For those who love their pets...

Know About the Foods You Feed Your Dog

In this day and age, there are so many dog food companies in the market that it can become a daunting task just to pick out the right one. Don’t base your judgment on commercials or what somebody else has said. Be a good dog owner and read the ingredients listed to know exactly what your beloved canine is stuffing down his throat.

You should never buy a dog food brand solely based on what it says on the front. Whether you know it or not, a slight change of wording on the label affects the dog food contents in a big way. The AAFCO protects us against misleading dog food labels and provided a system to see if the dog food is right for your dog. Although there is a system in place, not knowing about rules and how they apply to the label wording will do you no good. That’s why I compiled a small list that tells you what type and amount of ingredients you can expect from just reading the dog food labels:

1) Turkey and Chicken Dog Food

If the label of the dog food says turkey AND chicken (and nothing else) then you are in luck. This means that the dog food is comprised of 95% turkey and chicken combined. If turkey is listed first, there will be a slightly higher content of turkey and vice versa.

2) Chicken Dog Food

If the label says chicken dog food and there is no indication of other paired words such as “dinner” or “flavor” along with the chicken, then it’s safe to assume that the contents of this dog food is comprised of 95% chicken.

3) Chicken Flavored Dog Food

This is what I mean when the word chicken is paired with “flavor”. This paired word should grab your attention immediately. If you read this label it means, by AAFCO standards, that there must be only enough chicken just to add enough chicken flavor to the dog food. The chicken flavor can be added by chicken fat, or chicken broth, or chicken by products. Not very healthy!!

4) Dog Food with Chicken

The “with” word should be your eye opener. Dog food “with” anything, as stated by the AAFCO, must contain 3% of that item. Hence, Dog food “with” chicken states that there is only 3% chicken within the ingredients.

5) Chicken Nuggets for Dogs

Since there is the word “nuggets” in the label, which means that there must be a minimum of 25% chicken in the ingredients. This word along with many others, such as “dinner” or “formula” or “platter”, allow dog companies to place less meat in the dog food without you actually knowing about it.

These are just a few examples of how subtle changes in label arrangement, can drastically change the contents of the dog food you purchase. That’s why it is important to take a look at the ingredients list on your dog food package to really find out what your dog will be eating. You may notice that Dog Food with Chicken may have chicken listed as one of the last three ingredients. (Bad since the lowest amounts of ingredients are placed at the bottom of list)

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