Understanding Dog Food Labels

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The following items represent some of The Dog Food Advisor’s most frequently asked questions about reading and understanding dog food labels.

Why are my dog food’s protein and fat percentages different from the ones mentioned in your reviews?

Because all foods (even human foods) contain varying amounts of moisture, we use dry matter basis to report the nutrient content of every product we review. This method mathematically removes all the water from a food.

Dry matter basis allows a more accurate comparison between dog foods with different moisture content.

  • Puppythreads

    I heard that a manufacturer can change the ingredients in the product and not have to change the ingredients on the label for 6 months. I find this disturbing. Does anyone know if it is true? Specifically I am concerned with when a small manufacturer of historically high quality pet food gets bought out by a larger company.

  • melissa

    Chuck-

    Often if a new food comes out and MIke has not reviewed it yet, I look for foods with similiar make up, ingredients etc to get an idea of where it would rate- Here are the ingredients for Retriever High protein(their better food from what I can see) I can’t imagine that it would rate more than a 1 or 2 at best, but you can try comparing the ingredients to the other foods that have been rated.

    Ingredients-Meat and bone meal, ground yellow corn, wheat
    middlings, ground wheat, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA
    and citric acid), corn gluten meal, animal digest, salt, potassium
    chloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, ferrous
    sulfate, color added (red #40, yellow #5, blue #2), L-lysine, zinc
    oxide, niacin, copper sulfate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, manganous
    oxide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine
    mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite
    complex (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin supplement, sodium
    selenite, calcium iodate, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, cobalt
    carbonate..
    Guaranteed Analysis:Crude Protein (min.)
    27.0%; Crude Fat (min.) 15.0%; Crude Fiber (max.) 4.0%; Moisture (max.)
    12.0%; Calcium (min.) 1.20%; Phosphorus (min.) 0.90%; Vitamin A (min.)
    8000 IU/kg; Omega 6 Fatty Acids (min.) 1.40%*
    see)

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com/ Mike Sagman

    Hi Chuck81367,

    Retriever Dog Food is already on my To Do list. However, due to my current backlog of products for review, it could be a while longer before I get to it.

    Thanks for the suggestion.

  • Chuck81367

    you don’t list retriever brand dog food from tractor supply