DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN YOUR PET'S FOOD?
At Doggie Style Pets we want to help decode pet nutrition labels, and take the guesswork out of feeding your pet a healthy food. Let's find you a brand you can feed with confidence!
There are so many dog and cat foods on the market today - and all of them claim to be healthy. Bags are covered in pictures of chicken, fish, fruits, and veggies - complete with a good-looking dog or cat, front and center. From one bag to the next, it's hard to tell the difference. But there is one place you can always tell the difference: the nutritional panel.
Look at the nutritional panel on the back of what you're currently feeding. Is protein listed as the first ingredient? Does it contain sub-par ingredients like animal by-products, fillers, and artificial preservatives?
For example, lets take a look at the bag of dog food below. This is a relatively expensive food, prescribed by veterinarians, but knowing that ingredients are listed in decreasing order of predominance by weight, there are some immediate red flags.
Hill's Prescription Diet Digestive Care Chicken Flavor Dry Dog Food
Chewy Price: 17.6-lb Bag | $95.99 ($5.46/lb)
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[1] Brewers Rice
The first ingredient in this dog food is brewers rice. Brewer's Rice is exclusively sold to the pet food industry. It is cheap and low-quality filler added to boost protein content and bind the kibble together.
It is a cereal grain by-product consisting of the small fragments left over after milling whole rice. Essentially "dust" and “floor sweepings" from rice.
Aside from the caloric energy it contains, this item is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.
[2] Corn / Corn Gluten Meal
The second ingredient is corn. Corn is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain. And aside from its energy content, this grain is of only modest nutritional value to a dog. Corn is not easily digested and is a common allergen.
[3] Pea Protein
The fourth ingredient is pea protein, what remains of a pea after removing the starchy part of the vegetable. Even though it contains over 80% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.
And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.
[5] Egg Product
The fifth ingredient is egg product, an unspecified (wet or dry?) form of shell-free eggs. Quality can vary significantly. Lower grade egg product can even come from commercial hatcheries — from eggs that have failed to hatch.
If you were feeding the pet food in the above example, we recommend comparing it to the following pet food we carry.
Annamaet Original Sensitive Skin & Stomach Dry Dog Food
Our Price: 12-lb Bag | $52.99 ($4.42/lb)

The first and fourth ingredients are Lamb Meal and Whitefish Meal. These are novel protein sources, which means they would be benefitial for dogs who may have poultry and beef related issues. Pumpkin promotes digestive health and Coconut Oil is rich in MCTs to help optimize brain function and gastrointestinal fat absorption in dogs with fat sensitivities. Sensitive Skin & Stomach contains added prebiotics and probiotics to provide GI support and aide in microbiome gut health. DHA, a sustainable and stable source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and Turmeric, which contains curcumin, help to deter inflammation. This recipe also features proteinated minerals which support the immune system, and optimum mineral absorption, as trace minerals like zinc are important to healthy skin and coat quality.
Quality matters. More and more studies are finding that nutrition has a big impact on our health - why should it be any different for our pets? Your pet will gain the health benefits of a quality diet, and will hopefully avoid the possible pitfalls of a substandard one - sensitivities, illness, and cancer. For your pet's best health and best chance at a long and healthy life, start with a high quality food. Visit us today for a nutritional consultation!
10 RED FLAGS OF POOR QUALITY PET FOODS
While it can help to know what good ingredients to look for in a quality food, it can also be beneficial to know how to spot the not-so-good ingredients. Look out for these indicators of poor quality pet food.
1. GRAINS ARE FIRST INGREDIENTS

Let's say that meat the second ingredient, followed by more carbs. It may not look so bad a first glance, but the food likely contains more nutrition from carbs than meat.
Pet food manufacturers often throw off buyers by sandwiching a meat in between two carbs. The food may appear meaty, but the two carb sources combined will overshadow any nutrients coming from the meat.
We don't claim that carbs are bad, just that they need to be fed in moderation. Carbs contain vitamins, minerals, and key nutrients like protein, but they are also full of sugars that can disrupt digestion and lead to unnecessary weight gain.
2. MYSTERY MEAT

Vague and unidentified meat is likely inconsistent in quality, meaning you could be feeding scraps from a variety of sources. These ingredients might even include 4D animals (diseased, disabled, dying, or dead before processing). This could include expired grocery store meat, zoo animals, roadkill, and even euthanized or diseased animals.
The use of 4D meats is not a legal practice, but cheaply sourced and manufactured foods sometimes find ways to circumvent the laws, especially when they are not actively enforced.
Top offending ingredients are non-descript meat sources like:
- poultry meal
- meat and bone meal
- blood meal
- animal digest
- beef and bone meal
Other mystery meats, like animal digest, do contain protein, but not the kind you want to see in your dog's food. Animal digest refers to a animal protein that has been "digested" using enzymes and acids, to break apart the components of the meat. It's often made into a liquid or powdered form to spray onto foods, increasing flavour and aroma.
That doesn't sound too bad does it? Well, in theory, it's not. The problem is that there is little to know regulation of the quality of meat used to make animal digest. It could be healthy muscle tissue, but it could also be an animal by-product from a less than desirable source.
Calling it unspecified animal digest leaves the a lot to the imagination, and a manufacturer that is cutting corners will not be hunting down top shelf animal digest. A meat-rich high quality diet would have no need for animal digest and other mystery meats to improve flavour or scent.
3. BY-PRODUCTS

