Tips on Dog Food Comparison

Supermarkets and grocery stores across the United States carry a wide variety of dog food brands. As a responsible dog owner, it is your job to read carefully the pet food labels and do some dog food comparison. When you understand labels and are able to do dog food comparison, you can identify which ingredients are good for your dog and which ones are harmful.

To start with your dog food comparison, you need to ask a few questions while you’re reading dog food labels. These questions include:

1. Does this dog food list quality meat as one of the top two ingredients?
2. Does this dog food use high quality ingredients?
3. Does this dog food list a date for freshness?
4. Are the ingredients listed on the label ingredients that can also be consumed by humans?

When you’re doing dog food comparison of the different dog food brands, you need to be aware that ingredients in dog foods are typically listed in descending order according to weight. For instance, if a dog food brand lists corn as one of its first three ingredients, move on to the next dog food. This is because it’s likely the dog food is good since corn is hard for dogs to digest and is therefore not a desirable food. If a dog food brand lists chicken or fresh chicken liver as one of the first eight ingredients, that dog food brand has promise.

A company called Flint River Ranch is a popular dog food manufacturer that uses ingredients in its dog food that are so good and are even fit for human consumption. Ingredients used in their dog foods include chicken meal, ground rice, whole wheat flour, poultry fat, lamb meal and dried whole egg.

When you are conducting dog food comparison, be aware that there are dog foods that contain waste products. Stay away from dog foods that list meat by-products, brewer’s rice, and meat and bone meal in their ingredients. These are not easily digestible and they hardly provide nutrition. In addition, meat by-products often consist of parts and organs (e.g., intestines, blood, bones, lungs, heads, ligaments, feathers and feet) that are not even fit for human consumption.

Also make sure that the label names a fat source in its list of ingredients. Go with dog foods that list chicken fat or poultry fat when you’re conducting dog food comparison. These are fats that can be naturally preserved and are easily digestible. Other sources of fat are typically too rancid and not even fit for humans to consume.

Be on the lookout too for dog food products that include chemical preservatives. Avoid these since they are cancer-causing agents. If you feed your pooch daily with dog food that contains chemical preservatives, the chemicals will start building up inside his body, which would cause dire consequences. Also make sure that you pick dog foods that have no sweeteners like sugar, corn syrup or cane molasses. These sweeteners are often used to preserve low quality dog foods and make them more flavorful.