Is your pet receiving enough protein from their pet food? – Truth about Pet Food

February 2, 2024 Kar-Bay-Inc

Complete and Balanced pet foods in the US are required to meet AAFCO Nutrient Profiles. While it is a good thing that nutrient profiles exist, our pets certainly need all required nutrition in the proper levels – the AAFCO Nutrient Profiles are lacking in that they do not take into consideration many pets consume less calories than the existing complete and balanced nutrition system allows for.

The AAFCO Nutrient Profiles are based on a nutrients per calorie basis. As example, AAFCO Nutrient Profiles require a minimum of 45 grams of protein in adult dog foods per 1,000 kcals, and 65 grams of protein in adult cat foods per 1,000 kcals. The levels of each nutrient your pet receives from their pet food is based on how much food (kcals) they consume.

Unfortunately, the AAFCO system is one size fits all, only taking into consideration the calorie needs of active cats and dogs. But what about pets that are sedentary (couch potatoes)? Sedentary pets require less calories, but the AAFCO Complete and Balanced system is only for active pets that consume more calories – and this could be a problem.

Pets that are fed less calories a day than what the Complete and Balanced pet food requires, could be deficient in nutrients. Of significance, pets consuming less calories a day could be deficient in protein. This potential concern is NOT limited to any one style of pet food, protein deficiency can occur with dry foods, cooked foods, canned foods and raw foods – depending on how much your pet consumes each day (how my kcals of pet food they consume each day).

Thanks to pet food formulator Steve Brown, below are the minimum protein needs for cats and dogs in grams.

For Adult Cats, the minimum protein needs are:

For Adult Dogs, the minimum protein needs are:

How do you know if your pet’s food is providing this minimum protein amount?

Steve Brown to the rescue again. Steve developed a calculation to determine the amount of pet food that needs to be fed to meet minimum protein requirements.

All you need is two very basic pieces of information provided by your pet food:

The protein percentage of your pet’s food.
Where to find it: listed in the Guaranteed Analysis.
The kcal per kilogram (kcal/kg) or kcal per pound (kcal/lb) information.
Where to find it: typically provided with the Guaranteed Analysis information or it can also be provided separately with calorie information.

With the above information, TruthaboutPetFood.com used Steve Brown’s calculations and developed an easy to use form that pet owners can enter the required information and the math is done for you.

Click Here to calculate cat food protein.

Click Here to calculate dog food protein.

A BIG thank you to Steve Brown for his help to provide pet owners this important information!

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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