Hi Green Spotters! We're back with another nutrition blog, this time about carbohydrates in your dog and cat's food. Join us as we take a deep dive about "carbs" in dog and cat foods.
Carbohydrates in Pet Foods
In this blog, we'll talk about different types of foods, carbohydrates in food and how to calculate the "carbs" in your pet's diet.
Food types for cats and dogs include dry/kibble, dehydrated, canned, freeze-dried, air-dried, gently cooked and raw foods. Homemade diets are another type of pet food, but in this blog we'll focus on commercially available dog and cat foods as they have a guaranteed analysis panel that we can reference and compare. Typically dry diets have the most carbs of any of the food types, and frozen raw diets have the least amount of carbs of the food types we listed here.
What Do Carbs DO for Our Dogs & Cats?
Dogs evolved to be able to tolerate some carbohydrates, along with veggies & fruits. Cats however are obligate carnivores and do not handle carbohydrates well - they are true meat eaters and thrive on a diet full of animal protein. This means dogs can digest some carbohydrates, but cats do not digest them well.
It's important to note as well that all carbohydrates (except fiber) eventually break down into simple sugars. Sugars are a favorite "food" of cancer cells. High carbohydrate diets can contribute to other diseases in the animals eating the diets, including: obesity, diabetes, disruption of the gut biome, excessive hunger, and general inflammation in the body. It's beneficial to avoid high carb diets or adjust them when possible, for your dog or cat (more about how to do this later.)
So why are some foods high in carbohydrates?
1) Every food has sufficient energy (calorie) requirements to meet, and carbohydrates are a cheap source of energy (compared to high-quality proteins). Even working dogs and pets that need to put on weight will benefit more from a higher protein and high fat diet, than they would from a high carbohydrate diet.
2) Dry foods typically have high carbohydrate content as starches are needed to hold the food together during processing. Wet foods typically contain far less carbohydrates (than dry foods) due to not needing a lot of starch for production.
3) Cost. Carbohydrate ingredients are less expensive than high-quality proteins. This means generally more carbs = less expensive food, and sometimes, larger margins for the companies making it.
High Carb Diets
Carbohydrates exist in all foods types to some degree, with dry food or kibble diets containing the most carbs of any food type. The majority of carbs in dry pet foods come from grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, millet, or oats. However it's important to note that grain-free foods CAN contain more carbs than grain-inclusive diets, so "grain-free" is not a stand alone sign of a lower carb dry food. Dehydrated foods can also contain large amounts of carbs depending on the ingredients they contain. Wet, freeze-dried raw, gently cooked and frozen raw diets tend to contain the least amount of carbohydrates. But, let's look at just how many carbs each food has...
Calculating Carbohydrates in Your Pet's Food
Below you'll find an equation to help you identify the percentage of carbohydrates your dog or cat's food contains. Begin by looking at the "guaranteed anylasis" label on the back of the bag or can. Next identify the protein, fat, ash, and moisture percentages listed. (If ash isn't listed, see the note below). Then, pull out that handy dandy phone calculator... or your trusty regular calculator! Follow the formula below to figure out the percentage of your pet's food that are carbohydrates.
100 - (protein + fat + moisture + ash) = carbohydrates
Not all pet foods list ash in the analysis panel. If ash % is not shown, assume ash in dry food = 7%, and ash in wet food = 1.5%
Let's look at an example below! Looking at the guaranteed analysis panel on this Nature's Logic dry food, here's the equation solved:
100 - (35% + 15% + 9% + 7%) = 34% Carbohydrates
(Note: the ash was not listed so we used the standard 7%)
What % of carbohydrates does your pet's food contain? In an ideal world foods would contain a maximum of 30% carbs in dry food and 7.5% in wet food for dogs. For cats the ideal maximum of carbs would be 15% in dry food and 2.5% in wet food. For the dry food, this is hard to achieve for most foods! The closest you may find is something like the 34% above. Don't worry, next we'll talk about how to reduce carbohydrates in your pet's diet.
How to Reduce Carbs in Your Pet's Diet
1) Use the above equation to compare foods, especially dry diets. Choose a diet that most closely matches these specifications: lower/lowest carbohydrates & a named protein listed in at least the first two ingredients (more on that below).
2) Look for ingredient panels that list named animal protein (ie. "Chicken", not "meat") or named protein meal as at least the first two ingredients. Pet food ingredients are listed by weight (before processing). More animal protein higher up in the ingredient list will generally mean less carbs than a food with carbohydrate ingredients high in the list. (See the exception below.)
3) Watch out for "ingredient splitting!!!" If a carbohydrate like peas or rice is listed two or more times (ie "brown rice" and "brewer's rice") that starchy carb just jumped higher up on the ingredient list. A sneaky trick, to make a food look like it contains more meat, used by many pet food companies!
4) If feeding a dry food, swap out 15-20% of the food with a balanced wet, gently cooked, or frozen raw food. Doing this will reduce the amount of carbs while maintaining a balanced diet. It also helps add diet variety for your pet, which helps build a stronger gut biome, and that in turn helps build a stronger immune system. This option can also be a most economical option of reducing carbs for pet owners.
5) If possible, feed 100% wet, freeze-dried (be sure to rehydrate), gently cooked, or frozen raw food. These foods will contain the least amount of carbs of the types of foods available. Be wary of dehydrated foods, while they can be good quality, they can also contain a large % of carbohydrates in some formulas. Feeding a non-dry food diet is especially important for cats, as they are obligate carnivores and do not process carbs well.
Want to talk more about carbohydrates in your pet's diet, and options to reduce them? Book a one-on-one nutritional consult with one of our certified pet food nutrition specialists. https://shop.greenspotomaha.com/products/nutrition-consultation