Interpreting Dog Food Nutrition Labels

[DaneMama]

Keep in mind that dog food ingredients are listed in order by weight PRIOR to processing. So if you see a "fresh de-boned chicken" or just plain "chicken" as the first ingredient followed by a grain or other filler...that food is mostly filler. Since fresh meats contain ~70% moisture, but all of that moisture is removed during the process of making the food...its placement as an ingredient should be much further down the list. I would keep an eye out for a food that has a few named meat meal sources in the first 5 ingredients. Grain free is superior to all other kibbles. Good luck.

[SaltyDog]

Beware of companies that do not publish the full nutrient breakdown.

Orijen, Acana, Innova, Evo, California Natural, Karma are the only brands I can think of that publish the whole thing!