Grain-free pet food is one of the fastest growing areas of the pet food industry. Even major commercial brands such as Purina and Science Diet now have grain-free pet food options for cats and dogs. Due to clever marketing, “grain-free” has become synonymous with premium quality and the assumption is that it is a more biologically-appropriate food for both cats and dogs.
However, it’s important to note that “grain-free pet food” does not mean “zero” carb, or even “low” carb, which is a very important distinction. Carbohydrates are an essential part of the manufacturing process of dry pet food, or kibble. Just like with baking; you have to have a flour source or binder to create kibble; whether it’s wheat, corn, potatoes, peas, etc. It is the nature of kibble and can’t be avoided.
“Grain-free” kibble only means that the carbohydrate binder of choice is something other than grain, such as potatoes, lentils, or peas. Grain-free foods can be equally high in carbohydrates when compared to their grain-based counterparts. For cats, potatoes and peas are just as inappropriate as corn, wheat, or soy.
A cat’s natural diet of rodents, rabbits, insects and birds, is about 2% carbohydrate. Dry cat food is generally 25-35% carbohydrate. Carbohydrates in such excessive percentages contributes to both obesity and diabetes, and therefore no kibble is a biologically appropriate food option for cats.
As a frame of reference, let’s take a look at how many carbs are in some of our most popular foods as well as other foods on the market:
Percentage of Carbohydrates | Sample of Brands
Cat Dry Food (Kibble)
- Orijen dry food: 17%
- Earthborn dry food: 18.5%
- Acana Dry food: 27%
- Taste of the Wild: 27%- 39%
- Blue Buffalo Wilderness: 25-27%
- Science Diet w/d: 30%
- Science Diet t/d: 34.4%
- Hill’s Ideal Balance: 35.3%
Dog Dry Food (Kibble)
- Orijen: 29%
- Earthborn: 29.5%
- Petkind: 29.5%
- Fromm Grain-free: 35%
- Blue Buffalo Wilderness: 30-35%
- Taste of the Wild: 37%-46%
- Kirkland: 45%
- Science Diet w/d: 40.2%
- Science Diet t/d: 51.7%
Carbohydrates are not typically listed on pet food labels, but there is a simple calculation to figure out how many carbs are in your animal’s food. Simply add all of the percentages listed, including protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash, and subtract the total from 100. Here are a few examples:
EXAMPLE 1: Earthborn Cat Primitive
- Crude protein – min 44%
- Crude fat – min 20%
- Crude fiber – min 3%
- Moisture – max 10%
- Ash – max 4.5%
TOTAL: 81.5%
100% – 81.5% = 18.5% CARBS!!!!
If you are trying to figure out how many carbs are in canned or raw food you must first convert the percentages into dry matter.
EXAMPLE 2: Earthborn Cat can Chicken Catcciatori
- Crude protein – min 10%
- Crude fat – min 2%
- Crude fiber – min 1.5%
- Ash – max 3%
- Moisture – max 82%
Total: 98.5%
Dry matter conversion: Subtract the moisture percentage from 100 percent: 100%-82% moisture = 18% dry matter
100% – 98.5% = 1.5% / 18% = 8.3% carbs
EXAMPLE 3: Small Batch Raw Cat food:
- Crude Protein (min): 15.9%
- Crude Fat (min): 8.9%
- Crude Fiber (max): 0.3%
- Ash (max): 2.9%
- Moisture (max): 71.8%
Total: 99.8%
Dry matter conversion: Subtract the moisture percentage from 100 percent: 100%-71.8% moisture = 28.2% dry matter
100% – 99.8% = 0.2% / 28.2% = 0.71% carbs
In summary, we feel that for a majority of dogs and all cats, protein should be the main source of dietary nutrition and calories. Incorporating less processed and lower carb food options is always encouraged, and there are a wide variety of ways to accomplish this. Feeding canned, raw, freeze-dried, and air-dried meat options are easy to incorporate, highly digestible, and very palatable – even for the pickiest of eaters.
