Crude fat

Crude fat is the lipid content of a food, determined by laboratory extraction, and it is the single largest driver of a diet's energy density. This is the practical reason it matters so much: fat supplies roughly twice the calories per gram of protein or carbohydrate, so a modest change in the fat figure shifts the food's calorie content substantially, which is central to managing an animal's weight (NRC, 2006). The number appears in the [analytical constituents](/glossary/analytical-constituents) and the [guaranteed analysis](/glossary/guaranteed-analysis), where it is declared as a minimum in the US convention. Reading it well means tying it to the diet's purpose. A high crude fat suits a [sport or performance diet](/glossary/sport-diet), because fat is the preferred fuel for canine endurance work, whereas a deliberately lower fat level is typical of a [light or reduced-calorie diet](/glossary/light-diet) aimed at weight control. As with every analytical value, it must be placed on a [dry matter basis](/glossary/as-fed-vs-dry-matter) before a kibble and a wet food can be compared, since the wet food's [moisture](/glossary/moisture) otherwise hides its true fat concentration. Crude fat also feeds the [NFE carbohydrate estimate](/glossary/carbohydrate-estimate-nfe), so an error here ripples into that calculation. For a premium buyer, the figure is most useful read alongside the food's stated energy value and the animal's activity level rather than judged high or low in the abstract. For more, see the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary).

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General documentary information. For an individual animal, a veterinarian's advice takes precedence over any online content.