Concerned about carb content in President's Choice food

Hi. I have been feeding Fuzzy President's Choice Finicky Cat Gourmet for a few weeks now. It says on the chart here: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/nonusfd.html that the carbs are low, but it just says President's Choice, not Finicky Cat Gourmet or any other name. I wanted to make sure about the carb content so I gave President's Choice a call today, and they told me they had no idea what the carb content of the food is, but they gave me the calorie content. I really don't know how to figure out through the calorie content how many carbs there are, but I think it's more than what it suggests on the list. I'm feeding him Chicken and Liver which has 1215.85 calories. Turkey and Giblets has 1160.2 calories. And the Beef has 1151.25. I'm very confused. Can anyone clear up for me what this means? I think it may be too high, and I'm really afraid of Fuzzy coming out of remission again because I'm feeding him high carb food.

 

Katie

I'm pretty certain that the numbers are for the finicky cat. But if you are worried, look at the ingredients list...is there wheat/corn/rice? I feed these foods but don't remember the specifics. FWIW, the number of calories don't tell us a thing.

 

No, there's no wheat, corn, or rice. The person on the phone told me to call my vet and convert the calories into carb content, but I don't think it's really possible. I know I'm being overly cautious, but I'm so terrified of Fuzzy going out of remission again. The last time was because I was feeding food too high in carbs, so I'm nervous now whenever I switch to a new food.

I also think it has to be the Finicky Cat one on the list. There's another PC one called Superior Cat or something, but there was gravy in it so I'm guessing it's loaded with carbs

 

whomever told you that you can figure out carb content from the total number of calories was talking out of their *ss ohmygod_smile I think you are overstressing and as long as there are no grains you are likely just fine

 

Thanks. When I heard that high calorie content it freaked me out a bit since I have no idea really how calories work, just carbs. Fuzzy loves this food so I plan to keep him on it. He's lost a bit of weight since he's been on it, so it can't be high in carbs.

The last time he went out of remission because of new food, I was giving him Wellness. I always hear Wellness is an excellent food to feed, but wondered about the grain content in it. I think that I was feeding him the wrong brand of Wellness or something. There must be a grain-free type or it wouldn't be so highly recommended. But the store I bought it from just had the kind with grain.

 

Wow, boo for PC customer service. And good for u for contacting them.

Just a little note on contacting the companies. Often times you will get a regular customer service rep who will tell u what they did - no idea and ask ur vet.

You do have every right as a consumer to know what is in the product they are selling. But it will take a bit of digging and pushing your way thru CSR's, suppliers, and receptionists.

I myself have come upon the CSR taking the call or email - to be told what I already know from reading the labels.
So I push and push to speak to or please forward my email to your nutritionist.
After all - somebody out there puts this food together, and has the % numbers of what's what and what's in the food.

I don't use PC wet food, only the gravy pouches for my hypo tool kit, although I did use to feed Finicky cat dry food back in the day.

You have every right to be overly cautious, it's ur pet and you put the effort to keeping Fuzzy healthy with the right foods.
:thumbup

 

LOL Thanks! :mrgreen: I don't think I'm going to get much further with them, but they were polite and tried to help me to the best of their knowledge. I talked to two people, and both only had the data that was on their computers that was already on the cans. It's kind of frustrating, but I think this food is pretty safe in carb content since it doesn't have any grains or gravy. I think I was just alarmed because the calorie content the rep told me was higher than what it said on the list, so I assumed the carb content might be higher too.

 

The numbers they gave you for calories are not all that different from the numbers in Janet & Binky's chart. I think the number they gave you is calories/gram of food. A can contain 85 grams of food. The number in the chart is kilocalories/can. That is thousands of calories per can.

So, for chicken & liver 85 grams/can * 1215.85 calories/gram = 103347.25 calories/can = 103 kcals/can
Janet & Binky's chart shows 101. So, not really much difference at all. The other flavors work out within a few kcals as well.

We Americans (U.S. and Canadian) are very lax about using the term "calories" to mean "kilocalories".

 

That makes so much more sense. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Actually President's Choice does not make anything....the Loblaw's corp just uses that moniker for their store brand foods. During the melamine debacle, it was found out though that their pet food was made by menu foods...which makes a large percentage of the country's cat food. As well, per their licensing agreements they are not even supposed to divulge who makes their foods...bicks does not want you knowing they make their pickles, etc etc etc. So it is best, just to learn the acceptable ingredients.

Dana