A lot of people have said that a grain-free high protein wet food diet is best for cats. I understand that the canned has more moisture, which cats need. I also agree with grain-free food because it has worked for one of my cats. However, I don't understand how it is possible to feed " high protein" wet food. I have been reading several canned food labels and most of the canned foods contain very little protein, usually less than 10%. The majority of the food is water. It seems that dry foods have a higher percentage of protein, according to the labels. When you say wet food, are some of you actually finding a canned food that is high protein, or are you talking about raw? (or something else)
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Wet food/High Protein doesn't make sense!
- Thread starter tabbysia
- Start Date
What you need to do is remove the moisture from the equation. 
Most foods are 78% moisture. Let's pretend the food is 10% protein, so you do 10 (protein) / 22 (the remainder when moisture is removed) * 100 = 45%! A big difference. The next important step is making sure your protein is primarily coming from meat - for example, peas are around 20% plant protein, which is an inferior protein source to a cat.
Most foods are 78% moisture. Let's pretend the food is 10% protein, so you do 10 (protein) / 22 (the remainder when moisture is removed) * 100 = 45%! A big difference. The next important step is making sure your protein is primarily coming from meat - for example, peas are around 20% plant protein, which is an inferior protein source to a cat.What you need to do is remove the moisture from the equation. Most foods are 78% moisture. Let's pretend the food is 10% protein, so you do 10 (protein) / 22 (the remainder when moisture is removed) * 100 = 45%! A big difference. The next important step is making sure your protein is primarily coming from meat - for example, peas are around 20% plant protein, which is an inferior protein source to a cat.
Most foods are 78% moisture. Let's pretend the food is 10% protein, so you do 10 (protein) / 22 (the remainder when moisture is removed) * 100 = 45%! A big difference. The next important step is making sure your protein is primarily coming from meat - for example, peas are around 20% plant protein, which is an inferior protein source to a cat.I don't know if you have checked out this site yet, but it should help to answer some questions http://www.catinfo.org/
A couple of things to remember in most dry foods the protein is plant based instead of meat based. Along with that on dry food you are looking at the dry matter analysis, while on the canned food it is based on the moisture that is in the food. To be able to compare with the same standard you need to look at the dry matter analysis for the canned food also. I know there are several sites that have this information, the one that I use is from Tanya's ckd site. I have a 13 year old cat that had been diagnoised with ckd a few months back, for him and me it is important that I have foods with a high moisture content and low phosphorus level. Since I am also feeding 3 other cats along with him, (2 being kittens) I also want to provide them with a good amount of protein that their bodies will be able to digest and use.
I am still in the process of getting a handle on cat nutrition myself and over the past couple of months have switched my boys to a canned food diet. After looking at the ingredients that was in the dry food I was feeding, compared to the wet they get now I know they are getting a better diet.
A couple of things to remember in most dry foods the protein is plant based instead of meat based. Along with that on dry food you are looking at the dry matter analysis, while on the canned food it is based on the moisture that is in the food. To be able to compare with the same standard you need to look at the dry matter analysis for the canned food also. I know there are several sites that have this information, the one that I use is from Tanya's ckd site. I have a 13 year old cat that had been diagnoised with ckd a few months back, for him and me it is important that I have foods with a high moisture content and low phosphorus level. Since I am also feeding 3 other cats along with him, (2 being kittens) I also want to provide them with a good amount of protein that their bodies will be able to digest and use.
I am still in the process of getting a handle on cat nutrition myself and over the past couple of months have switched my boys to a canned food diet. After looking at the ingredients that was in the dry food I was feeding, compared to the wet they get now I know they are getting a better diet.
Here is a dry matter basis converter you can download for Excel: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Frankenprey-Calculator.xlsx
To help you understand the difference between the "Guaranteed Analysis" on the label, and the actual nutritional content of the food (on a "Dry Matter Basis"), here's an example.
Take one hypothetical tablespoon of protein powder that weighs half an ounce. Add 8 ounces of water to it. The total weight is 8.5 ounces. The protein powder is 6% of this “food,” ( 0.5 ÷ 8.5 ) and the moisture content is 94% ( 8 ÷ 8.5 ).
Take another hypothetical tablespoon of protein powder of the same weight, and add 16 ounces of water to it, for a total weight of 16.5 ounces. Now protein powder is just 3% of the “food,” ( 0.5 ÷ 16.5 ) and the moisture content is 97% (16 ÷ 16.5).
