Dog Food Guaranteed Analysis Secrets

by Luke Blaise

Trying to read dog food labels can be very difficult. As a pet owner you want what is best for your dog's health, but it can be hard to accomplish if you do not completely understand what is in the bag.

Even though the pet food manufacturers must follow government regulations, these can still be difficult for pet owners to understand. Here are are three loopholes to avoid when reading dog food labels.

Loophole #1

The first loophole to watch out for is what type of protein is used in the product. Even though the label might say that is guaranteed to contain at least 10% protein, it is hard to tell what type of protein is.

The danger in this is that some companies, in order to save money, substitute vegetable proteins for animal proteins. Animal proteins are more expensive, but they are also are much more important for dogs to consume.

Loophole #2

Here's a quick quiz. Do you know the difference between "beef dog food" and "dog food with beef"? "Beef dog food" has to contain 95% beef, whereas "dog food with beef" only needs to contain 3% beef.

This is an important point to understand because even though an ingredient might be mentioned on the front cover of the bag, it doesn't necessarily mean that is the main ingredient. This is one of the biggest misunderstandings when it comes to pet products.

Loophole #3

Lastly, on many bags of food there is a guaranteed analysis section. Most labels read like this, "Fat - No Less then 9%."

Because of the way the label is stated, it might only have 9% of this component, or it could have 50%. There is absolutely no way for you to tell unless you contact the manufacturer.

How To Be More Informed

One way to be more informed about what is going on with dog food labels is to read more of them the next time you're at the store and then you can start to learn the differences between different products easily.

Please visit our website to read our Dog Food Secrets review and to take the dog food conspiracy quiz.