Information on Dog Food Ingredients

The ingredients found in dog food determine the quality of the food and how healthy it is for your dog. Higher quality foods use fewer fillers such as corn and cereal grains, as well as few to no by-products. Lower quality food may be less expensive but may also be filled with high-carb fillers and meat by-products or flavorings. There are a variety of dog foods available to help with weight control, healthy coats and immune systems. Some are created specifically to be non-allergenic, and do not include the ingredients commonly found to cause allergies in dogs.

  1. Ingredient Lists

    • The list of ingredients found on the label is organized by weight, with the food presented in the largest amount listed first and the rest listed in descending order. The main ingredients are those listed up to and including the first "fat" -- such as "chicken fat" -- and most listed after that will be preservatives, fillers, and flavorings. Foods are labeled by their common names so should be easily identifiable. The word "meat" means it is either beef, pork, goat, or sheep, while the word "by-product" means it is made up of the parts of animals that humans do not usually consume, such as the head, feet, bones, blood, intestines, ligaments, and fat trimmings.

    Ingredient Percentages

    • Ingredients that are listed by name on a dog food label ("Beef") must be at least 95 percent of the total weight of the food (once you exclude the water required for processing). When more than one ingredient is listed, such as "Lamb and Beef," these foods combined must make up at least 95 percent of the weight and should be listed in descending order of content by weight. When a food label includes the word "meal" or "dinner" or even "formula" such as "Lamb Formula", the named ingredient must be at least 25 percent of the total weight. When an ingredient is listed preceded by the word "with," such as "with Lamb," it must be at least 3 percent of the total weight. When it is listed as "flavored" ("Beef flavored"), then it doesn't have to be a specific percentage but must be at least a detectable amount.

    Potentially Harmful Ingredients

    • Several chemical preservatives used in dog foods have been linked to health problems such as stomach, bladder, and thyroid cancer or liver and kidney dysfunction (such as Butylated hydroxyanisole and Butylated hydroxytoluene). Ethoxyquin, which the Department of Agriculture has labeled a pesticide, is also used as a chemical preservative and has been linked to kidney and bladder cancer and stomach ulcers. One of the most controversial of the potentially harmful ingredients is not a preservative but instead a main ingredient -- corn. Manufacturers of dog food use it because of the carbohydrates it provides, but these carbohydrates can be similar to those provided to humans by corn syrup and may not metabolize properly. It can also be an allergen and work as an artificial stool hardener, making it difficult for a dog to go to the bathroom regularly.

    Ingredient Allergies

    • The foods associated with the most common allergies among dogs are also the foods found most commonly as main ingredients in dog food. These include beef, dairy products, chicken, lamb, fish, chicken eggs, corn wheat and soy. In some cases a food allergy will began as an intolerance toward that food, built up over the years from excessive feeding of dog foods with that ingredient. Over time it moves from an intolerance to a full-blown allergy.