How we work
Two kinds of information appear on iPickPet, always told apart: facts copied from a source, and calculations we make from them.
Facts: word for word, from the maker
- Each product's facts come from its maker's or provider's own label or product page, linked on the product as its source, with the date we last checked it.
- Text is copied as written: ingredient lists in label order, the guaranteed analysis with its minimums and maximums, calorie and adequacy statements, plan terms.
- Nothing is inferred. A fact the source doesn't state is shown as “Not available”, never estimated or borrowed from a similar product.
- What a brand says its product does is shown as the brand's claim, in its words, not as a fact.
- Facts are collected by an open-source scraper that reads the page's own structured data and text, keeps the evidence of where each value came from, and saves a product as a draft when a required fact is missing.
Calculations: shown, and marked as such
A guaranteed analysis states minimums (protein, fat) and maximums (fiber, moisture), not exact amounts. Everything below is worked out from those numbers, so it is an estimate.
Dry matter
dry matter % = value as fed ÷ (100 − moisture) × 100. It takes the water out, so a wet food (often 75–80% water) and a dry food can be compared on one scale.
Grams per 1,000 kcal
g per 1,000 kcal = value % × 10 × 1,000 ÷ kcal per kg. Pets eat to meet their energy needs, so nutrients per calorie is the fairest comparison between foods of different energy density, and it is the unit AAFCO's profiles use.
The AAFCO minimums
AAFCO's Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles set minimum protein and fat for adult maintenance and for growth and reproduction (foods labeled for all life stages must meet the growth profile). We compare the label's guaranteed minimum with them per 1,000 kcal when the label states calories, otherwise on a dry matter basis.
| Profile | Protein | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Dogs, adult maintenance | 45 g per 1,000 kcal (18% DM) | 13.8 g per 1,000 kcal (5.5% DM) |
| Dogs, growth and reproduction | 56.3 g per 1,000 kcal (22.5% DM) | 21.3 g per 1,000 kcal (8.5% DM) |
| Cats, adult maintenance | 65 g per 1,000 kcal (26% DM) | 22.5 g per 1,000 kcal (9% DM) |
| Cats, growth and reproduction | 75 g per 1,000 kcal (30% DM) | 22.5 g per 1,000 kcal (9% DM) |
Meeting a minimum says a food isn't short of that nutrient on paper. It doesn't say the food suits a particular pet: ask your veterinarian.
Carbohydrates
Labels don't state carbohydrates. The standard estimate is by difference (nitrogen-free extract): carbohydrate = 100 − protein − fat − fiber − moisture − ash. When the label doesn't state ash, we assume 8% of dry matter, a typical value, and say so on the page.
Where the calories come from
With the modified Atwater factors AAFCO uses for pet food (3.5 kcal per gram of protein, 8.5 of fat, 3.5 of carbohydrate), the share of calories from each.
What we never do
- Score, rank or name a “best” product. Comparison guides show medians and ranges; examples are one per brand, alphabetical.
- Let money change a fact: shop links are marked and kept apart from the data.
- Give veterinary advice.
The formulas are open source, and so is the data: see Open data.