Dog Health Care

Learn about worms and other parasites!

Dog and Cat Surgery Photos

Dog and cat health care articles written and photographed by veterinarians

"The Internet Animal Hospital"

Hundreds of pages and photos of real animal hospital cases

THE INTERNET
ANIMAL HOSPITAL

Dog and Cat Health Care... 
written and photographed by veterinarians
 in actual animal hospital settings

Our mission is to inform and to heal.

Gentle and professional veterinary care

Dog and cat health care articles written by veterinarians

ThePetCenter.com is presented to you as a free pet care resource by
PetFoodDirect.com and NationalPetPharmacy.com

Cat Health Care

Learn about normal blood values and pet health care

View hundreds of real x-ray images in the Radiology Department

America's Pet Store On The Web
87 Brands of Pet Foods! Treats, Supplies, Accessories for Birds, Fish, Pocket Pets, Horses, and Wellness/Holistic Products

Click to visit the Pet Store... Enjoy!

Find Vets Near You
Zipcode:

Rx and nonRx pet medications... browse for prices

Pet Prescription and non-Rx Meds
Prescription and Non-Rx Medications For Pets. Advantage, Capstar, Heartgard, FrontLine, Animal Wellness Center


HOW TO CALCULATE THE PERCENT DRY MATTER IN A PET FOOD

Dry Matter basis (DM) is often used as a reasonable way to determine the percent of a nutrient in a variety of pet food types.  If Kittens need high quality food to grow up happy and healthyI'm not sick... just realxin'  Click to see a huge (80Kb) image of me! you look at a can of cat or dog food, and see that the percent protein in canned food is 9% in the GUARANTEED ANALYSIS chart, you will be certain to think that the canned food has much less protein than a dry food that displays 28% protein.  However, to compare/contrast the two different kinds of food properly, the two should be compared on an equal basis.  The best way to do this is to look at the ingredient analysis after all the water (moisture) has been removed. Since water is readily available and a non nutritive substance (although essential for life), it makes sense to compare different types of diets (dry, canned, frozen, semi-moist) based upon the nutrients in a Dry Matter Basis (DM). . The Dry Matter Basis makes it easy to see which foods actually have the highest amounts of nutrients when the moisture is removed.  It may seem like a dry kibble food has much more protein in it than, for example, a brand of canned food. But look at the Dry Matter Basis examples below and you will see quite a difference between the two types of food.  But some dry foods are so low in fat and protein and high in carbohydrate that at any price it may be less nourishing than another type of food with high levels of protein and fat.
                                    Here are  a few examples of how to calculate the DM Basis for two kind of pet foods...

The formula for calculating the DM percentages of nutrients in pet foods is determined by... Nutrient percent divided by Reciprocal of the Moisture percent

Go to the GUARANTEED ANALYSIS listing on the pet food label.  Look at the percentage stated for the nutrient you are interested in... for example, Protein.  Now, take that percent and divide it by the reciprocal of of the moisture percent listed.  The reciprocal of the moisture content is simply the percent of the pet food that isn't water.  So if a moisture content of a food is stated in the guaranteed analysis is 10% Moisture, the reciprocal percent is 90%.  Another example... if a canned food states 74% moisture in the can, the reciprocal is 26%. 

Plug those numbers into the formula and here is how it is done...
Nutrient percent divided by Reciprocal of the Moisture percent

Happy Snappy Dry Food  

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein 25%
Fat 12%
Fiber 2%
Moisture 10 %

TO calculate the amount of Protein on a DM basis ...  
25 (the percent of the product as fed) divided by 90 (reciprocal of the moisture percent) = 28 percent.  
So on a DM basis the amount of protein in Happy Snappy Dry Food is 28 percent

Look at the difference below in DM values of a canned food and see which pet food, on a Dry Matter Basis, has the most Protein....

 Sunny Bunz Canned Food 

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein 9%
Fat 6%
Fiber 1.5%
Moisture 80 %

TO calculate the amount of Protein on a DM basis ...  
9 (the percent of the product as fed) divided by 20 (the reciprocal of the moisture percent) = 45 percent.  
So on a DM basis the amount of protein in Sunny Bunz Canned Food is 45 percent

(Most pet foods do not list the Carbohydrate content for some strange reason.  But you can find that percentage by using the formula, too.)

EXAMPLE:  We can calculate the DM percent of Protein, Fat, and Fiber, and then total up those percentages.  Whatever percentage is left to make 100% is the amount of Carbohydrate.  So for Sunny Bunz Canned Food and Happy Snappy Dry Food those values for carbohydrate are:

Sunny Bunz Canned Food CARBOHYDRATE calculation

Happy Snappy Dry Food  CARBOHYDRATE calculation

Protein = 45%
Fat = (6 divided by 20) = 30%
Fiber = (1.5 divided by 20) = 7.5%
Total = 82.5% of total food material   So 100% -- 82.5% = 17.5%
Carbohydrate = 17.5%
Protein = 28%
Fat = (12 divided by 90) = 13%
Fiber = (2 divided by 90) =  2.2%
Total = 43.2% of total food material   So 100% -- 43.2% = 56.8%
Carbohydrate = 56.8%

GUESS WHAT!!  If you wanted to feed your dog or cat a high protein pet food that is low in carbohydrate,
 the canned food in this example would be your best choice!
It is very revealing to calculate the carbohydrate percentages for many of the "Weight Loss" or "Lite" or "Low Fat" diets.  Almost all of these diets have high carbohydrate percentages when, in fact, a good weight loss diet should have high percentages of protein and low percentages of carbohydrate.  


Below is a graphic to help you visualize how percentages can change when moisture is removed from a pet food.

Graphic of changes in percentages when mositure is removed from a food

Go back to OBESTIY IN CATS

...or simply CLOSE THIS WINDOW


Related Topics Of Interest
Cats Are Different!
Contrasting Grain-based and Meat-based Pet Foods 
Nutrition Comments

Fatty Acids

The Overweight Pet
"Natural Pet Foods"
X-rays of bone splinter cases

 


Be sure to tell other pet lovers about ThePetCenter.com

Search ThePetCenter.com
for topics by typing in key words:

Links to specific departments in ThePetCenter are below...


All material on this website is the sole property of ThePetCenter.com. 
Any copying or reprinting of this material may be done only with verifiable permission. 

Contact permission@thepetcenter.com for details

Direct corporate inquiries to PFD@petfooddirect.com

This site is owned and operated by  PetFoodDirect.com

America's Pet Store On The Web
87 Brands of Pet Foods! Treats, Supplies, Accessories for Birds, Fish, Pocket Pets, Horses, and Wellness/Holistic Products

Click to visit the Pet Store... Enjoy!

Rx and nonRx pet medications... browse for prices

Pet Prescription and non-Rx Meds
Prescription and Non-Rx Medications For Pets. Advantage, Capstar, Heartgard, FrontLine, Animal Wellness Center