It can be difficult to decipher the jargon on pet food labels. However, this is essential for choosing the right food for your pet's health.

Here is a clear guide to help you know what is good (or not) in your pet's diet:

🔎 1. LOOK AT THE ORDER OF THE INGREDIENTS

The ingredients are listed in descending order of weight.

 If the first ingredient is fresh meat or quality animal protein, that's a good sign.

⚠️ If the first ingredient is cereals or corn/wheat flour, it's not as good: this means the recipe is mainly based on carbohydrates.

The list of ingredients is in descending order of weight. If meat is listed first, it is the main ingredient. If a grain such as corn is listed first, it is the main ingredient.

But PLEASE NOTE, it is important to know that this list of ingredients is established before cooking. However, some  constituents  as  Meat or chicken has a high water content, up to 75%. That's why the first ingredient listed must be meat or poultry or something similar, or it must be described as "dehydrated".

🍗 2. PROTEINS AND ORIGIN

Good signs: "fresh chicken", "dehydrated turkey", "salmon", "lamb".

Less good: "animal by-products", "processed animal proteins", because we don't know which part or which animal it is.

Protein should be the very first ingredient on a label, but there are many ways to make it seem like the first ingredient or to make it appear to be protein when the actual protein content is often very small. That's why it's important to check that the term "dehydrated animal protein" is listed first.

FRESH MEAT OR RAW PROTEIN?

First, the primary component should be crude protein. Note that this should not be confused with the terms "meat" or "fresh meat," as these are meaningless! Meat is composed of varying amounts of fat, bone, and cartilage, depending on the quality of the meat or the animal by-products often used.

The term "crude protein" refers to the proportion of actual protein and therefore dehydrated (without water).

Some might think the term "crude protein" is negative, but it's absolutely not. It doesn't really tell you much about quality, since you can use any quality of protein, but it does indicate the actual amount of protein in the bag.

Therefore, it's best to use the term "crude protein" to avoid being misled about the actual amount of protein in the bag. However, be careful with this label: does it refer to protein of animal or plant origin?

 🌾 3. CEREALS AND STARCH

Cereals are not "toxic", but in excess they do not provide much to a carnivore.

Limit: wheat, corn, soy.

To properly feed your pet, you must also pay attention to the portion of complex carbohydrates (starch), which should not exceed 33%, or 1/3 of the diet.

Here again, you have to be careful because often even in grain-free kibble, there can be misleading advertising.

Indeed, grain-free kibble often contains even higher amounts of complex carbohydrates than a "normal" diet (with grains).

In truth, it's not so much the quantity of grains that matters, but the amount of slow-release (complex) carbohydrates found in grain-free or grain-containing kibble. Unfortunately, the starch content is often not specified.

If it is not, add up the percentages of the components, you will realize for yourself that you are very far from reaching 100% and that the remaining part is actually slow sugars (or starch) which are not mentioned, because perhaps this quantity is too high.

In common practice, carbohydrate sources are varied using cereals or starches such as corn, sorghum, rice, potatoes, etc.

Very often, despite the fact that meat is the main component, by adding these cereals or starches, we arrive at a percentage much higher than the protein level (e.g., 40% starch versus 27% protein), which is far from physiological for your dog.

Always look at the percentage of total starch or cereals and make sure that it is less than 1/3 (i.e. 33%), this is the maximum that should be allowed to claim to be "quality".

However, always remember that to make a kibble you necessarily need a certain amount of starch, whether it comes from cereals, potatoes or something else, but this amount must remain reasonable and not be a major component because it is cheap for the manufacturer.

Note that this trend of wanting to replace cereal starches with potato starches is not justified because potato starches are very difficult to digest and often have a higher glycemic index (GI).

From a nutritional standpoint, the starchy part is worthless to dogs; it is very low in vitamins and minerals and difficult to digest.

🥦 4. VEGETABLES, FIBER AND SUPPLEMENTS

Our dogs and cats are CARNIVORES!

The trend of adding fruits and vegetables to kibble is unfortunately wreaking havoc among our furry companions. Whatever their nature, these ingredients are extremely irritating to the digestive system, which cannot fully assimilate them. This is due to a physiological characteristic: their intestine much shorter than that of humans, which does not have time to digest them, and they come out in the same way they went in.

This will prevent: spinach, peas, sunflower seeds, Pumpkin, squash, carrots, blackberries, blueberries, currants, apples, pears, plums, apricots, various roots such as chicory root, dandelion root, and even peppermint leaves or ginger root. Not to mention those who use unsuitable herbs like cumin, fennel, thyme, etc.

