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Read Any Good Pet Food Labels Lately?

Read Any Good Pet Food Labels Lately?

As more and more pet parents like yourself consider feeding their dogs and cats healthy dog food and cat food, learning about the ingredients in your pet’s food becomes all the more important.

While many leading dog food and cat food brands cover the front of their bags with beautiful photography or illustrations of healthy ingredients, the ingredient listing on the back is where you can determine whether your pet is getting the best dog food and cat food available.

Why is the first ingredient the most important? How do some brands categorize certain ingredients to make their food appear healthier? Why is corn not necessarily the healthiest ingredient? Take a minute to find out the answers to these questions and more when you compare dog food and cat food labels.

How to compare dog and cat food, here is what to look for.

When evaluating pet food ingredient listings, consider these factors:

• The first ingredient is the most important because there is more of that ingredient than any other. All dog foods and cat foods must list the ingredients of their food in order of weight. As the label below shows, the first ingredient in BLUE is always real chicken, fish or lamb. When you compare BLUE to a leading brand, you can see that the first ingredient in a leading brand pet food is ground yellow corn (which can be difficult for dogs and cats to digest, and has been linked to allergies in some dogs).

BLUE Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe

Ingredients
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Rye. Whole Potatoes, Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Flaxseed, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, Taurine, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Glucosamine Hydrocholride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Turmeric, Garlic, Sunflower Oil (natural source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Fructooligosaccharides, Monooligosaccharides, Dried Chicory Root, Black Malted Barley, Oil of rosemary, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Ditamin D3, Beta Carotene, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Zinc Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Zinc), Iron Amino Acid (Source of Chelated Iron), Copper Amino Acid Complex (Source of Chelated Copper), Manganese Amino Acid (Source of Chelated Manganese, Potassium Amino Acid (Source of Chelated Potassium), Cobalt Proteinate (source of Chelated Cobalt), Potassium Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Salt, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Bifidobacterium thermophilum, Bifidobacterium longum, Enterococcus faecium.

A Leading Brand

Ingredients: Ground Yellow Corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, propylene glycol, meat and bone meal, tricalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, water, animal digest, sorbic acid (a preservative), potassium chloride, dried carrots, dried peas, calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2). DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, calcium caronate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, Vitamin D-3, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

• The top 10 ingredients usually comprise 80% or more of a dry pet food's entire formula and give you a real insight into what is the best dog food or cat food. For example, if you compare the top 10 ingredients in BLUE Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe dog food to those of most leading dog food brands, the differences in ingredient quality are clear.
• Some dog food and cat food brands define their ingredients in several different ways so that the ones of lower quality appear further down the ingredient list. For example, a product list could contain chicken, ground corn, corn gluten, ground wheat and corn bran. And, if you were to group all of the corn ingredients as one, they would probably far out-weigh the amount of chicken in that food.
• Be sure to read all of the ingredients at the end of the listing to know if any artificial preservatives and colorings are being used.

The kinds of ingredients you’ll find in natural dog foods and cat foods.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to read a label, it’s important to know the specific ingredients that comprise healthy dog foods and cat foods—as well as the ingredients that should give you pause.

• Real meat, such as chicken, fish or lamb, is a source of high-quality, highly digestible protein. Proteins are essential for growth, maintenance, reproduction, repair and energy.
• Whole grains such as brown rice, barley and oats supply complex carbohydrates to maintain your dog or cat’s energy level.
• Veggies and fruit provide essential phytonutrients, antioxidants and enzymes, plus natural vitamins, minerals and fibers that have been shown to promote health and wellness.

Surprisingly, many leading dog foods and cat foods contain the ingredients below, which are not of the highest quality.

• Animal by-products are the non-rendered clean parts derived from slaughtered animals: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood and more.
• Artificial color and chemical preservatives like BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, and propylene glycol. They provide no nutritional value and have been associated with possible toxic side effects.
• Corn, wheat and soy have been linked to allergic reactions in some dogs and are not as easy to digest.

The bottom line on dog food and cat food label comparison.

Choosing the best dog food or best cat food for your beloved pet isn’t easy, especially when there are so many brands touting themselves as being healthy. Next time you’re in the store, take a minute to review the dog food or cat food you’re using now. With what you’ve learned about pet food labels, that minute could mean a big difference in the health of your pet.