i think this is the only cat food that i've seen that fits under this rule.
this one's going to have the absolute most duck
in the food because the minimum requirement here is 95%.
hey friends it's jess and jericho we're going to review some more freeze-dried raw cat food brands.
don't forget to grab your cat food label cheat sheet. it's in the pinned comments below.
and this video is not sponsored but i've included affiliate links in the description.
so the first freeze-dried raw cat food we're going to look at is the brand called purpose.
and this product name is just carnivore duck.
this one's going to have the absolute most
duck in the food because the minimum requirement here is 95%.
whenever you see a simple food name like this carnivore duck again there's no recipe,
entree, platter, there's no word with or the word flavor.
this one fits under the 95% minimum rule.
so we're gonna look at the ingredients now.
we have duck, duck neck, duck gizzard, duck liver, turkey gizzard.
so that's good there's a lot of variety so we have a whole duck.
and then duck neck that's gonna have bones.
the duck gizzard and turkey gizzard that's like basically a second stomach
for birds that help them digest foods.
and then liver.
then we have herring oil so that's good we have a very specific fish oil source.
it says "herring".
it doesn't say "fish oil" it just it says herring oil tells you the exact fish that they use.
organic apple cider vinegar, organic coconut oil, dried kelp.
and then the rest of these are the synthetic vitamins and minerals.
so now we use the guaranteed analysis numbers to get an
approximate amount of carbs on a dry matter basis.
so 100 minus the protein, minus the fat, minus the fiber, minus the moisture.
ash isn't listed so i'm going to use three just as the average.
so we get 17 that's including moisture.
now we take 100 minus the moisture to get to a dry matter of the entire food.
and we take the carb amount including moisture divided by the dry matter of the entire food,
multiplied by 100 turn it back into a percent.
so this one is about 18% carbs on a dry matter basis.
now we go back to our ingredients list and look for carbohydrate sources.
so i would say the carbohydrate source here is dried kelp.
that's pretty much the only carbohydrate source. it's the 10th ingredient so it's
likely that there isn't too much kelp in this product.
especially considering that this fits under the 95% rule.
the minimum of this food, 95% of this of this food is duck.
the majority of the ingredients are right here duck, duck neck, duck gizzard, duck liver.
then there's probably a tiny amount of turkey gizzard and a tiny amount of the rest of these
ingredients.
so i would say that the protein is probably higher than what's listed.
again the protein is listed on a minimum, crude fat is listed on a minimum.
so these numbers are a guess basically. they could be higher.
same with fiber is listed as a max so it could be lower than two percent.
the moisture is listed as a max it could be lower than eight percent.
and ash wasn't even listed so that's another guess.
so when you're using the guaranteed analysis numbers to get the approximate amount of carbs
this is just a guess.
there's no exact formula for this we just have to guess based on what the numbers say.
and then we use the ingredients list to see are there any actual carbohydrate sources.
in this case only kelp. it's the 10th ingredient so probably not a lot in there.
so i would give purpose a 19.5 out of 20.
i took off half a point because you know there is a handful of them (synthetic vitamins/minerals).
but at the same time at least we know based on aafco's rules
product name rules we know that 95% of this product minimum is duck.
the next freeze-dried raw cat food we're going to review is vitalcat.
this is the turkey dinner patties. so that word dinner fits under the 25% minimum rule.
so the approximate amount of turkey in this product is somewhere between 25 and 94.9%.
and then we're going to look at the ingredients. so we have turkey, turkey heart, turkey liver.
so that's a good variety you know it would be ideal if there was more turkey ingredients.
and then herring oil again very specific. "herring" instead of
just saying "fish oil" it says "herring oil".
tells you exactly what's used.
mixed tocopherols that's preservative, vitamin e.
and the rest of these are synthetic vitamins and minerals.
so we have a limited amount of synthetics and we also have turkey, turkey heart, turkey liver.
those are really the only ingredients
except for the herring oil and the rest are vitamins and minerals.
so the main the bulk of the ingredients are turkey.
