The Five Most Important Items on a Dog Food Ingredients List

by Mike Sagman
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Dog Food Shopper
Imagine… by the end of this article you’re able to consistently identify a superior dog food… all because you’ve learned a simple rule that can narrow an extraordinarily long list of ingredients (sometimes containing a hundred items… or more) down to just five.

Now, not to be overly dramatic… but these items are probably the most important ones you’ll ever find on any dog food ingredients list.

Want to know what they are?

Easy.  They’re simply the first five items on every list.  That’s it.

You see, dog food manufactures are required by federal law to list all of a product’s ingredients in descending order of their pre-cooking weights.

And that automatically… and mathematically… makes the first few the most abundant items anywhere in a product.

Now, since companies rarely divulge the actual amount of each ingredient in a dog food, the consumer is left to try to figure out the proportional break-down for herself.

And I can assure you… that’s no easy thing to do!

Trying to make heads or tails of a dog food’s proportional content is nothing less than a game… a game of odds and probabilities.

Why Five… and Not Six?

I already know what you’re thinking.  Why the first five items?  Why not the first six… or seven?

When looking for an answer to this question, one of the more intriguing ideas I found suggested that all the initial ingredients up to and including the first added fat be considered “the main ingredients”.

I must congratulate Sabine Contreras of The Dog Food Project for this original and thoughtful idea.

So, don’t get hung up on the number “five”.

When evaluating any dog food… you’re always looking for a high quality, digestible meat-based protein… as close to the top of the list as possible.

So, if you haven’t found quality protein in those first few ingredients… whatever the number… it’s game over for that dog food.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Valuable Ingredient… or Nutritional Window Dressing

With the possible exception of nutritional additives… like vitamins and minerals… the further down the list you find an ingredient… the less it contributes to the overall quality of the food.

For example, when you see sweet potatoes at position #12… don’t be too impressed.  From a nutritional standpoint, items located that far down a list should probably be considered little more than “window dressing”.

To keep things simple, here’s a rule of thumb that can help you more consistently identify superior dog food…

The first few items on any dog food ingredients list tend to be the most important

Simple enough.

To learn more about using these priority ingredients to screen for quality be sure to read my article… The One Crucial Piece of Information Dog Food Companies Willfully Conceal.

Dog Food Advisor IconThe Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.


  • Bob K

    J Hohman – Hint Hint – Its the first 5 ingredients listed on the dog food bag or can that you need to pay close attention to and them make the desision if the product is something you want to feed your pet.    For example: Corn, wheat, Soy, Meat and Bone meal, Rice, Chicken Meal, Turkey, Fish Meal, Lamb, Lamb meal.   The first 5 ingredients will form the basis of the food that’s in the bag or can and make it the most important 5 ingredients.  Psst.  read the label.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com/ Mike Sagman

    Hi J Hohman,

    Per the article, “The first few items on any dog food ingredients list tend to be the most important”.

    In most (but not all) cases, that tends to be the first five ingredients.

    Hope this helps.

  • J Hohman

    So, what are the five ingredients????

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Tatiana… When I make those statements, they represent our “initial” impression based only upon the ingredient analysis. I’m pointing out that we still need to estimate the meat content before we judge the overall rating of the product. Some of my older reviews can be a little over the top. I’m trying to go back and edit out the hypey sounding stuff our of the ratings. I’d like to stick with words like average, below average or above average. Thanks for the reminder.

  • Tatiana

    Mike, thank you for the site, it is very helpful. When you write ‘a bottom line’ in your reviews and say that ‘ judging by ingredients alone, the food is quality/ high quality/top quality / top drawer/superior/excellent/exceptional ‘ would you range this characteristics same way I wrote (where ‘top drawer’ means probably one of last tree) or differently? I am trying to understand which characteristic reflects better ingredients? Thank you.

  • Jonathan

    Josh, have you read any of Mike’s articles about protein yet? He gets into biological value, I assure you.

  • Josh

    What I mean is that you can’t just feed a dog a food based on what the protein level is. There is the whole “what is the protein?” thing, the caloric value of the food and thus feeding amount, and only using kibble as a base. A dog’s diet is just as complex as a human’s.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Josh… Not sure everyone would agree with your opinion about protein. Please see our FAQ page regarding the topic, “Dog Food Protein”.

  • Josh

    High protein diets are not to be ventured into without caution though. When feeding puppies, especially large breeds, you don’t want to have high protein levels because the dog will grow too fast for it’s structure to keep up.

    The Great Dane Lady feeds Precise Holistic, that is 23% protein and she moves them up to 25% when they are grown. Now, these might seem low, but this kibble is highly digestible, whereas other kibble might boast 30% protein but not be very digestible. To compare; you feed 1c/day for every 25lbs when using Precise, whereas a grocery brand will be at least double that.

