Dry vs. Canned Food Contents

Ever wonder how to compare the percentageof contents of dry food to canned food? While most of us may not even think about this, owners of pets with special protein, fat, or fiber requirements may find the following conversion formula of benefit. This formula, provided by Scott Matthews of Breeder’s Choice, works for any dry, canned or semi moist product that has a guaranteed analysis on its label.

First, identify the moisture percentage of a given food. Subtract this number from 100% and you get the dry% of the particular product. This number is then used as the divisor for the protein, fat, fiber, etc. to calculate the actual dry matter basis of each component of the particular product.

For example:
AvoDerm Original Canned Dog Food is 78% moisture; subtracted from 100% = 22% dry (non-moisture).

To calculate the protein, fat and fiber take the divisor, 22%,
and divide that into each ingredient.

8.0% protein divided by 22% = 36.36% protein 100% dry matter basis
5.5% fat divided by 22% = 25.0% fat 100% dry matter basis
1.5% fiber divided by 22% = 6.82% fiber 100% dry matter basis

In comparison to:

AvoDerm Original Dry Dog Food is 10% moisture, subtract from 100% = 90% dry (non-moisture)

20.0% protein divided by 90% = 22.22 protein 100% dry matter basis
8.0% fat divided by 90% = 8.89% fat 100% dry matter basis
4.0% fiber divided by 90% = 4.4% fiber 100% dry matter basis