How to read a pet food label

Pet food labels follow rules set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and enforced by state feed officials and the FDA. Once you know a few of those rules, the label tells you a lot. Here's what to read, in order of how useful it is.

1. The nutritional adequacy statement

This is the most important line on the bag. It tells you whether the food is "complete and balanced," meaning it has every required nutrient in the right ratios, and for which life stage. Without it, the food is meant for occasional or supplemental feeding only, like a treat.

It comes in two main forms:

• Formulated: "...is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog (or Cat) Food Nutrient Profiles for..." The recipe meets the profiles on paper.
• Feeding trials: "Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that... provides complete and balanced nutrition for..." The food was fed to animals in a trial. WSAVA's guidelines favor foods tested this way.

Then check the life stage: growth (puppies and kittens), maintenance (adults), gestation/lactation, or all life stages. "All life stages" foods meet the growth profile, so they're richer than an adult pet strictly needs.

2. The calorie statement

Look for a heading called "Calorie Content." It gives kilocalories per kilogram and per cup, can or treat. This is what you need to work out portions, and foods vary widely: dry dog foods run from about 300 to over 500 kcal per cup. Our dog and cat food calculators turn this number into cups or cans a day.

3. The product name

The name tells you more than it seems, because AAFCO rules tie each wording to a minimum amount of the named ingredient:

So "Chicken Dog Food" and "Dog Food with Chicken" can be very different products.

4. The ingredient list

Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first, including their water. That's why fresh meat often comes first: it's heavy with water that cooks off. A dry ingredient like chicken meal further down the list can contribute more protein. Don't judge a food on the first ingredient alone.

5. The guaranteed analysis

Four numbers are required: minimum crude protein, minimum crude fat, maximum crude fiber and maximum moisture. "Crude" refers to the lab method, not the quality. They're minimums and maximums, not exact amounts.

To compare wet and dry food, convert to dry matter: divide the nutrient by (100 minus moisture). A canned food with 8% protein and 78% moisture is about 36% protein on a dry matter basis.

6. Who made it

The label must name the company responsible, with an address. "Manufactured by" means the company made it. "Manufactured for" or "distributed by" usually means someone else did. WSAVA suggests asking about that, and it's part of our nutrition standards check.

What the label can't tell you

Words like "premium," "gourmet" and "holistic" have no official definition. The label also can't tell you about the company's quality control or recall history. That's what our grades add.

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