How much to feed your cat or dog can sometimes be confusing, but it’s important to get it right. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 45% of dogs in the US are overweight, making them more likely to suffer from health problems. In fact, we believe that 95% of the time that pets on dry food have chronic loose stool, diarrhea and gas, they are just being fed too much. Our first recommendation is to cut back on the amount of food fed and also to add some water to the diet.
There are many variables that contribute to the amount of food your pet needs, including his size and activity level, the quality of the pet food, and the type of food you are feeding. Understanding how dry kibble differs from canned or raw pet food will help you feed the appropriate amount to your pet.
Dry Pet Food is Concentrated
It is sometimes hard for pet guardians to understand that dry pet food is a concentrate. All water has been removed. If you were to rehydrate kibble with the water that was removed to make the food shelf-stable, it would weigh four times as much as the dry form.
Think of it like this: When you make orange juice from frozen concentrate, you have to add three cans of water for every can of orange juice concentrate. It’s similar with dry pet food. Your pet is eating the concentrate, not the reconstituted form that includes water.
Canned Food Contains a Lot of Water
To further illustrate how dry pet food is so much more concentrated than other forms, consider the water content of canned pet food. According to AAFCO (The Association of American Feed Control Officials), which regulates how pet food is labeled, canned pet food is allowed to contain up to 78% water. But AAFCO allows exceptions for products labeled as a “stew” or “in gravy,” which have no limits on the amount of water they can contain.¹
Nature’s Logic canned foods have less water, with guaranteed maximum moisture content of 72% and formulas actually testing closer to 65% moisture. However, all canned food has more moisture and fewer nutrients than the more concentrated dry kibble forms. That’s the primary reason you feed less dry pet food than canned versions.
While it doesn’t look like much, that ¼ cup of dry food for your kitten provides more nutrition and calories than a much larger portion of canned food, with all its water. This is why many people feed too much kibble to pets. It might also be why so many pets are overweight.
You Feed Less of High-Quality, Nutrient-Dense Pet Food
You’ll also feed less kibble to satisfy your pet’s nutrient requirements if you select a high protein, low carbohydrate food, with high-quality animal proteins and other highly-digestible nutrients. Pet nutrition expert, Tracie Hotchner, writes on DogTipper.com, “You feed less kibble when it’s made of top shelf ingredients.” She goes on to explain that your pet’s body can utilize more of a natural, chemical-free food high in protein.²
Nature’s Logic foods have those top-shelf ingredient. The company has created the first and only full-line kibble, canned, and raw frozen pet food in the world with no chemically-synthesized ingredients. All nutrients come from whole foods and 100% natural ingredients. For more information on our foods, visit www.natureslogic.com.
What tips would you share regarding feeding your pet dry kibble?
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