What owners should look for on pet food labels

What should you be looking for on pet food labels?

Pet food labels can be really confusing.

We all want the best nutrition possible for our pets, but with so much information out there about how to keep them healthy, what’s essential to know?

And how do they decide what to put on the label, anyway?

According to the Pet Food Institute, there are eight requirements that must appear on all pet food packaging:

• The brand name or name of the product. (This seems obvious, though – the Pedigree yellow with the blue ribbon, the Purina checkerboard.)
• Clearly identifying whether the food is intended for cats or dogs (They have different nutritional requirements, since their digestions don’t work exactly the same way.)
• The net weight or net volume of the package/container
• Provide a Guaranteed Analysis, which lists protein, fat, fiber and moisture
• List of ingredients in descending order based on weight (most important to least)
• A Nutritional Adequacy Statement, which means it’s recommended for a certain stage of life
• Feeding instructions (This seems self-explanatory most of the time.)
• The name and address of the manufacturer or distributor (In case of recalls, or if you wanted to leave feedback of a laudatory or complaining nature.)

There are a lot of different federal agencies who have a say in what regulations exist – the Food and Drug Administration oversees everything, most of these rules come from something called the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. There is also an organization known as the Association of American Feed Control Officials; they seem to offer suggested guidelines.

Most of the time the packaging says “complete and balanced,” which means a serving contains all the nutrients at the proper levels that the diner needs. The Nutritional Adequacy Statement is usually on either the side or the back of the package.

Puppies obviously need different nutritional requirements than pregnant mothers do, and they both need separate things from an elderly dog or a high-caliber athlete. This is one of the reasons there’s such a bewildering array of varieties available when it comes to dog food choices (this probably applies to cat food, too).

The Guaranteed Analysis is sort of the pet food label equivalent of the Nutritional Values table on human food. At a minimum, it will measure the fat content, fiber content, moisture content and protein content. The Pet Food Institute has much more information on how the Guaranteed Analysis works here.

Price is also very important to consider when studying pet food labels – how much can you afford? How much quality can be achieved on that budget?

For some people, that means going way above the typical and feeding Rover dog food that’s nearly human-grade. For others, it means the bulk bag of generic food at Sam’s or Costco.  For others, it means cooking for your dog on a regular basis, or visiting a canine food truck as a special treat.

We hope this explanation of pet food labels was helpful to you.