new cat food question

I ran out of my stash of 9 Lives Special Diet and there is no more to be found anywhere. Curse you, Purina! I went through all the stuff I could find on carbs and phosphorus (at Charlie's age I worry about the phosphorus) and picked out Dr. Foster and Smith's Chicken recipe canned food & ordered a bunch of it. But I just realized that their numbers on catinfo.org are a good 3 years old and I don't remember how to figure out what the carbs are from the "guaranteed analysis" thing on their page. BJM, I know you're good at this stuff.. did I do the right thing?

 

I'm still at work. When I get home, I'll see what I can do.
(Anyone else want to pitch in?)

An estimate may be calculated by these steps:
First, enter the numbers in this calculator to get the calories from each of protein, fat, and carbohydrate.
Second, divide the calories from carbohydrate by the total calories and multiply by 100. That's your estimate of the percent of calories from carbohydrates.

If you can get dry matter numbers from the company, your estimate will be better.

 

They do list dry matter numbers on their website, so that's probably what I need. I got some good tips off Tanya's website as well. Oddly enough, 9 Lives has a couple flavors that will work at least part of the time.

 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261 28590 8955&pcatid=8955. I ran the numbers and while he can't say what the carbs actually are, it does say that it's very low carb. Dry matter numbers are included on their website under "more information"

 

Usually I just email them and ask for the % carbs by calorie, but I realize you might need the info quicker than that.

 

I used the calculator that BJM posted and got what I wanted. They are very low carb and in a good spot for the phosphorus as well. And as costs go, it's pretty good, about 90 cents a can. If you order enough at once, you don't have to pay shipping.

 

has anyone noticed that 9 Lives is becoming difficult to find? Most stores sell almost every possible Friskies formulation, but few if any 9 Lives. Do you know if Purina is thinking of dumping the 9 Lives line?

 

My cat does well on either Friskies or Fancy Feast...pates only! Anything else and her sugars go wacky. I tried Sheba pates...her sugar soared. She will be 12 in December and has been on wet food only since May of 2014. Good luck from Jane and Stewey.

 

My local ShopRite always has a lot... Walmart as well- although sometimes they have limited flavors.

If you haven't already seen it- you may find the 9Lives wet food chart I put together helpful- link-

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f2fCxyttT_Ivh_nZyJ1Dm9pIBTzHWLc_okeCuFNjkxA/pubhtml

 

I found them at Family Dollar. They had large cans (13oz) as well as the 5.5oz cans. Several flavors and good price.