# Need some help with project



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Ok, so couple people have posted t this pic of FB which I really like and want to create the same demo for my next nutrition class. 










I'm not sure how old the photo is because the price of Orijen has gone up significantly since it came out few years ago. 

I want to compare something like Totw (or acana) to beneful and do the same thing. So I'm trying to figure out how to calculate cost based on calorie content.
Another issue is bio-availability. There are a lot of high energy corn based foods that are 40% protein, but if it comes almost entirely from corn, it just doesent compare to something thats 40% and meat based. 

So I looked at Acana (chicken) and its 33% protein, 17% fat and 425 cal per cup

beneful is 25% protein, 10% fat and 360 cal per cup. 

Acana costs about- $55 per 30 lb bag

Beneful about- $25 for 31 lbs

Acana recommends feeding anywhere from 2-4 cups, for dogs ranging from 45-90 lbs

Beneful recommends feeding 3.5- 4 cups a day to 60 lb dog 

Uno is 60 lbs and he eats just under 2 cups of acana a day. 


I feel like I maybe overcomplicating it with protein levels, but is there a simple way to calculate how a dog should eat based on the quality of the food?

Or should I just get 2 jars and fill one with 2 cups of acana and another one with 4 cups of beneful and compare it that way? But I would need help figuring out cost per day as well.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

You could just go by the recommendations on the bag?


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

I would just compare $$/per calorie. If you enter into the value of protein/protein sources, and attempting to devalue poor protein sources...just a real messy discussion I would say.


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## RRs (Aug 31, 2011)

kevin bradley said:


> I would just compare $$/per calorie. If you enter into the value of protein/protein sources, and attempting to devalue poor protein sources...just a real messy discussion I would say.


I agree with the difficulty of attempting to quantify the quality of protein sources or other ingredients. 

To analyze cost per calorie, I think I would do something like this-
I seem to recall reading somewhere that 1 cup of dry food weighs about 4.44 oz, meaning that there are 107 cups in Acana's 29.7lb bag and 112 cups in Beneful's 31.1lb bag. If this is correct, then a cup of Acana costs approximately 51 cents and a cup of Beneful costs 22 cents. Assuming a dog requiring 1600 calories per day, that would equate to 3.76 cups of Acana (425 ca/cup) and 4.44 cups of Beneful (360 ca/cup). Therefore, daily cost for Acana is $1.92 and Beneful is $0.98.

Disclaimer: math was not my favorite subject

BTW, my 2 90lb. dogs currently eat Acana Ranchlands. One gets 2.75-3 cups per day and the other gets 4 cups daily.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Drews parents feed beneful if you need any photos of that crap :heh:

oh and Charlie gets purina puppy chow....


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

For the jars I'd just do a mock-up 'ish thing to illustrate. Then arm yourself with arguments and the real numbers. Use the metric system, kcal/kg, since that is the min US requirement for energy information and it will be the easiest when calculating daily, monthly and yearly costs based on example dogs. Cup calculations can be a little iffy, and bit confusing to explain. You can do comparisons too on pure feeding recommendations and see how they differ, always a fun exercise 
I think I have some links on this around somewhere. I'll have a look, after I've seen the Jays beat the Rays :biggrin:


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## DDBsR4Me (Jan 23, 2012)

I think another neat think to do would be to maybe show pictures of a dog that has been fed Acana (or whatever quality brand you want to use) vs a dog that has been fed Beneful (or whatever poor quality brand you want to use). 

Or maybe find pictures of a dog that was on a poor quality food and then was switched to a better food....do before and after pictures to show what it can do to your dog when it is fed a good quality food.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

It looks like the original poster just divided the cost of the food based on the feeding recommendations, which is probably what I'll do to simplify it. And then I can do little more background research and if anyone has specific questions, I'll be able to back it up. 

I told this idea to my boss last night and she loved it!  

Thanks everyone for suggestions.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

DaViking said:


> I'll have a look, after I've seen the Jays beat the Rays :biggrin:


Ehrm, didn't happen!

Good luck with the project. Let us know how it goes when you are all set up :smile:


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

thanks, I'll take pics of it when I'm done, I think it would make a great visual demo.


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