The front of a premium dog food bag is designed to catch your attention. The back is where you'll find the information that really matters.

Premium. Natural. High meat. Superfood. Grain-free.

These words might sound impressive, but at Bark & Bramble, we'd rather turn the packet around and see what is actually inside.

Dog food labels can look complicated, but once you know what to look for, they become much easier to understand.

Start With the Composition

The composition tells you which ingredients have been used to make the food.

Ingredients are generally listed in descending order by weight, so ingredients present in greater quantities appear earlier in the list.

We particularly like seeing clearly named animal proteins.

For example, chicken, salmon, beef, pork or turkey gives you considerably more useful information than a vague description.

This becomes even more important if you're trying to avoid a particular protein because your dog has a known or suspected sensitivity.

Where Are the Percentages?

This is a big one for us.

Imagine reading an ingredient list containing:

Salmon, sweet potato, blueberries, herbs and salmon oil.

It sounds great.

But how much salmon is there? How many blueberries? How much salmon oil?

Without percentages, you may have limited information about how much of those attractive ingredients is actually present.

At Bark & Bramble, we think clear ingredient percentages are a basic standard of transparency. If an ingredient is being promoted as a major reason to buy a food, we want to know how much of it is actually there.

Not every ingredient is legally required to have a percentage declared, so the absence of a percentage doesn't automatically mean there's something wrong with the food.

But from our perspective, the more transparent the manufacturer is prepared to be, the better.

We don't think customers should have to guess what they're feeding their dogs.

Don't Be Fooled by Meat Percentages Either

There's another side to this.

The biggest percentage doesn't automatically mean the best food.

For example, fresh meat naturally contains a significant amount of water, whereas dried or dehydrated meat has already had much of its moisture removed.

That means a food advertising 70% fresh meat can't necessarily be directly compared with another food containing a lower percentage of dried animal ingredients.

This is why we look at the whole formulation, rather than picking whichever bag has the biggest number printed on the front.

What Are Analytical Constituents?

You'll usually find another section called analytical constituents.

This typically includes figures such as:

Protein: an indication of the food's protein content.

Fat: an important source of energy and essential fatty acids.

Crude fibre: an indication of fibre within the food.

Crude ash: despite the strange name, this doesn't mean somebody has added fireplace ash to your dog's dinner! It's a measure relating to the food's mineral content.

Moisture: the amount of water within the food.

These numbers can be extremely useful, particularly when comparing similar types of food.

However, be careful when comparing completely different foods. A wet food containing lots of water can't fairly be compared directly with a dry food purely by looking at the percentages printed on each packet.

What About Carbohydrates And Grains?

Carbohydrates can come from ingredients such as rice, oats, barley, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas and lentils.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that grain-free automatically means better.

It doesn't.

Some dogs may have individual dietary requirements or sensitivities, but grains themselves aren't automatically a sign of poor-quality dog food.

At Bark & Bramble, we'd rather look at why an ingredient is there and how the overall food is formulated than judge a food because it does or doesn't contain grain.

Oils, Vitamins And Additives

You might also see ingredients such as fish oil, salmon oil or other sources of fats, alongside vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

Don't automatically be put off because something has a complicated scientific name.

Nutritional additives can play an important role in ensuring a finished food provides the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients required to make it nutritionally complete.

“Natural” doesn't automatically mean nutritionally complete, and a long scientific-looking word doesn't automatically mean something is bad.

Context matters.

Don't Forget To Check: Complete Or Complementary?

Before choosing an everyday food, look for another very important word:

Complete.

A complete dog food is formulated to provide the essential nutrients your dog needs when fed appropriately for its intended life stage.

A complementary food, such as many treats, chews and toppers, isn't designed to provide your dog's entire nutritional requirements on its own.

You can read more about this in our guide: What Does “Complete Dog Food” Actually Mean?

Turn The Bag Around

Our biggest piece of advice is incredibly simple:

Don't choose a dog food solely from the front of the packet. Turn it around.

Look beyond words such as:

  • Premium
  • Natural
  • Superfood
  • High meat
  • Grain-free

Then ask:

What are the main ingredients?
Are the protein sources clearly named?
Are meaningful percentages provided?
What are the analytical constituents?
Is the food complete and suitable for my dog's life stage?

The answers to those questions tell you considerably more than an attractive photograph and a few carefully chosen words on the front.

Transparency Before Marketing

At Bark & Bramble, transparency comes before marketing.

We don't expect every dog food to have the same ingredients, the same protein percentage or the same nutritional profile. Different dogs have different requirements and there isn't one perfect food for every dog.

But we do expect manufacturers to give owners enough information to understand what they're buying.

That's why, when selecting the foods we stock, we look at ingredient transparency, named protein sources, declared percentages, nutritional profile, analytical constituents and suitability for the dog the food is intended for.

Dog food shouldn't win us over because the front of the bag looks impressive.

We want the back of the bag to impress us too.

Because our pets deserve more than clever marketing.

They deserve nutrition you can trust.

better nutrition + transparency + pets deserving better

 

This article provides general educational information and isn't a substitute for individual veterinary advice. If your dog has a medical condition, persistent digestive problems, suspected food allergy or specific dietary requirements, speak to your veterinary professional.