and when we go back to the product name the product's name rule is turkey dinner.
so it's likely that
it's more than 25% because you know obviously the vitamins and minerals are just in trace amounts.
so when i use the guaranteed analysis numbers
to calculate the approximate carbs on a dry matter basis i get 15 percent.
and when we go back to the ingredients we don't really see any carbohydrate sources.
literally no carbohydrate ingredients so it's likely that the protein is higher,
the fat is probably higher as well.
maybe the fiber is different, maybe the fiber is is lower.
maybe the moisture is lower. maybe the ash is more than three percent because there are
vitamins and minerals you know added into this product.
so i would give vitalcat a 19 out of 20.
so i took a half a point off for the vitamins and minerals and then another half of a point
off because it fits under the dinner rule.
so for example with this with this one we just looked at it fits under the 95%
minimum rule but this one fits under the 25% percent minimum rule.
so maybe if they added a few more turkey ingredients they wouldn't need these
synthetic vitamins and minerals.
you know with this one they have five animal ingredients whereas this one they only have three.
so i think you know we need to make a fair distinction between these these ratings.
the next freeze-dried raw cat food we'll review is northwest naturals.
this is their rabbit recipe and on the label it says 98% rabbit organs and bone.
but you have to understand this word "recipe" here means that is between 25 and 94.9 percent.
so when they say 98% rabbit, organs, and bone maybe they're telling the truth.
because technically bone isn't considered meat.
so we go down to the ingredients we see rabbit with bone, rabbit heart, rabbit liver.
so we have three ingredients for the meats.
next we have egg, gelatin, water, dulse powder,
dried kelp, ground flax seed, organic psyllium husk powder, salmon oil.
that's great that they tell you the type of fish that they're using.
they say "salmon oil" instead of "fish oil".
inulin and then the rest are the vitamins and minerals.
so this is interesting down here on the guaranteed analysis numbers
they actually list carbohydrates at one percent.
but when you take 100 minus 45, minus 15, minus 5, minus 5, minus 12, they actually list the ash.
i get 18.
and then if we take the dry matter basis we would do 18 divided by 95 times 100
so it's 18% on a dry matter basis based on these numbers.
but they list carbohydrates as one percent. i don't know maybe
the protein is actually higher than it says maybe the fat is actually higher than it says.
but you'll have to decide if if you think this is this is good.
ash is pretty high 12%.
so that's a good indication that a lot of these synthetic vitamins and minerals
actually make up a big part of this product.
so i would give northwest naturals an 18 out of 20.
you know i took some points off because this this claim 98% rabbit organs and bones is
is likely false because of the aafco product name rule.
and there is quite a quite a good amount of synthetic vitamins and minerals.
and the ash basically proves that.
but they are including whole sources of rabbit bones and organs.
so instead of saying saying "rabbit byproducts" they say rabbit with bone,
rabbit heart, rabbit liver.
those are very very specific. "egg" instead of just saying like "dried
egg product" i've seen that in the ingredients list before.
they say "egg" so that's another good sign.
dulse and kelp are both seaweeds so that's likely where the carbohydrates are coming from.
and even though they say one percent carbohydrate i don't think that's accurate
unless the protein and fat is much higher than what they're saying.
the next freeze-dried raw cat food we're going to review is nulo freestyle.
this is chicken and salmon recipe.
so again we see recipe that fits under the 25% minimum rule.
and we have two named ingredients so the 25% minimum is chicken and salmon combined.
but it's great that we're seeing only meat ingredients.
so chicken and salmon rather than chicken and peas or chicken and rice.
you want to look for a product name rules that have meat only ingredients.
so the most the max that the chicken and salmon will be is 94.9% and the minimum is 25% combined.
we look at the ingredients we see chicken, salmon, chicken necks, chicken liver, chicken hearts.
that's good good variety. we have whole meats and
then we have bones with the necks and liver for the secreting organ.
and then hearts that's another muscle meat.
