservatives such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin and do not contain any by-products.  None of the listed products contain corn, wheat, or soy.

This list is not comprehensive.  These are just a few examples of some higher quality products.  My goal with this webpage is to teach the reader how to evaluate a pet food on their own by using the information outlined above.

Be aware that companies have variations in ingredients within their own product line.  They will also change ingredients in any given food from time to time.  Remember to always read the ingredient list and bear in mind that just because a label says “premium” or “natural”, this does not necessarily mean that the food inside the can is appropriate for your carnivore. 

Websites are listed for your convenience in order to find the stores nearest you that may carry the company’s products. 

Raw Meat and Bones - Balanced Diets

Feline's Pride:  (www.felinespride.com)  This is my favorite commercial food.  If I did not have the time to make my own cat food, this is what I would be feeding to my cats.  This is an expensive food due to the fact that it is shipped to your doorstep frozen, but I think it is worth every penny if you can afford it.  This is currently what Bennie is eating.  (See Bennie's blog on the Feline Obesity page.) One of the reasons why I like this food is because it has a great protein/fat/carbohydrate composition.

Nature's Variety Raw Medallions: (http://www.naturesvariety.com) This diet, unlike many raw diets, has a reasonable blend of only 5% fruits and vegetables.  Many raw diets contain a much higher level of species-inappropriate ingredients.

High Quality, Grain-Free Canned Foods

Merrick: (www.merrickpetcare.com) This company makes some varieties of canned products without grains but several of them do contain grains.  Read the labels carefully.  Note that they have a more species-appropriate protein content than some of the other foods listed below.  For instance, Cowboy Cookout has the protein/fat/carbohydrate profile that mimics a mouse.

Wellness:  (www.omhpet.com) Wellness is a complete, balanced diet.  No supplementation is needed and can be fed, as is, on a daily basis as the sole diet.  Wellness is a very low carbohydrate (range depending on variety: 1%-12%), high quality canned food.  Note: This company has chosen to add grains (brown rice) to some of the canned foods. This will increase the carbohydrate content.  Be sure to look for a small yellow triangle on the front of the can stating that the food is "Grain Free".  

Nature's Variety: (http://www.naturesvariety.com)  Nature's Variety canned food is also a complete, balance diet that is fine for daily use.  No supplementation is need.  This is also a very low carbohydrate food. Nature's Variety also makes a high quality raw food as noted above.

EVO: (www.naturapet.com)  Innova EVO is a complete diet for daily feeding and only 3% of its calories come from carbohydrates. **Please note that this food is very high in phosphorus and would not be a good food choice for any cat that is showing signs of renal insufficiency.

EVO 95%:  (www.naturapet.com)  This diet is lower in phosphorus but higher in fat than the EVO listed above.

Wysong’s Au Jus Canned Meats: (www.wysong.net) (In Canada: www.wysongcanada.net) Several of Wysong’s regular canned diets have undesirable grains in them but the plain canned meats are grainless.  These are referred to as "All Meat" or "Au Jus".  These all-meat diets are devoid of calcium so they are not balanced for daily use. You must add Wysong’s “Call of the Wild” supplement to ensure that the meals are properly balanced if used as a sole diet.  Otherwise, use the Au Jus canned food, without supplementation, for a few meals each week.  Not every meal needs to be balanced so this is an excellent use for this product.  These products are relatively expensive and are sometimes hard to find.

Avoderm Select Cuts: (www.breeders-choice.com) This high quality product is a complete diet for daily use.  Please disregard the Breeder's Choice website that urges the reader to provide dry food at all times.  This is very poor advice.

Wysong’s Archetype: This is not a canned food.  It is a cold-processed grainless diet, containing high quality meats, bones, organs, probiotic cultures, and other supplements.  You add water to hydrate this food and then serve.  This product is relatively expensive and hard to find.

Country Pet:  (www.countrypet.com)  This is a frozen product that is not raw but also is not heavily cooked.  This company blanches the meats prior to freezing.  I feed this to my cats as a supplement to their raw meat diet for variety.  I find it in a freezer cart in the pet food section at Whole Foods Market.  Check their website for other sources.  I feed the Chicken dog food and sometimes the Fish and Chicken cat food.  I say "sometimes" because I do not like to feed a lot of fish to my cats and I never feed it to my IBD cat due to its tendency to be hyperallergenic in the cat.  This is why I prefer the Chicken dog food over the Fish and Chicken cat food.

We all know that commercially prepared (cooked) dog food, as a general rule, should not be fed to cats because cats need more taurine (an essential amino acid) than dogs do.  I have checked with the company that produces this food and have been assured that there is enough taurine in the dog food to meet a cat's needs.  (In fact, the cat and dog food contain the same amount of taruine.) That said, if I was going to feed more than 50% of the total diet comprising either of these foods, I would feel more comfortable adding in 50 mg of taurine to each meal for a total taurine supplementation of 100mg/day.  (The other option is to just add 100 mg to one feeding/day.) 

