Applaws Natural Cat Food & CRF

[Millys Mum]

and have had a reply today

That means i have been ignored in regard to animal testing   

[Tiggy's Mum]

Thanks for that Susanne...

1.5%  is not too bad especially when a similar type of food, Hi-life, ranges between 2.5 and 6.8   I use a binder anyway but am much happier now I know it doesn't have too high a phosphorous level to begin with.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I sent another email to natures menu last night using the email address Milly's mum provided a while back and have had a reply today telling me the phosphorus content of the natures menu pouches.  Just received it and am too tired right now to engage my brain but I think it will work out at about 1.5% phosphorus (dry matter).

[Millys Mum]

when I emailed them to ask my email came back as undelievered  

My email to them went through but i haven't got a reply. Im not pleased with their customer service at the mo, they phoned me up to see why i hadnt placed another order and when i said pets at home were cheaper they got huffy about it!

[Tiggy's Mum]

I might try and do a bit of digging then, If I manage to find out I'll let you know...

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I don't know about the natures menu, Helen.  The phosphorus content is not on the packaging and when I emailed them to ask my email came back as undelievered  

[Tiggy's Mum]

Susanne

I don't suppose you happen to know the phosphorous content of Natures Menu, I'm sure that's what you feed your boys isn't it?  I have started giving Tiggy Natures Menu in addition to her Gourmet Pearl as despite the Gourmet Pearl being branded a premium gourmet food and one of the most expensive available the meat content is a disgrace!  The nutritional info on the back of the pouch doesn't list phosphorous, I'm using a binder with it to be on the safe side but would be interested to find out what it is.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Rebecca - the percentages are calculated on a dry matter basis for easy comparisons between foods.  As they all contain different amounts of moisture it would be difficult to make comparisons between foods if it was calculated on the food "as fed" since the more water you add the smaller the percentage of a particular nutrient will appear to be, it being essentially diluted.  Dry matter analysis is a useful way of comparing the nutrient content of any foods, including comparisons between wet and dry (it's a useful way of comparing the protein content of wet and dry foods for example - at first sight the protein in wet food appears lower than that in dry, but when you calculate it on a dry matter basis it's usually higher).  All the calculations on the site which Desley posted a link to are done on a dry matter basis - that's where they recommend a phosphorus level of less than 1% for CRF kitties, that 1% being calculated as a dry matter analysis.  Bit of an explanation here. 

http://www.felinecrf.org/tinned_food.htm

edit - the link explains it much better than I have! 

[Gillian Harvey]

Thanks Susanne - maths was never my strong point, despite the fact that my Dad was a statistician - didnt inherit his genes then! He DID despair of me when trying to help me with my maths homework!

Rebecaa, I just got my head around how Susanne worked that out - don't confuse the issue, he he!! Mind you now you've got me thinking again!

[Beccles]

It's a bit early in the morning on Becca Time but my snot-filled brain is having some difficulty with the bit where you divide by 22.7... the first bit makes perfect sense so I'm happy there... and I've almost got my head round the second bit but not quiiiiiiite!

Does it make sense to calculate it on a dry matter basis considering that people generally feed their cat 100g of wet food whether it's 22% dry matter or 5%?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

The Applaws chicken flake has 164.2mg (0.1642g) per 100g = 0.1642% Phosphorus.  That's for the whole thing however and not a percentage of the dry matter.  The can contains 77.3% moisture therefore has 22.7% dry matter (referred to as the reciprical in the link I posted earlier).  Percentage for dry matter is 0.1642/22.7 = 0.704%.  So the percentage phosphorus calculated on a dry matter basis is 0.7%

Does that make sense?  I did originally calculate it in a more roundabout way (before I found that link which explained how to calculate it simply) and got the same result so I'm guessing that means it's right as I'm unlikely to get the same figure twice by doing it wrong!  But my mind does sometimes go blank on these kind of things (despite my having a masters degree in statistics!  ) so if it doesn't look right do speak up!

[Beccles]

If you click on the 'Nutritional Information' on this site: http://www.mpmproducts.co.uk/?in_section=applaws&page=applaws_product_information

it tells you the amount of phosphorous in micrograms per 100g.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to turn that into a percentage but presume a biochemist could without any problem...

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Hi Gillian

I used this site http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/dm.html to calculate the phosphorus as a percentage of the dry matter in the tin.  That was a slightly different method than I used the first time but it came out at the same figure so I'm pretty sure it's right (will check and post my calculations when I get home so that you can see what I did and whether you think I've done it right!).  I also did 2 other flavours (inc 1 fish one) and they both came out at round about 0.7.

[Gillian Harvey]

Susanne, just wondering about the calculations for Applaws chicken cat food that you did - did you do another calculation? I know you said you only did it quickly, but from your initial calculation it does sound quite a good option for CRF cats. How did you work it out? thanks

Gillian

[Purrlishious]

Mmmm Applaws chicken with a salad... smells delish! Good enough to want to eat it yourself 

Mine love it.

[Susieh]

Just a quick note to say that I got some small sample tins of Applaws, which my cats absolutely scoffed down and 2 of them are quite fussy.

So I bought in bulk (the same flavours as they had tried) and spent a small fortune on it (over 50 quid), then they haven't touched it since apart from 1 of my cats will eat 1 flavour.  What am I going to do with my 3 nightmare cats?? 

On the plus note, I have a friend who has a really skinny cat who suffers with food allergies, and she has polished off all the unwanted Applaws and is much more healthy now

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Hi Magic

I've posted about this on the hovel - but I  might as well repeat it over here.  After checking the size of the applaws tins and doing a few quick calculations, I reckon the phosphorus percentage of the applaws plain chicken (dry matter) is something like 0.7% which is, I believe,  pretty good for CRF kitties.  I will do it a bit less hastily later on and you need to bear in mind I may have done it wrong!  I wouldn't like anyone to feed this to their CRF kitties based on my calculations only to find out later that I'd got it all wrong.  There also may be other factors to take into consideration depending on how advanced the CRF is.  But as far as I can tell, it seems to be a good choice for anyone who's looking for a non prescription food that is low in phosphorus (the site that Desley posted a link to recommends looking for a phosphorus content of 1% or less).

[Desley (booktigger)]

Your best bet is to go onto www.felinecrf.org it is a CRF bible, and there is a page there listing all the phos etc contents in non prescription food so you can find the best one if they wont eat prescription food. Good luck, and good on you for adopting a CRF kitty.

[Ela]

I had some free samples and my cats loved it.

[magic14]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has used this before and what are their views on it? I am adopting a cat who has CRF but is not on a prescription diet - would this food be suitable for him? If not what are suitable brands of foods to try?
Thanks!