ground flax seed, spinach, salmon oil. that's great that they say salmon oil
instead of fish oil. they're telling you exactly which fish they're using.
cranberries, coconut oil, inulin, dried kelp.
dried bacillus coagulans fermentation products that's probiotic bacteria.
taurine and the rest look like the synthetic vitamins and minerals.
when i do the calculated carb amount on a dry matter basis using the guaranteed analysis
we have approximately 22 percent.
so let's look back at the ingredients. probably flax seed, cranberries, kelp.
so i would think that that approximate carb amount is accurate.
you know we have flax seed and cranberries pretty high up on the ingredients list.
and we also have kelp.
so i would give nulo freestyle about a 17 out of 20.
the reason for that is you know they do have a decent amount of synthetic vitamins and minerals
and carbohydrate ingredients.
now they include whole sources of foods like chicken necks, chicken liver, chicken hearts.
spinach, cranberries you know those the vegetables and fruits can provide trace
trace minerals and some vitamins.
but then they add some of the synthetic vitamins and minerals back.
so it's kind of like you know they're using these ingredients for whole foods sources of nutrients
but then they still add back some synthetic vitamins and minerals.
cranberries contribute to carbohydrates. the kelp contributes to carbohydrates.
so it's kind of you know like if they added a few more meat
ingredients maybe they wouldn't need these carbohydrates sources.
and they wouldn't need these synthetic vitamins and minerals.
but i mean 17 out of 20 that's still a great score.
and again they're using whole sources of meats and bones and organs
instead of just saying chicken by products or poultry byproducts.
they're telling you exactly what they're using so that's really good.
next freeze dried raw cat food brand we're going to review is instinct raw freeze dried meals.
and this is cage-free chicken recipe.
so the product name includes the word "recipe" that's the 25%
minimum and 94.9% maximum of chicken in this case.
and when we go down to the ingredients.
we see chicken including ground chicken bone, chicken liver, chicken heart.
so those are the only whole chicken ingredients.
then we have clay that's an anti-caking agent.
ground flaxseed, salmon oil.
again that's really great instead of just saying
"fish oil" they tell you exactly which fish, salmon.
carrots, apples, butternut squash, and then vitamins and minerals.
and then last on the list we have blueberries, spinach, and rosemary extract.
rosemary extract they usually use as an antioxidant.
but it's really down really low down on the list. and same with blueberries and spinach.
maybe for trace you know vitamins and minerals but it's last on the ingredients list.
all of the vitamins and minerals the synthetic vitamins and minerals are listed first.
there's salt so we'll take a point for that.
the approximate carb amount on a dry matter basis here is 17%.
when we go back to the ingredients that's likely coming from flaxseed, carrots, apples, squash.
those are pretty high up on the ingredients list.
and then right after the squash is the vitamins and minerals.
typically the synthetic vitamins and minerals are about you know less than five percent.
typically when you see salt anything after that is probably about one percent of the product.
the approximate carb on a dry matter basis i would say is accurate considering that
these veggies and fruits are higher up on the on the ingredients list.
it's nice that they're including whole food sources carrots, apples, and squash.
those can as i mentioned before can contribute to vitamins and minerals.
but then they add back some vitamins and minerals so it doesn't seem like
these are an appropriate source for what they need.
so they have to add back some of the vitamins and minerals.
they don't really have too many chicken ingredients. i mean again it's it's still
much better than seeing poultry byproducts.
you know instead of saying that they're telling you exactly what they're using
chicken including ground chicken bone, chicken liver, chicken heart.
those are great ingredients that you want to see.
i would give instinct raw meals about a 17 out of 20.
there are carbohydrate sources i think that the the approximate carb amount
17% is accurate considering that there's carrots, apples, and butternut squash.
and the flax seed high up on the on the ingredients list.
and then salt also is a point off.
and there's a handful of synthetic vitamins and minerals all right here.
but this is still a great choice compared to most cat food brands.
let me know in the comments which cat food
brands you want me to review and i'll make more videos like this.
thanks for watching!