Taurine can be purchased in any health food store or Whole Foods Market or can be purchased online at www.iherb.com or other internet sources.  Use the capsule or loose powder form and mix into the food.  Some taurine is always lost even with minimal processing of the meat. This company does not add any extra taurine to either the cat or the dog food to account for any losses so it just adds to my personal comfort level to add some if this diet is going to make up more than 50% of the total diet.

 Quality Canned Foods With Grains

**Diabetic cat caregivers:  These diets have not been checked for their carbohydrate content - except for Natural Balance.  Check Janet and Binky's chart and if you don't see these foods there, it is recommended that you call the company to find out the percentage of calories that come from carbohydrates.

PetGuard: (www.petguard.com) Some contain wheat germ.  Read the labels. carefully.

Felidae: (www.canidae.com)

Innova: (www.naturapet.com)

Pinnacle, APD, Avoderm:  (www.breeders-choice.com)

Precise:  (www.precisepet.com)

Eagle Pack: (www.eaglepack.com)

Evolve: (www.evolvepet.com)

Newman's Own: (www.newmansownorganics.com)

Merrick: (www.merrickpetcare.com)  This company makes some varieties of canned products without grains but several of them do contain grains.  Read the labels carefully.

Trader Joe's:  (www.traderjoes.com)

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Natural Balance: (www.naturalbalanceinc.com) I recently received information from this company regarding the carbohydrate content of their canned foods.  The values range from 13%-24% of total calories which is higher than should be fed.  One of the canned choices - Salmon - is only 5% carbohydrates but fish should not be fed to cats in large amounts.

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June 18, 2007 update:

Even though I am hoping that you have read my Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition article and will not be feeding any dry food in the future, I had to add a link to this commentary on the 'breed-specific' dry foods that are currently being marketed by companies obviously desperate to gain more market share by hoping that the consumer will actually believe the absurd claims that they make regarding these diets.  Please see this link for more information.

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The section below is not important.  It is only included for readers who want more detailed information.

As Fed, Dry Matter, Calories

As fed ("wet weight") values include the water content of the food which makes it impossible to compare foods with different moisture levels.  "As fed" means just what it sounds like - the composition of the food as it comes out of the can or the bag.  Dry food cannot be compared with canned food when using these values.

Dry matter basis (DMB) removes the water from the equation.  When foods are considered on a DMB, they can be compared with one another - regardless of the water content.  In other words, a canned food with 78% water can now be compared with a dry food that contains 10% water.

Here is an example of DMB calculation to show you why you can't compare, for example, the protein content of a canned food with the protein content of a dry food:

Let's say you have a can that states a "minimum of 10% protein" and a "maximum of 78% water".  As discussed below, these values are inherently unreliable since they are only minimums and maximums - not set values - but let's assume that we have not called the company for actual measured values and the information on the can is all we have to go on.

If you subtract 78% (water) from 100%, that leaves you with 22% dry matter - which includes protein, fat, carbohydrates, ash, and fiber.

Take the 10% minimum protein and divide it by 22%. This gives you a value of 45% minimum protein on a DMB.

Now let's say that you have a dry food that lists "protein 30% minimum" and "moisture 10% maximum". At first glance - before DMB is calculated - it appears that the dry food has more protein (at 30% as fed) than the canned food (at 10% as fed).

However, when you consider that the dry food only has 10% water and you subtract that from 100%, you find that you have 90% dry matter.

Now divide your 30% minimum protein amount by 90% and you end up with 33% protein on a dry matter basis which is less than the 45% DMB protein found in the canned food.

Metabolizable energy (ME) is the most accurate way to compare foods with one another. This measurement disregards any part of the food that does not provide calories such as water, ash, or fiber.  It only considers the fact that calories are derived from the protein, fat, and carbohydrate fraction of the food and nothing else.

As mentioned many times on this website, a valuable resource for information regarding the composition of many commercial foods can be found on Janet and Binky's chart.  However, it can be an extremely frustrating task to try and get actual measured values out of a company but fortunately, Janet is a stickler for detail and her chart only includes food for which she has obtained the more accurate actual measured values versus the vague guaranteed analysis numbers on the can.

That said, and as noted above in the Contacting Pet Food Companies section, please call the companies in question if you desire the most current information on any food that you are feeding.  Formulations can change frequently and it would be impossible to keep the chart completely current.

You will notice that Janet lists the protein, fat, and carbohydrate values in terms of 'percentage of calories' from each component (metabolizable energy values) versus listing them as dry matter basis or as fed weights. All 3 columns on her chart add up to 100%.  If you are interested in how Janet computes the 'calories from' values from the wet or dry weights, please see her FAQ page or this section above.

The 'wet weight' or 'as fed' values are what you see on the side of the can under 'guaranteed analysis'.  This information is not very useful since, by definition, minimums and maximums are inaccurate.