On a “guaranteed analysis,” these “foods” would be portrayed as:
Food 1: Protein + 8oz Water:
Crude Protein (min) 6%
Moisture 94%
Food 2: Protein + 16oz Water
Crude Protein (min)3%
Moisture 97%
But we put the same amount of protein powder into each! It is the weight of the water that makes the foods look so different despite the nutrients in this food being exactly the same. The more moisture there is in the food, the "less" protein it LOOKS like on the guaranteed analysis.
Dry food usually has a 10% moisture content, so their nutrient composition is going to be very close to the guaranteed analysis, because they have almost no moisture in them.
Meat, before cooking, has a very high moisture content (usually 68% - 75%). It's not necessarily that companies add much water to the food when using canned food; it's that the moisture is removed when making kibble. In fact, this is why kibble that starts with a listed meat is very deceptive: that meat likely contributes very little to the overall nutrition of the food, as after it the dry ingredients are listed. "Chicken" with all its moisture is going to weigh a lot more than a heaping pile of chicken meal, yet it is BEFORE processing that its weight is measured and goes on the label (in descending order of what weighs most first). Yet to make the kibble, all of that moisture is removed, leaving you with almost no real chicken in the food. Although a separate issue, the "chicken" in pet food is NOT breast meat, thigh meat, etc. "Chicken" in pet food is what is left over AFTER that stuff is removed for human consumption. It's often mostly bone and fat, with a little bit of meat, actually. So the protein comes from all the stuff after that ingredient.
This illustrates why direct comparisons of foods with different moisture contents cannot be made with the guaranteed analysis, because the percentages are based on the total weight of the food that contains the water weight.
As Shann said, first you "remove" the water. Take 100%, and subtract the listed moisture content. Then divide each nutrient percentage into the dry matter content of the food. You'll find that most canned foods are higher in protein than kibble.
To help you understand the difference between the "Guaranteed Analysis" on the label, and the actual nutritional content of the food (on a "Dry Matter Basis"), here's an example.
Take one hypothetical tablespoon of protein powder that weighs half an ounce. Add 8 ounces of water to it. The total weight is 8.5 ounces. The protein powder is 6% of this “food,” ( 0.5 ÷ 8.5 ) and the moisture content is 94% ( 8 ÷ 8.5 ).
Take another hypothetical tablespoon of protein powder of the same weight, and add 16 ounces of water to it, for a total weight of 16.5 ounces. Now protein powder is just 3% of the “food,” ( 0.5 ÷ 16.5 ) and the moisture content is 97% (16 ÷ 16.5).
On a “guaranteed analysis,” these “foods” would be portrayed as:
Food 1: Protein + 8oz Water:
Crude Protein (min) 6%
Moisture 94%
Food 2: Protein + 16oz Water
Crude Protein (min)3%
Moisture 97%
But we put the same amount of protein powder into each! It is the weight of the water that makes the foods look so different despite the nutrients in this food being exactly the same. The more moisture there is in the food, the "less" protein it LOOKS like on the guaranteed analysis.
Dry food usually has a 10% moisture content, so their nutrient composition is going to be very close to the guaranteed analysis, because they have almost no moisture in them.
Meat, before cooking, has a very high moisture content (usually 68% - 75%). It's not necessarily that companies add much water to the food when using canned food; it's that the moisture is removed when making kibble. In fact, this is why kibble that starts with a listed meat is very deceptive: that meat likely contributes very little to the overall nutrition of the food, as after it the dry ingredients are listed. "Chicken" with all its moisture is going to weigh a lot more than a heaping pile of chicken meal, yet it is BEFORE processing that its weight is measured and goes on the label (in descending order of what weighs most first). Yet to make the kibble, all of that moisture is removed, leaving you with almost no real chicken in the food. Although a separate issue, the "chicken" in pet food is NOT breast meat, thigh meat, etc. "Chicken" in pet food is what is left over AFTER that stuff is removed for human consumption. It's often mostly bone and fat, with a little bit of meat, actually. So the protein comes from all the stuff after that ingredient.
This illustrates why direct comparisons of foods with different moisture contents cannot be made with the guaranteed analysis, because the percentages are based on the total weight of the food that contains the water weight.
As Shann said, first you "remove" the water. Take 100%, and subtract the listed moisture content. Then divide each nutrient percentage into the dry matter content of the food. You'll find that most canned foods are higher in protein than kibble.
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