Stop by the store to talk with us about your animal’s diet and history and we’ll help you develop a customized feeding plan to meet your needs.
Our Newest Foster Cat – The Fantastic Mr. Kitty
in Cat Health, Diet & Digestive Health/by Chelsea NiekelskiLook who moved in with us! This kitty was set to be euthanized, but he’s getting a second chance with us as our newest foster cat! He’s very hungry and his fur is a little patchy, but our vet friends at Lafayette Companion Animal Hospital checked him out, ran his blood work, and we think that with a good diet and some TLC he’s going to be just fine. He weighed in at 5.5lb when he arrived at Humane Society of Boulder Valley on September 18 and as of October 6, he’s already up to 8.4lb! Read on for his full story or stop by the store to meet this sweet boy – and maybe help us come with a name. 😉
Before he came to The Happy Beast, Mr. Kitty had been living as a stray under a porch. He was relying on the family there for meals, but once they saw that he was competing with raccoons for food, they decided the living situation was no longer safe for him. They took him to Humane Society of Boulder Valley where he stayed for a week. The shelter determined that he may have hyperthyroidism and therefore would not be adoptable. The family who turned him in were notified that they had 48 hours to pick him up before he was euthanized. They reached out to our neighbors, Lafayette Companion Animal Hospital, who asked us if we would foster him. On September 24, he moved in with us as our newest foster cat.
A couple of days later, Dr. Kugler at Lafayette Companion checked him out and ran his blood work. His white blood cell count was slightly elevated and he has some tartar on his teeth, but the great news was that he does not have hyperthyroidism as the shelter suspected. With a relatively clean bill of health, it was time to put a new feeding plan into action.
THE PLAN: Gain Weight & Improve Immune System Health
The Happy Beast’s 1st Birthday Party!
in Products We Love/by Matt LeBeauHow time flies. Just a little over a year ago, we opened our doors in Lafayette and, like a new puppy at a dog park, we’ve been having a near-overwhelming amount of fun ever since. 😉 Now we’re throwing a party to celebrate our first birthday and all of our amazing customers. Check out all the details below and we hope to see you there. You can also RSVP on Facebook to earn an extra ticket for our awesome prize drawing.
WHAT: Super sales, adoptable pets, prize drawings, games, magic card tricks with Essie Snell, and food and treats for animals (frozen yogurt tasting with The Bear and The Rat) and humans alike!
WHEN: Saturday, October 10, 2015 from 10:00am – 2:00pm MT (also Donuts & Dogs event on October 11th)
WHERE: The Happy Beast, 545 W. South Boulder Rd., #170, Lafayette, CO 80026 (Google Maps link)
FOOD FRIENDS ATTENDING: The Honest Kitchen, Primal Pet Foods, Natural Balance, and Earthborn Holistics
ADOPTIONS & RESCUES:
AMAZING ENTERTAINMENT
SUPER SALES:
PACE Sustainability Certification (Part 2)
in Sustainability/by Matt LeBeauEarlier this month, The Happy Beast received sustainability certification in waste, water and energy efficiency through Partners for a Clean Environment (PACE). In partnering with PACE, we’re joining a community of businesses that:
Our PACE certification in waste diversion and water efficiency demonstrates our high level of environmental performance. PACE’s certification performance criteria are based upon and consistent with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria as well as EnergyStar Building certification. To achieve certification, we demonstrated:
We’re making some great strides in sustainability certification and will continue these efforts throughout 2015 and 2016. You can read our Part 1 blog post to see where we started, or check out our progress-to-date below.
