How To Read Dog Food Ingredients / Nutrition Labels

You want the best for your dog, especially when it comes to his food. But when you read labels and list of ingredients mentioned on the pack so as to choose the brand and formula that will nourish your furry friend, you become clueless.

Today there are dozens of top-selling brands available globally - names you thought you could trust, are like Acana, Solid Gold, Taste Of The Wild, Holistic Select, Merrick, Wellness, Nature’s Variety, Blue Buffalo, Orijen, Arden Grange, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Farmina, Hills Science Plan, Pedigree, Purina and many more.

 

Out of which you can find the following brands in India - Arden Grange, Royal Canin, Farmina, Hills Science Plan, Fidele, Origen, Pedigree, Purina, Drools and few more. Products from these brands may or may not contain the wholesome, healthy ingredients you want for your dog.

   

Many companies use attractive packing as a decoy to cover-up their substandard product. Unfortunately, most of the people make their buying decision based on the pictures or the packing that make, the food seem better than it is. But on the contrary, the reality is that there can be some really AWFUL stuff for your dog.

 

How important it is read and decipher nutrition labels and the list of ingredients when you are choosing a dog food?

 

You must be still wondering that how can you read and decipher nutrition labels and the list of ingredients mentioned on a dog foods packet? Although the dog food nutrition label consists all the information, which you can decode and analyze, based on the information shared in this article.

 

The nutrition labels and the list of ingredients packaged dog foods is very much similar to the nutrition labels and the list of ingredients mentioned on the packaged food for people, it is designed to help you compare products. It further helps you to learn more about the food. But it can be a bit hard to decipher.

 

Here I have tried put together a guide to the label to help you understand how to use it.

 

Ingredients List:

Ingredients are listed in order of content weight, hence be sure to have a look for food that lists a real source of protein first, such as chicken, lamb, Fish etc. The first ingredient is the most important factor to know what goes in your dog food. The first ingredient holds the maximum % of components used while producing dog food.

 

If the first ingredient is chicken, lamb/meat, dehydrated chicken, deboned chicken, deboned lamb/meat, dehydrated lamb/meat then it means that the particular food contains HUMAN EDIBLE GRADE OF CHICKEN/LAMB/MEAT as the main source of protein. Which means that the particular food is good for your dog.

 

If the first ingredient is the chicken meal, lamb/meat meal, chicken by-products, lamb/meat by-products then it means that the particular food contains NON-HUMAN EDIBLE GRADE OF CHICKEN/LAMB/MEAT as the main source of protein. Which means that it is not as good for your dog as compared to dog food that contains HUMAN EDIBLE GRADE OF CHICKEN/LAMB/MEAT as the main source of protein. Since chicken/meat/lamb meal consists of waste body parts of animals like bones, beak, feathers, hoofs, horn, intestine etc which are not suitable for human consumption have been used in your dog food.

   

If the first ingredient is soy, cereal, maize/corn or by-products of soy, cereal, maize/corn it means that the particular food is not good at all. It is just filler and will give negligible nutritional value to your dog. Since it is not using any quality ingredient as the main source of protein.

 

If the second ingredient is also any form of human edible grade chicken, lamb/meat then it tends to be a great product and you can be assured that you are feeding something great to your dog.

 

From the third ingredient in the ingredients, list fillers can be added. There are numerous fillers like maize/corn, soy, wheat, oats, barley, cereals, vegetable fats, vegetable fiber, etc. These are used to add weight in the dog food. Although, most of these items are irrelevant for the nutritional and dietary needs of the dog.

 

Based on guaranteed analysis mentioned on the packs I would rate N&D products to be the best since it contains maximum % of protein & fats. When compared to other available brands in India.

 

Feeding Instructions:

State regulations require a maximum level of certain nutrients and a minimum level of others. The guaranteed analysis shows where the pet food's quantity of those nutrients falls within that range. Follow these instructions to determine how much food to feed your pet each day. Typically, you'll see, "feed _____ cups per ____ pounds of weight daily."

 

Disclaimer:

Above mentioned descriptions and analyses expressed in this article on our website represent the views and opinions of the author.

 

DogSpot.in has not tested any of the aforementioned dog foods.

We completely rely on the integrity of the information that has been provided by each company. Our review is offered in good faith and has been designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food.