Calculating Carbohydrates in Cat Food: A Simple Method

Component Sources

Carbohydrates are one of the three primary nutritional sources for cats. Due to pet food regulations that do not require the listing of carbohydrate content, and the necessity of adding grains during the manufacturing process of dry food to enhance viscosity and shape, grains have become the foundation and main component of cat food.

For manufacturers, the necessity of grains brings significant benefits. Starch allows the food to take shape, while the roots and stems of grains, along with legumes, provide calories that do not meet a cat's nutritional needs (plant proteins and starch). Plant byproducts also offer fibers that can aid in weight loss.

Therefore, due to technical justifications or additional value, grains, roots, legumes, and plant fibers have been widely added to pet food for many years.

Of course, the proportion of these ingredients in the formula accounts for their weight. In the cat food industry, whether it's graininclusive or grainfree, the primary purpose of adding carbohydraterich ingredients (grains, plants, legumes) to feed or canned food is convenience and cost reduction.

Calculation

To calculate the carbohydrate content, first locate the following components in the nutritional information table:

Crude Protein (min)

Crude Fat (min)

Moisture (max)

Crude Fiber (max)

Ash (max)

Some nutritional information tables do not include moisture, but will specify the dry matter percentage. If moisture is present, it refers to the wet weight percentage.

A higherquality cat food will clearly list these five percentages. If the sum exceeds 100%, the labeling is unclear, and the safety of such cat food is questionable.

Calculation Formula:

100% Crude Protein% Crude Fat% Moisture% Fiber% Ash% = Carbohydrate%

However, since moisture does not contain protein, fat, or fiber, converting wet weight percentages to dry weight percentages is more meaningful.

Dry Matter Weight = 100% Moisture%

Example: Dry matter content 90%, moisture content 10%, protein content 30%

Dry Matter Protein Content Calculation: 30% ÷ 90% = 33%

The calculation for dry matter fat and carbohydrate content is the same, i.e.

Dry Matter A Component% = Wet Weight A Component% ÷ (100% Moisture%)

Significance

What is the significance of this calculation? Firstly, it helps us make clear judgments when choosing cat food based on the cat's physical condition, such as avoiding high carbohydrate content for cats on a weight loss diet.

Secondly, the nutrient values in wet food (canned or raw meat) and dry food (cat food) differ greatly in their respective nutritional information tables. Wet food contains 70% to 80% moisture, while dry food has a moisture content of about 10%. If moisture content is not removed, the nutritional ratio of wet food is far inferior to that of dry food.

For example:

(Canned Food): Moisture 80%, Protein Content 10%

(Dry Food): Moisture 10%, Protein Content 40%

Canned Food Dry Matter Protein Content Calculation: 10% ÷ (100% 80%) = 50%

Dry Food Dry Matter Protein Content Calculation: 40% ÷ (100% 10%) = 44%

Although the protein content in the nutritional information table for wet food appears lower than that of dry food, the dry matter protein content of wet food is actually higher.

Dry food, due to the manufacturing process, almost inevitably contains starch (excluding top brands), so a dry food with a carbohydrate content of around 20% is considered low.

The content provided by manufacturers is not an exact figure, as they typically offer a minimum and maximum value. However, due to regulations, these values must be listed, allowing for a general assessment.

If your budget allows, it is still recommended to use homemade wet food as the main diet, as it can provide hydration and avoid starch sources such as grains and legumes.