| When you are choosing dog food for your dog, | | | | The other reason for understanding percent moisture |
| which one do you think is a better choice: pure | | | | is to help you compare crude protein and fat |
| chicken or chicken meal? | | | | between brands and between canned and dry. The |
| Chicken meal, for sure, is a lot better than pure | | | | listings on the label are for the food as it is, not as it |
| chicken. This is because chicken meal has already | | | | would be on a dry matter basis. So without |
| been processed and cooked to kill bacteria and other | | | | converting both brands of food to a dry matter basis |
| unwanted toxins. Chicken is just chicken. | | | | you will not be able to compare them accurately. |
| Water makes up the majority of a chicken's body. | | | | Conversion is relatively easy. For example, if you |
| When the label on your dog food states 70% whole | | | | have a dog food label that reads 20% moisture and |
| chicken, this does not really mean it contains 70% | | | | 30% protein, this means that 80% (100% - 20%) is |
| chicken. Why? This is because 70% is before the | | | | dry matter and the real protein calculated on a dry |
| chicken was cooked to remove the bacteria in its | | | | matter basis is 30/80 = 37.5%. Are you with me? |
| body. After cooking, this number should drop. Hence | | | | For canned dog food, you basically perform the same |
| be cautious when looking at these numbers. | | | | method of calculations. For example you read on the |
| Different dog foods have different levels of moisture. | | | | dog food label that it contains 75% moisture and |
| Some dry foods have as little as 6% moisture level | | | | 15% protein. This translates to 25% (100% - 75%) |
| while other canned foods have as much as 80% | | | | dry matter and 15/25 = 60% protein on a dry |
| moisture level. You need to know these things as | | | | matter basis. You can use the same approach for |
| they are important for two reasons. | | | | fats and fibers too. |
| First, since dog food is priced by its weight, it could | | | | If you are familiar with the above calculations, then |
| get quite expensive because when you buy dog | | | | spotting a nutritious dog food is not difficult at all. |
| food that is 70% water, you are in fact getting only | | | | You just need to read and calculate. |
| 30% real food. | | | | |