What Ingredients to Look for When Determining a Good Dog Food

Although controlled by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), dog food quality varies widely. Dog food manufacturers confuse pet owners with meaningless food products and advertizing copy that sounds good but provides misleading information. Pictures on dog food products may include foods that are not actually present in the product's ingredients. Learning to evaluate dog food helps owners provide their dogs with quality nutrition.

  1. Read Ingredients

    • Don't base your decision on a dog food's name alone. Terms such as "premium," "natural," "choice" and "organic" are often used carelessly by dog food manufacturers and not monitored by the AAFCO. The term "recommended by vets" should also be viewed with suspicion, as the dog food company may hire its own veterinarians. Reading a dog food's ingredient list provides more accurate information on what the food really contains.

    Meat Products

    • The best dog foods are those that claim to contain 95 percent real meat, whether beef, lamb, poultry or fish. The term "95 percent" is somewhat deceptive, as the AAFCO does not include water or preservatives when calculating meat percentages. Avoid dog food that uses generic terms for meat, such as "poultry," "fish" or "meat." Instead, look for dog food that specifically lists the type of meat, such as "chicken," "salmon" or "beef."

    Grains and Vegetables

    • Most dog foods contain grains or vegetables. Unless the dog has a sensitivity to a certain grain, dog food made from barley, millet, oats, peas, potatoes, rice or sweet potatoes are acceptable, provided that meats make up 95 percent of the food. Avoid dog food that uses grain meals or lists grains as grain "products" (see reference 2). Corn is acceptable, but avoid dog foods that contain corn meal or corn gluten. Some dogs develop sensitivities to soy beans, so avoid soy products in dog food, as well.

    Byproducts

    • Avoid ingredient names that hint at processing or use of otherwise unusable foodstuffs. For instance, cheap dog food often contains meat byproducts. Ingredients such as "lamb byproducts" often come from questionable sources and are of poor quality. "Meat byproducts" or "meat meal" provide even less assurance of quality. The inclusion of grain meals, middlings and hulls in dog food ingredients also suggests a poor quality product (see reference 2).