Everything You Need to Know About How to Read a Dog Food Label

Most dog owners want to be responsible. They know the decisions they make will have a significant impact on their pet’s health and happiness. The dog can’t make decisions for its health, so, as the owner, you must do that for them.

The kind of food you buy for your dog matters a great deal. For instance, you might get some Acana dog food if you want a high-end brand with a great industry reputation.

If you are not sure what kind of food you should get for your dog, though, it can be helpful to look at the labels. Let us talk about how you can read a dog food label to get the information that you need from it.

The Basic Four

When you look at an average dog food label, one of the critical things you should be looking for can be referred to as “The Basic Four.” These are four crucial aspects of the food that you’ll examine before you buy it. These four are protein, fiber, water, and fat.

Most states have rules regarding how a dog food company composes their products. These rules state that there’s a minimum nutritional amount that any dog food must contain.

There should be a breakdown on the label of how much water, crude fiber, crude fat, and crude protein is contained in the food. There should not be very much water since that’s a filler. There should also be more protein than anything else. That means the protein source in the food, whatever it is, should be the main ingredient. It should be listed first.

The 95% Rule

Most vets will talk about the 95% rule when buying dog food. This refers to the notion that the food should contain at least 95% of the main ingredient, which should almost always be the kind of protein from which the food derives most of its nutritional value.

That could be something like beef, chicken, turkey, or venison. If the main ingredient is at least 95% of the food, then it’s worth considering. Any less than that, and you might go with another option.

The 25% Rule

There’s also the 25% rule with dog food that you’ll want to keep in mind. This rule states that if a dog food has at least 25% of the main protein ingredient but less than 95%, the label must use a qualifying word or statement.

That’s why you’ll see dog foods with names like platter, entree, or dinner. These words typically indicate there’s somewhere between 25 and 95% of the main ingredient. This food is not as high quality as the ones that have at least 95% of the main protein source.

The “With” Rule

Dog foods that have the word “with” are some of the lowest quality ones. For a dog food to be described as “with” something, like turkey, there must be only 3% of that ingredient in the food.

Keep these rules in mind when buying food for your dog.