Dry Matter Calculator

This dry matter calculator, or as-fed to dry matter calculator, will help you determine the dry matter content of a particular pet food brand so you can compare it to other pet food brands easily. Use this tool for your as-fed to dry matter calculations when you decide to try other brands but still want to get the same amount of nutrients as your previous product.

In the article below, you will learn the difference between the as-fed basis and the dry matter basis in pet foods and how to calculate the dry matter contents of your pet food, given its moisture content.

When purchasing food for our pets, we want to choose the best food we can afford so they get the nutrients they need. However, comparing one brand to another requires a better understanding of how to read the guaranteed analysis charts of each pet food product. A guaranteed analysis chart shows the percentage amounts of both macronutrients (protein, fat, fiber, and water) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) present in a pet food pack. Learn more about micronutrients by checking out our micronutrient calculator.

A pet food package usually has a guaranteed analysis chart on an "as-fed basis". That means that the nutrient contents are in percentages that take into account the moisture or water content of the pet food.

When comparing two pet foods, we want their moisture contents to be at the same level, ideally at 0%. We call this ideal the dry matter basis of pet food, as it is the percentages of the nutrients after completely drying the food out. Doing so will let us directly compare the number of nutrients present in each of our options. To better understand this, let us consider an example.

Let's say we want to compare two dog food brands, A and B, with the following as-fed basis nutrient contents:

As you can see, Brand A looks like it offers more nutrients than Brand B as brand A only has less water than Brand B. However, the difference in moisture contents means that a direct comparison is not possible, so knowing how to calculate the dry matter content of the dog food is essential. For that, let us perform some dog food dry matter computations. To obtain the dry matter basis percentage of a particular nutrient in a brand of dog food, we can use this equation:

where:

• $\text{DMB}\%$ — Dry matter basis percentage of a particular nutrient;
• $\text{AFB}\%$ — As-fed basis percentage of a nutrient as shown on the guaranteed analysis chart; and
• $\text{M}\%$ — Moisture content percentage of the pet food also found on the guaranteed analysis chart.

Using the equation above, let us determine how much protein Brand A really has. By substituting the figures from its guaranteed analysis, we can come up with the following calculation for Brand A's protein dry matter basis percentage ($\text{DMB}\%_\text{A}$):

Using the same equation, we can also work out the dry matter basis percentage of Brand B's protein, $\text{DMB}\%_\text{B}$, as shown below:

By following the same dog food dry matter calculation for the other nutrients in each brand, we can produce the guaranteed analysis chart on dry matter basis percentages for both the dog food brands, as shown in the table below:

After performing the dog food dry matter calculations and viewing the table above, we can now see that although Brand A seemed to contain more nutrients than Brand B at first glance, it turns out that Brand B contains more of each nutrient than Brand A after evaluating their dry matter contents.

Of course, there are still other factors that we should consider when buying food for our pets. Just because one food contains more nutrients than the other doesn't mean it's already the better option. If you have a pet dog at home, you can check our dog calorie calculator or our dog nutrition calculator for much more in-depth guides on choosing the best food for your dog.

Using our tool for as-fed to dry matter calculations is very straightforward. You can check the dry matter basis of any pet food you wish. You can also compare two pet foods, just like we did in our example in the previous section. To compare two pet foods, select the compare 2 products option in the first field of our calculator. Then, enter the as-fed basis percentages of each nutrient for each product in their corresponding sections. You will then see a similar table of results for your convenience.

Suppose you need to compare a pet food with an as-fed guaranteed analysis to another per food with a known dry matter basis guaranteed analysis. In that case, you can also do it with our dog food dry matter calculator. In this case, the product with the dry matter basis guaranteed analysis has its moisture set to 0%.