Reading a kibble label: what the ingredients really tell you

On the front of the bag, everything looks lovely: a gleaming dog, chunks of meat, fresh vegetables and words like “premium”, “natural” or “chef’s recipe”. The truth is on the back, in small print. Learning to read a label takes five minutes and lets you compare two foods objectively, whatever their price.

First, three things to check

Before you look at the ingredients, find these three pieces of information.

“Complete food”. This means the product covers all of the dog’s needs on its own. A “complementary food” doesn’t: it is a treat or a supplement, not a base diet.

The species and life stage. “For puppies”, “for adult dogs”, “for senior dogs”, “large breeds”: an adult food isn’t right for a growing puppy, and vice versa.

The best-before date and batch number. In a hot climate, avoid bags close to their date, bags stored in direct sun, or damaged packaging. Fats oxidise and the food loses its vitamins.

The ingredient list: order matters

Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight at the time they are added, that is, before cooking. That detail changes everything.

Fresh meat is about seventy per cent water. A bag that lists “fresh chicken” first may, once the water has cooked off, actually contain more cereal than chicken. Conversely, “dehydrated poultry protein” or “meat meal” is already dry: in second place it can supply more animal protein than the fresh meat listed first.

A few pointers for reading the list:

• look at the first five ingredients: they make up most of the bag;
• prefer named ingredients: “chicken”, “lamb”, “salmon”, “rice” rather than “meat and animal derivatives” or “cereals”, which let the maker change the recipe with market prices;
• beware of splitting: “maize”, “maize gluten” and “maize meal” listed separately may, added together, outweigh the meat placed before them;
• a percentage is always a good sign: “dehydrated chicken (28%)” is more honest than “chicken”.

Meat, meat meal, by-products: what are they worth?

These terms frighten people, often wrongly.

• Fresh meat: very digestible, but heavy in water.
• Dehydrated protein or meat meal: meat and tissue cooked then dried. A meal from a named species, such as “dehydrated chicken protein”, is a good concentrated source of protein.
• Animal by-products: offal, carcasses, connective tissue. Liver or heart are excellent foods; the problem is that the wording doesn’t say what is actually in there, or from which species.
• Protein hydrolysates: protein broken into small fragments, used as flavouring or in foods for allergic dogs.

What counts, more than the word, is precision: a label that names its raw materials generally belongs to a maker with nothing to hide.

The analytical constituents

This table shows the food’s chemical composition. It includes at least:

• crude protein: generally 22 to 30% for an adult, more for a puppy. The figure says nothing about quality or digestibility: feathers are protein too;
• fat: 10 to 18% on average. More for a very active dog, less for a sedentary or overweight one;
• crude ash: the minerals left after burning. A high level, above 9 to 10%, often betrays a lot of bone and carcass;
• crude fibre: generally 2 to 4%;
• moisture: around 8 to 10% for kibble.

Carbohydrates are almost never shown. You can estimate them: 100 minus protein, fat, ash, fibre and moisture. A food showing 25% protein, 12% fat, 8% ash, 3% fibre and 10% moisture therefore contains about 42% carbohydrate. That isn’t a fault in itself, but beyond half the bag, the animal share becomes small.

For a large-breed puppy, also look at the calcium and phosphorus: calcium around 1 to 1.5% and a calcium/phosphorus ratio of about 1.2 to 1.5 are what you want.

Additives

The “additives” section lists the vitamins and trace elements added, which is normal and necessary, along with preservatives, antioxidants and colourings.

• Antioxidants are essential to stop fats going rancid. Tocopherols, meaning vitamin E, and rosemary extracts are the most valued.
• Colourings serve only to attract the buyer: the dog doesn’t care what colour its kibble is.
• “No added preservatives” doesn’t mean there are none: the raw materials may contain some.

Decoding the marketing claims

• “Premium”, “super premium”, “gourmet”: these words have no regulatory definition. Any maker can use them.
• “Rich in chicken” implies a minimum chicken content, whereas “with chicken” requires much less, and “chicken flavour” hardly anything. The exact wording matters.
• “Grain-free” doesn’t mean carbohydrate-free: grains are replaced by potato, peas or lentils. These recipes are not better on principle, and health authorities have investigated a possible link between some formulas very rich in pulses and heart disease in dogs. Unless there is a proven allergy, a dog digests cooked cereals perfectly well.
• “Natural” and “holistic” are mood words.
• “Hypoallergenic” only means something if the ingredient list is short and precise.

The daily ration: the real price

A cheap bag of which you must give four hundred grams a day sometimes costs more than a dearer bag of which two hundred and fifty grams are enough. Compare the cost per day, not the price per kilo: divide the price of the bag by the number of days it will last, according to the recommended ration for your dog’s weight.

A high recommended ration is, incidentally, a clue: it signals a food that is not very concentrated or digestible, and it shows up as bulkier stools.

The final test: your dog

The label guides the choice, but the dog decides. After a month on a new food, introduced gradually, look for:

• a shiny coat, with no dandruff or itching;
• well-formed stools, small in quantity, once or twice a day;
• a stable weight and good energy;
• a steady appetite.

If those signs are there, you have found a good food, whatever the brand.

Key takeaways

Check for “complete food” and the life stage, read the first five ingredients, distrust fresh meat listed first and vague terms, compare the analytical constituents and work out the cost per day. For what comes next, our guide to feeding your dog well will help you portion the ration, and the food listings let you compare offers.