The Happy Beast: Steps to PACE Certification
(Audit conducted: May 15, 2015 | Last updated: September 15, 2015)
Ending the Monotony Meal Plan: The Benefits of Pet Food Rotation
in Diet & Digestive Health, Dog Health/by Chelsea NiekelskiAt The Happy Beast, we believe that there are significant benefits from pet food rotation. In fact, we think it’s a big pet food myth that animals should eat the same formula of the same brand of food for their whole lives. While this is a great marketing ploy for the pet food companies (who don’t want you to feed anything but their brand of food) it is not in the best interest of your animal’s health and well-being. For one thing, eating the same thing over and over is boring… just imagine eating one kind of cuisine for every meal for the rest of your life! Even more importantly, from a health perspective, a monotonous diet can have negative effects on your animal for the following reasons:
The good news is that there are many ways to incorporate pet food rotation into your animal’s diet:
If your animal has a very sensitive digestive system or has been eating the same food for a very long time:
Chicken, turkey, lamb, and beef are often used in pet foods, but new protein sources are making their way into the market. “Novel proteins” is an industry term for meats not commonly found in pet foods. We commonly recommend novel protein diets for animals with food sensitivities or allergies, but healthy animals can benefit from these meats as well. Try including goat, rabbit, venison, alligator, or kangaroo in your animal’s next pet food rotation!
Flimflam Food: The Truth About Grain-Free Pet Food
in Cat Health, Diet & Digestive Health, Dog Health/by Natalie SoonthornswadGrain-free pet food is one of the fastest growing areas of the pet food industry. Even major commercial brands such as Purina and Science Diet now have grain-free pet food options for cats and dogs. Due to clever marketing, “grain-free” has become synonymous with premium quality and the assumption is that it is a more biologically-appropriate food for both cats and dogs.
However, it’s important to note that “grain-free pet food” does not mean “zero” carb, or even “low” carb, which is a very important distinction. Carbohydrates are an essential part of the manufacturing process of dry pet food, or kibble. Just like with baking; you have to have a flour source or binder to create kibble; whether it’s wheat, corn, potatoes, peas, etc. It is the nature of kibble and can’t be avoided.
“Grain-free” kibble only means that the carbohydrate binder of choice is something other than grain, such as potatoes, lentils, or peas. Grain-free foods can be equally high in carbohydrates when compared to their grain-based counterparts. For cats, potatoes and peas are just as inappropriate as corn, wheat, or soy.
A cat’s natural diet of rodents, rabbits, insects and birds, is about 2% carbohydrate. Dry cat food is generally 25-35% carbohydrate. Carbohydrates in such excessive percentages contributes to both obesity and diabetes, and therefore no kibble is a biologically appropriate food option for cats.
As a frame of reference, let’s take a look at how many carbs are in some of our most popular foods as well as other foods on the market:
Percentage of Carbohydrates | Sample of Brands
Cat Dry Food (Kibble)
Dog Dry Food (Kibble)
Carbohydrates are not typically listed on pet food labels, but there is a simple calculation to figure out how many carbs are in your animal’s food. Simply add all of the percentages listed, including protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash, and subtract the total from 100. Here are a few examples:
EXAMPLE 1: Earthborn Cat Primitive
TOTAL: 81.5%
100% – 81.5% = 18.5% CARBS!!!!
If you are trying to figure out how many carbs are in canned or raw food you must first convert the percentages into dry matter.
EXAMPLE 2: Earthborn Cat can Chicken Catcciatori
Total: 98.5%
Dry matter conversion: Subtract the moisture percentage from 100 percent: 100%-82% moisture = 18% dry matter
100% – 98.5% = 1.5% / 18% = 8.3% carbs
EXAMPLE 3: Small Batch Raw Cat food:
Total: 99.8%
Dry matter conversion: Subtract the moisture percentage from 100 percent: 100%-71.8% moisture = 28.2% dry matter
100% – 99.8% = 0.2% / 28.2% = 0.71% carbs
In summary, we feel that for a majority of dogs and all cats, protein should be the main source of dietary nutrition and calories. Incorporating less processed and lower carb food options is always encouraged, and there are a wide variety of ways to accomplish this. Feeding canned, raw, freeze-dried, and air-dried meat options are easy to incorporate, highly digestible, and very palatable – even for the pickiest of eaters.
Stop by the store to talk with us about your animal’s diet and history and we’ll help you develop a customized feeding plan to meet your needs.