Michele Neiman Cole asks this on our Facebook Page: “I have a precious 3.5 lb Maltese, Holly. Her post fast bile acid levels are slightly elevated at 42, so it is possible she has mild MVD (Microvascular Dysplasia). Therefore, it is suggested we keep her on a diet with lower protein levels like your Force. We are currently using your Preference as her holistic vet likes us to rotate proteins every 3 months. Ideally, she should have no more than 20% protein in her diet.
So how do I figure out how much protein to add to her Preference? Also do you know what the protein % will be in your new Zeal? We are so excited to try it since she is also limited in the types of proteins she can eat…cold water fish, chicken, turkey, (other fowl), and eggs are pretty much all we can give her. She cannot have any red meats or lamb. We are also using Milk Thistle to help support her liver. Thanks so much for your help. We love your food and commitment to keeping such high and human grade standards!! 
”
It’s important to remember that the guarantees on our packaging actually represent the ‘out of the box’ analysis of the food, and do not account for the profile of the product after it’s been re-hydrated. So the first thing to establish here, would be whether your vet is basing the 20% protein guideline on an as-fed or dry matter basis.
If we assume that the percentage protein that your vet is looking for is as-fed, we know the Preference protein is 6% as-fed. So if you combined that with an equal amount of something like raw chicken backs – meat only - which is about 20% protein you would end up with 20% average protein in the finished meal of half Preference and half chicken.
If you wish to have a slightly higher percentage of protein in the finished meal, then you could feed 2 parts chicken to each part Preference for an average protein percentage of 15.3%. You could add an egg to this meal to increase the protein even further if you wish.
Remember that kibbled diets have an artificially ‘elevated’ percentage of protein because they are so low in moisture – and dogs will obviously drink a lot more water when fed kibble, thus ‘diluting’ the percentages of nutrients internally, after consumption.
The new Zeal formula is actually quite a high protein recipe – it’s about 36% on an ‘out of the box’ basis, or 18% as fed (after re-hydration).
I know this is confusing to begin with but hopefully it helps a little in reaching what your vet is looking for from a nutritional standpoint. You can get info on all sorts of different foods form the Nutrition data web site: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/692/2
