Quick Tips on Understanding Pet Food Labels

When you are shopping for pet food (especially kibbles) for your furkid, do you also study the ingredients listed on the packaging labels? It is important to know what ingredients go to the food that you buy, because what your furkid eats will determine his long term good health! Do note that generally, cheaper prices means higher chances of finding cheaper ingredients in the labels, such as "meals", "flavourings" and "corn". So it is very important to be able to understand the pet food label so you know which brand uses better quality ingredients, and which doesn't. 😊

Understanding pet food labels like a pro

Here's 4 quick tips on reading pet food labels, to make sure all of us see beyond fancy packaging and attractive names (Remember, all businesses will want to attract and say they are the best!):

1. Look at the ingredient labels carefully. Good meat meals come from good animal parts, such as the lean meat portions like breasts. If the first few ingredients contain words like “by-products”, “meals”, or “lungs” and “hearts”, please avoid them!

2. If you feed bone meal or meat meals, you will need to feed supplements or with real meat occasionally to complement your pup’s diet. This is because of the obvious lack of authentic nutrients and vitamins in the meat meals due to the long cooking process.

3. Be more wary about generic, vague terms and descriptions. Like “animals” and “parts”.

4. Be more wary about those who rely on impressive-sounding terms and descriptions. Real quality does not require flashy words!

With these 4 tips in mind, you can start to become a more discerning pawrent when it comes to evaluating right foods for your dog or cat. It's really quite as important as taking care of a hooman baby's diet.

So next time if you are shopping for food for your dog or cat, don't just look at the price or how nice the packaging are. Remember to look at the labels too!

If you want to have a more in-depth understanding of how pet food manufacturers actually write their food labels, you can find out more here.