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Protein Content

Protein vs Meat content: breaking down the differences.

Updated this week

It’s totally understandable to wonder why KatKin recipes are made with 100% meat, but the protein percentage of our recipes are, on average, 16%.


Here’s what’s really going on - and why both numbers matter.


🍗 1. Meat Content = Ingredients

When we say KatKin meals are made with 100% meat, that means every ingredient in the recipe comes from animal sources - not grains, fillers, or vegetables.


We use real, human-quality meat (like chicken, beef, or turkey), and nothing else.


So:

100% meat = the source of all ingredients.

This describes what goes into the recipe - it’s about composition, not nutrition percentages.


⚗️ 2. Protein Content = Nutrient Level

“Protein content” refers to the amount of protein in the finished food, measured as a percentage of the total food weight.

KatKin recipes contain about 16% protein “as fed” - which means 16 grams of protein per 100 grams of food.


The rest is mainly:

  • Moisture (water) - fresh meat naturally contains about 70–75% water.

  • Healthy fats - essential for energy and coat health.

  • Small amounts of vitamins and minerals from our Nutrient Mix.

If you were to remove all the moisture (a process called “dry matter basis”), our fresh meals would be 60–65% protein, which is extremely high - much more than most dry or canned foods.

So:

Protein % = how much protein is present in the food once moisture is factored in.


🧪 3. Why They’re Different

The difference comes down to how fresh meat is naturally made up:

  • Fresh meat ≈ 70–75% water

  • Protein ≈ 15–20%

  • Fat ≈ 5–10%

  • Trace minerals and vitamins make up the rest

So even though 100% of the ingredients are meat, the nutritional analysis reflects the natural balance of meat itself - which is mostly water.

If we made our food dry (like kibble), the water would be removed and the protein % would appear much higher - but it wouldn’t actually contain more meat, just less moisture.

The protein content of our fresh recipes:

Cluck: 17.1%

Mooo: 17.2%

Gobble: 18.1%

Baaa: 13.6%

Splash: 16.6%

Quack: 18.8%

Oink: 17.2%

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