| When selecting the best dry food for your dog, why | | | | food your pet consumes is small and expensive. The |
| is it better to go with the chicken meal than the pure | | | | other reason for understanding percent moisture is to |
| chicken? | | | | helpyou compare crude protein and fat between |
| Chicken meal is simply chicken that has been baked | | | | brands and between canned and dry. The listings on |
| to remove bacteria and other toxins. Chicken is | | | | the label are for the food as it is, not as it would be |
| simply pure chicken. | | | | ona dry matter basis. So without converting both |
| What people dont know about chicken, is that it is | | | | brands of food to a dry matter basis you will not be |
| made mostly of water. If a label on a bag of dog | | | | able to compare them accurately. Fortunately, the |
| food says %60 whole chicken, that is quite | | | | conversionis not that complicated. |
| misleading as that does not take into account how | | | | If a dry dog food has 10% moisture we know that it |
| much of that %60 of chicken is left after baking it to | | | | has 90% dry matter. So we look at the label and |
| remove unwanted substances! | | | | check the protein level that reads 20%. Next, we |
| When the label on the bag says %60 of chicken | | | | dividethe 20 percent protein by the 90% dry matter |
| meal, your getting more of the chicken because the | | | | and we get 22%, which is the amount of protein on |
| product has already been baked to remove | | | | a dry matter basis. Does this make sense so far? |
| unwanted affects such as bacteria. | | | | Good. Nowlet us compare this to canned food that |
| Explanation: | | | | has 80% moisture. We know that with 80% |
| Converting dry matter basis | | | | moisture we have 20% dry matter. The label shows |
| This can be the hard part. All pet foods have | | | | 5% protein. So we takethe 5% and divide it by 20% |
| different levels of moisture. Canned foods can have | | | | and we get 25% protein on a dry matter basis. So |
| up to 80% moisture whereas, some dry foods can | | | | the canned food has more protein per pound on a |
| have aslittle as 6%. This is important for 2 reasons. | | | | dry matter basis after allthe water is taken out. We |
| The first is that the food is priced by the pound, and | | | | can do the same for fat, fiber, etc. |
| when you buy dog food that is 80% water you get | | | | Good luck calculating! |
| 20%food and the rest is water. So the amount of | | | | |