 🛑 GREASE

Animal fat is essential. It is normally present in sufficient quantity in high-quality, carefully selected meat. If the main ingredient is duck, it is normal to find only duck fat if the duck initially chosen is of high quality. It should be noted that duck fat is highly valued for its naturally high palatability.

WARNING: The international trend is towards the massive use of pork fat. Since this fat is of poor quality and very low palatability, manufacturers are adding palatability enhancers that some independent producers claim are toxic to animals.

🛑 ADDITIVES AND PRESERVATIVES

To avoid: BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin (controversial chemical preservatives).

Better: tocopherols (vitamin E), rosemary extract.

When feeding a dog, it's crucial to pay close attention to the additives present, which are artificial preservatives derived from petroleum and known to be carcinogenic. These additives include BHA (or E320) and BHT (or E321).

Furthermore, potassium chloride is a synthetic technological additive used as a flavor enhancer in food. While some sources consider this additive harmless, a larger number believe the risks include digestive problems, intestinal and stomach ulcers, vomiting, weakness, shock, and hemorrhaging.

 💧 6. FOR THE (WET) PATTY

The mash should contain a lot of meat and water (makes sense).

Check that the ingredients are simple: meat/fish, broth, minerals, and possibly vegetables. Be wary of "sauces" or "jellies" which may be too diluted and low in protein.

Beware of sodium!!

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE DIFFERENT MARKETING PRACTICES?

Feeding your pet well has become difficult in a marketing context that is omnipresent in pet food, where manipulation is no longer hesitated to make people think that the food they buy is of high quality.

Whether it's protein or grain-free kibble, you need to know these steps to make the right choice and understand what your kibble actually contains.

Some manufacturers use another common practice which is to divide the same ingredient into several "ingredients" in order to make it seem that the "meat" portion is larger and therefore appears as the first ingredient.

Thus wheat, for example, can appear divided into several ingredients as follows: wheat, wheat flour, wheat gluten, etc.

That a component is divided is not a bad thing in itself; for example, corn gluten is sometimes separated from corn because this gluten is a protein obtained by physical separation during the refining of starch (note that corn gluten is not equivalent to wheat gluten, which is so often discussed). and being recognized as an allergen by the European Union). What is misleading is intentionally dividing these components in such a way as to make the consumer believe that the portion of meat is greater, when often wheat or corn or rice, in itself, is actually the main ingredient.

Another practice is that legally, what is listed between two commas only counts as one ingredient. For example: corn, meat AND animal by-products, rice, potato, etc… The ingredient “meat AND animal by-products” can contain only (5% meat and 95% animal by-products of all kinds).

 🟢 IN SUMMARY: WHAT'S GOOD

• Main ingredient = identified meat or fish (chicken, salmon, etc.).
• No vague animal/cereal by-products.
• High protein content, low carbohydrates.
• Natural preservatives.

 🔴 WHAT'S LESS GOOD

• First ingredient = cereals.
• Many unspecified "by-products".
• Chemical additives and artificial flavorings.
• Low protein content.

DEFINITIONS

Fresh meat : This term refers to meat that is not yet dehydrated, meaning it has not yet been dried. Meat contains up to 75% water, 5% fat and carbohydrates, and between 20% and 30% protein, depending on the type of meat. To obtain the actual protein content, the quantity of "fresh meat" should be divided by 4 or 5 for meat initially containing approximately 20% protein, and by approximately 3 for meat containing 30% protein. Therefore, it is preferable to use the term "dehydrated animal protein" to determine the protein quality; the term "animal" is also important.

Hydrolyzed proteins : Hydrolysis allows the production of peptides (constituents of proteins made up of a few amino acids) from various wastes containing proteins: heads, bones, tails, tendons and skins.

There are two processes: enzymatic hydrolysis and chemical hydrolysis, the latter being the less expensive and more common . It is chemical hydrolysis that requires caution. Chemical hydrolysis is a process that uses high temperatures and extreme pH conditions. This process involves boiling the waste for several hours with acids such as hydrochloric acid or hydrofluoric acid in order to recover the peptides. Chemical hydrolysis alters the properties of the peptides and destroys certain amino acids, such as tryptophan, which is an essential amino acid.

Animal by-products : All animal by-products (or co-products, dehydrated animal proteins) (from poultry, pigs and ruminants) can enter the production chain of dry pet food.

The viscera, the heads, the necks, beaks, feathers, Hooves, paws, or bones are defined as animal by-products = All the cuts of meat, whether prime or less so, have been removed.

Crude cellulose: Crude cellulose comes from the cytoplasmic membrane of plants and is not digestible by dogs. A low percentage is preferable.

Source: https://blog.bouvier-suisse.com which has done a very good job on canine nutrition.