Question about food chart

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by Emily'smom, Sep 24, 2017.

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  1. Emily'smom

    Emily'smom Member

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    Jul 21, 2017
    Hi All! I have been using the wonderful, extensive food chart on these boards when choosing wet foods for my newly diabetic cat Emily. Since she can be fussy, and doesn't typically like Pate's, I noticed that a number of the Fancy Feast ROASTED (chicken and turkey) only had 6% carbs, so I tried them, and she loves them. Yes! I have been having a lot of trouble regulating Emily and was poking around the internet to try and find a feline diabetes specialist here in CT and stumbled upon another forum. On that forum they had a carb calculator that you could download and plug in the numbers from your food to find out the DRY carb matter. For kicks and giggles, I did that with all of the cat food that currently occupies my pantry. I was quite surprised to see that these ROASTED FF foods have 21.8% dry matter carb content. Can someone explain (in simple terms) why there would be such a difference in these numbers?? I am now concerned that the food I thought was the "right" choice for Emily (being under 10% carbs) is not, and that fact alone has been contributing to her high numbers and fluctuations. Thoughts? Thank you so much!
     
  2. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2016
    You need to figure out the carbs from the "as fed" values. Dr. P who created the chart spent countless hours contacting food manufacturers to get this information to compile the list.
     
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  3. Larry and Kitties

    Larry and Kitties Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    The ingredients for the roasted chicken is

    Poultry Broth, Chicken, Liver, Meat By-products, Wheat Gluten, Soy Flour, Poultry By-Products, Soy Protein Concentrate, Artificial And Natural Flavors, Calcium Phosphate, Added Color, Potassium Chloride, Guar Gum, Taurine, Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Carrageenan, Salt, Choline Chloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide

    The guaranteed analysis is
    • Crude Protein (Min)
      11.00%
    • Crude Fat (Min)
      2.00%
    • Crude Fiber (Max)
      1.50%
    • Moisture (Max)
      78.00%
    • Ash (Max)
      2.70%
    • Taurine (Min)
      0.05%
    The % fat is on the low side and based on the ingredients the high carbs seems to be due to the say flour. For info. wheat gluten is protein
     
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  4. Emily'smom

    Emily'smom Member

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2017
    Hi Janet, Thank you for your reply. I am not sure what "as fed" values mean. Sorry....new to feline diabetes, and also have no experience with diabetes in humans. Emily is not regulating, so I am trying to take everything into consideration to figure out why. When I used a carb calculator that I found online http://www.diabeticcatinternational.com/knowledge/calculating-carbs/ to double check all of her food in my pantry, I found not small, but large differences in the carb content of some of the foods I have been feeding her. Just want to make sure I am doing things correctly. I am going to contact Fancy Feast to make sure there have not been changes to these particular varieties.
     
  5. Emily'smom

    Emily'smom Member

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2017
    Hi Larry....I am new to feline diabetes, and have no experience with diabetes in humans either. Trying to educate myself and learn as much as possible. Emily is not regulating, and is losing weight (she is tiny to begin with), so I am trying to take EVERYTHING into consideration to figure out why. The vet is coming again on Thursday. I wanted to recheck all of the food I have been feeding her. Stumbled upon this carb calculator online: http://www.diabeticcatinternational.com/knowledge/calculating-carbs/ There is a big difference (6% as referenced on the food chart on these boards, compared to 21.8% that I get when using this carb calculator) of the Fancy Feast I have been giving her, so I need to make sure that it is indeed a "correct" food for her. I am going to call Fancy Feast and see what I can find out...perhaps they changed their menu, perhaps this carb calculator is incorrect or figures things in a more detailed way than is necessary. I am not sure, but this has been a very frustrating process, and I don't feel like I am making positive gains for Little Emily. :(
     
  6. Barneys dad

    Barneys dad Member

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    Sep 14, 2017
    It sounds like this calculator is like a lot of charts I have seen on line, they assume that anything that is not Protein, fat, fiber or water is a Carb. That is incorrect way of calculating the carb numbers. That is why the numbers are off from what the Mfg test number says it is. The only accurate way is by lab testing and for that we are at the mercy of the companies.
    Also not all Carbs are equal when it comes to diabetes. A carb from one food is instant sugar spike while a different food takes longer to be turned in sugar.

    Sad to say but the cheaper the food the more it can very from batch to batch because the companies' only have to met what label says and if you read it close Min and Max are throw around a lot. That protein listed can come from widely different sources including plant matter and in cases of bad apple companies it could be chemically doctored. That is what killed hundreds of cats and dogs a couple years ago a asisn supplier added antifreeze to some low protein feed stock to fool the protein tests done as QC by the food companies . The pet food companies now do better testing to catch suppliers tainting food with chemicals to fool the testing.
     
  7. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2016
    The chart link posted above is fairly current as Dr. Lisa just finished it a few months ago. All the Fancy Feast CLASSIC are safe to feed.
     
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