Do you read the ingredient label on your dog’s food?
If so, do you understand what’s in the bag or tin?
Dog food labelling can be very confusing, so we’ve prepped a quick guide to help you interpret what’s what in your dog’s food:
The words ‘formula, recipe or meal’ mean that the dog food comprises 25% of whichever protein is on the bag.
A dog food that has ‘beef recipe’ on the packet, for example, must contain 25% beef. Giving you a better quality and likely more expensive bag of food.
The word ‘and’ shifts things a little.
‘Beef and rice’ means that the food must comprise 25% of both ingredients, so there’s no guarantee on the actual amount of beef protein. There could be 3% beef and 22% rice in the food. We’re going down in price and food quality now.
‘With’ is even more deceptive.
A dog food ‘with’ real beef is only required to contain 3% actual beef protein, the majority of the ingredients in a food like this will be meat derivatives and bulking agents. Foods ‘with’ will be much cheaper and far lower quality foods for your dog.
We’d love to know your thoughts on this. Did you know about the impact of differing words on dog food?