    Just because a dog food is high protein does not mean your dog can digest it. Many premium dog foods include ingredients that help with digestion, such as quality fiber and pre/probiotics.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Jack… High protein is a concern for many and can be the subject of controversy. Protein issues for seniors seem to focus upon whether or not a high protein diet causes kidney problems. Although some may disagree, more recent studies have confirmed high protein not to be a contributing factor. That is, unless a dog is already suffering from advanced stages of renal failure. As a matter of fact, it has now been shown that a low protein diet is actually not healthy for most older pets. For a more detailed explanation, be sure to read my article about “Low Protein Dog Foods“. Hope this helps.

  • jack

    is a high protein diet good for an older dog?

  • Jonathan

    This would all be far less confusing if the dog food manufacturers were ordered, like human food makers, to put the actual nutrition breakdown on the package. It’s so deceitful. The GA is nearly pointless because of how much it can be fudged.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Jonathan… Actually, fat is a very small component of most grains. In an unprocessed state, one can expect to find primarily carbohydrates and (to a lesser degree) protein and fat. So, yes. In the case of fat, there would probably be only minimal affect on the fat reported in a finished dog food.

  • jonathan

    I get that… I always jump down the list to point out good or bad small ingredients. my concern now is how much the protein and fat percent is effected by the grain used in the food. it would seem the protein and fat boosting potential of corn and some other grains is more significant than i was thinking.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Jonathan… Your deductive reasoning skills are still sharp. However, the only thing I always have to remind myself is that some ingredients are more “potent” and can have a more significant effect on the dog food than others. An example would be fish oil (or flax seed oil) or a synthetic preservative (like BHA or BHT). Even at position ten on the list we would pay more attention to them than we would to a position five corn. Hopefully, that makes sense.

  • Jonathan

    Barley is 10% protein but only 1% fat. Oatmeal is only 2.3% protein and 1.4% fat. Whole wheat flour is 13% protein and 1.6% fat. Sorghum is 11.4% protein and 3.1% fat. White rice is only 6.6% protein and 0.5% fat.

  • Jonathan

    oh… I found a problem with my math. I just looked up the nutritional info on corn. 1 cup of corn (166 grams) has 8g of fat, 123g of carbs, and 16g protein. That means corn is about 10% protein and about 5% fat. that’s an entire 15% of corn that is affecting the potential meat content. Hmm. This throws my entire theory off. And it means that corn may need to be noted for it’s protein and fat enhancing potential in dog food. I checked brown rice, too. In one uncooked cup (185 grams) there is 5 grams of fat and 15 g of protein. That’s about 3% fat and 8% protein. That’s still 11%. It would appear that any starchy grain can have a significant effect on the GA protein and fat of a dog food.

  • Jonathan

    I always tell people to look at the list up to fat. I figured, if the fat content of the given food is say, 15%, than everything after the fat must be less than 14%. So, the more ingredients after the fat, the less % there are of each of them. Pro Pac is an easy one to show people. There isn’t much to it. The first ingredient is chicken meal, then Ground Yellow Corn, then Chicken Fat. I show them the GA and point out that if the fat is 15% of the food, and the protein is 26%, which is the chicken, then 41% of the food is actual chicken product. Then there is the 10% moisture. That’s 51%. That just leaves 49% for carbs. of that 49%, we know that the corn has to be less than 26% of the total food by it’s 2nd place after the 26% chicken. More than likely the corn is about 25% of the food. That leaves 24% of the food to what is after the fat… Rice Flour, Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavoring(?) Flax seed, Yeast Culture, Salt… then all the vitamins. So if rice flour has to be no more than 14%, then every thing after that can be no more that 10%. We know that salt isn’t going to make a substantial %. Probably with that we would be getting into the fractions. Same with the Yeast, flax, and “flavor”. SO if the Rice Flour is 14%, I’d say the beet pulp is more than likely about 8 or 9%, with the rest of the list falling into the remaining 1 or 2%. I usually don’t take it this far down the list with customers… I just stop when I get to the meat vs. carb part. (I can’t just do the “dry weight” math on the fly, you know.) But does my math make sense to you? Or have I screwed something up.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Linda… I can sympathize with your concerns. As hard as it is to believe, dog food companies frequently change the recipes of their products (including supplements) without advising the public. Unfortunately, I’m not personally aware of any laws which require them to inform the public.

    Maybe another reader can provide more information about this frustrating problem.

  • Linda Palmiere

    On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 7:07 PM, Linda Palmiere wrote:

    Is there any info regarding disclosure to the public when ingredients are changed on dog food supplements? Specifically, the brand, Show Stopper for coat and skin for dogs. I had been purchasing for 1 year via mail. I received my last container at the end of May 2010 and my dog became ill with gastric upset after consuming. I examined container’s ingredients and noticed the formula had changed with some ingredients deleted and others added. There was not a notification to the consumer that the ingredients/formula had changed.
    I am very concerned about this and would like to know if the supplement distributors are required to disclose a change in ingredients to the consumer. My dog is the one who suffered the consequences, and this is a shame.

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