10 Tips for Reading Pet Food Labels.

by Dr. Chris

Reading pet food labels can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. Buy understanding a few things, you can easily learn to find the most important parts of the label and understand them. Here are 10 quick tips to help you do so…

1. The ingredients on the pet food label are listed by weight in descending order. So if the primary ingredient is corn, that is listed first on the label.

2. “As fed” means the actual percentage of each nutrient that is in the food.

3. For a level playing field comparison of pet foods, use the “dry matter equivalent.” This is better than the “as fed” amounts because it does not take into account the amount of water in a product.

4. Preservatives are not all bad, many are actually vitamins! Some seen on pet food labels include phylloquinone (vitamin K1), alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), cobalamin (B12), and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

5. Not all by-products are bad, and they are good sources of nutrients. Common by-products used include things like spleens and kidneys which are filled with nutrients.

6. There is no scientific evidence that “organic” pet food is better than regular pet food.

7. The feeding guidelines on the bag are just suggestions. Each pet has a unique metabolic rate, environment, and lifestyle. There is no one right amount to feed to each pet.

8. One cup of pet food is 8 ounces. Many people are not clear on what a cup of food is and often end up with obese pets. (make sure it is a level cup, not a heaping one).

9. In the past pet food labels did not need to include calories, but AAFCO changed this.

10. AAFCO stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials. It is a non-government advisory council. In AAFCO feeding trials, pet foods are fed to dogs or cats for 6 months to ensure they meet nutritional standards.