Label glossary. The terms on a German feed pack, with worked examples
Additives per kg, dry matter, crude ash, CFU: what the terms on a label mean, which of them state an amount, and how to turn them into a figure per serving.
A feed label follows fixed rules, and once you know them, the one figure that matters takes seconds to find. The terms here are ordered by how often you meet them on a supplement pack. The German term is given in brackets, because that is what the pack says.
Complementary feed and complete feed
A complete feed (Alleinfuttermittel) covers the whole daily requirement on its own; that is ordinary dry or wet food. A complementary feed (Ergänzungsfuttermittel) is only complete together with other food, and everything we compare falls into this group.
That has a practical consequence: for nutrients like zinc or vitamin E, a complete food already covers the requirement. A requirement figure only becomes a yardstick if you cook at home or feed raw.
Dietetic complementary feed
This is the name for a feed with a particular nutritional purpose (Diät-Ergänzungsfuttermittel). An EU list sets which purposes exist. Such labels then state the purpose, a recommended feeding period and advice to seek a vet's opinion before use. Flexadin Advanced, for example, is declared this way, with feeding "initially for up to 3 months".
The term says something about the labelling, not about the amount of the ingredient. Whether a dietetic feed reaches the reference is checked exactly as for any other product.
Composition
The list of ingredients (Zusammensetzung), sorted by weight, heaviest first. What comes first makes up the largest share. A figure usually appears only beside the ingredients the pack advertises, such as "green-lipped mussel powder (15.6 %)". Without a percentage the amount is unknown, and then we enter none either.
Additives per kg
Vitamins, trace elements, amino acids and similar substances sit in a block of their own (Zusatzstoffe), almost always per kilogram of product. To get an amount per serving, multiply by the serving's weight in kilograms.
Example: REAVET zinc tablets declare 7,900 mg of zinc per kg, and one tablet weighs 1 g, or 0.001 kg. 7,900 times 0.001 gives 7.9 mg of zinc per tablet. If the serving weight is not on the pack, it can often be worked out from the pack contents and the number of pieces.
Analytical constituents
Mandatory figures for crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, crude ash and moisture, in percent (Analytische Bestandteile). They describe the product as a feed, not its active ingredient.
- Crude ash (Rohasche) is the mineral residue left when a sample is burned. It is high in powders with mussel or minerals, and it is not a filler.
- Crude fibre (Rohfaser) is the part of plant fibre that one particular lab method leaves behind. For psyllium husk it is the interesting figure; otherwise it rarely is.
Dry matter and moisture
Some labels state contents per kg of dry matter (Trockensubstanz, TS), that is, calculated without the water in the product. For the amount per serving you first have to convert back to the actual weight.
Example: Dr. Hölter Pro Agility declares 21.07 g of EPA per kg of dry matter at 2.42 % moisture. So the product is 97.58 % dry matter. 21.07 times 0.9758 gives 20.56 g per kg, or about 20.6 mg of EPA per gram of powder. In a dry powder the difference is small; in a moist treat it can be a quarter.
Total omega-3, EPA and DHA
"Total omega-3" (Omega-3 gesamt) includes the plant alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) from linseed or rapeseed oil. For dogs and cats what counts is EPA and DHA, and those are the only ones we count. If only EPA is stated separately, we take only EPA, the lower reading. More in the omega-3 guide.
IU and milligrams for vitamin E
Vitamin E is often given in International Units (IU, German IE). For the form usual as an additive, all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate, 1 IU equals exactly 1 mg. So on a feed label, IU and mg of vitamin E can be compared directly.
CFU
Colony-forming units (KBE), the way live micro-organisms in probiotics are counted. Labels usually state CFU per kg. The arithmetic is the same as for additives, times the serving weight in kg: AniForte plus Probiotikum Tabs declare 670 billion CFU per kg, which at 1.5 g a tablet is about 1 billion CFU per tablet. The trials our reference rests on gave about 2 billion CFU a day, per animal rather than per kilogram.
What to do with the glossary
The arithmetic from serving to amount per kilogram of body weight is in the guide how to turn a label figure into an amount. The finder does both for you, but knowing the terms lets you see at a glance whether a pack states a figure you can calculate with at all.