Organ meats, tendons, bones, and any other animal parts are safe to feed your dog. However, in rendered animal by-products the nutrition is inconsistent. You never know what your pet is getting. Foods that rely solely on animal by-products for their protein and fat may be offering less nutrition than they seem.
Without strict regulation surrounding the quality of animal by-products, it's safer to stick to real named meat sources. Un-rendered by-products can be fed supplementally. Adding fresh organ meat, or feeding natural chews can add both nutrition and flavour in a format that you know is safer and healthier.
4. FILLERS

Some fillers are also low grade proteins, carbohydrates, and fibres, meant to bring pet foods up to minimum guaranteed analysis requirements. They may be a source of some essential nutrients, just not a good one.
This can make a poor quality food look like it contains more meat than it actually does. We usually associate protein with meat protein, but protein can be sourced from most carbohydrates too. Peas, corn, wheat, and oats can all be used in excess to cover up a lack of animal protein in your pet's food.
Common pet food fillers are:
- corn
- maize (also corn)
- peanut hulls
- cellulose
- apple or grape pomace
- pea bran
- dried beet pulp
- oat hulls
- rice hulls
- wheat (or other) mills
- brewers rice
- soy
5. FRESH MEAT VS. MEAT MEALS

Fresh chicken (or another named meat) is not processed before it goes into your dog’s food. This means that the water content is high, which accounts for most of the weight.
Since most of this moisture evaporates during the cooking processing, the actual amount of chicken protein in the finished product is less than it appears on the ingredient panel. If it were weighed after processing, the chicken would end up much further down the ingredient list.
To solve this, many manufacturers have started using named meat meals, like chicken meal. Meals are made by removing the moisture from the meat before it's added to the food. This ensure a much higher protein content in a smaller portion.
The downside to using meat meals, is that quality cannot be guaranteed. Dehydration requires a heat process, which can degrade the nutrients in the meat. The food is them extruded and cooked a second time. It's difficult to ensure that foods using just meat meals contain appropriate levels of digestible nutrients.
Look for foods that use both fresh meat and meat meals. This offers the benefits of both worlds, and ensures that your pet is getting the right nutrients.
6. INGREDIENT SPLITTING
Ingredient splitting is one of the most notorious tricks that pet food manufacturers play in order to make their ingredient panel read better. Ingredient splitting is the manipulation of similar ingredients so that they can separate their weight and move those ingredients lower down on the ingredient panel.
In the image above, there is an example of a food that uses sweet potatoes and potatoes for starch and carbohydrates. If they would have used just sweet potatoes or just potatoes, it likely would have made these ingredients show first in the ingredient panel over the salmon meal.
Ingredient splitting is a game that almost all pet food manufacturers play, so it isn't necessarily a sign that the food is bad. We include it in this list because it is important for you to recognize possible issues in your pet's food so that you can make more informed decisions about their diet.
7. ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS AND COLORS
There is no reason that your pet needs artificial flavors or colors in their food. These ingredients have been linked to serious conditions such as cancer and diabetes, and they have absolutely no health benefits. The truth comes out – artificial flavors and colours are added to foods for pet food companies to make money.
Cats and dogs love the taste of real meat, so why would healthy pet foods require artificial flavor? The truth is that artificial flavors are used in pet foods to cover up the taste of substandard, spoiled or rancid meats, or a lack of meat entirely.
Even the relatively cheap and flavorful broths are bypassed by ingredients such as sugar (often disguised under other names such as molasses or corn syrup).
Artificial colors are used only to attract pet owners. Colorful foods are more appealing to the consumer’s eye – but pets don’t care what their food looks like! Your dog doesn't know that their kibble looks like Lucky Charms. All they care about is that it tastes good.
Common artificial offenders in pet food are:
- flavor
- corn syrup
- caramel
- propylene glycol (a sweet-tasting sister to anti-freeze)
- Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6
8. ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES
Dry food needs to last on the shelf at the store. The longer a pet food lasts on the shelf, the less likely it is to expire and be a loss for the food company.
Chemical preservatives are used in pet foods because they are cheap and make food last much longer than natural preservatives. Unfortunately, chemical preservatives can also be very damaging to pet health.
Be wary of unspecified fish meals or oils. As in meat, this ambiguity often indicates poor quality. Fish not destined for human consumption is pre-treated with the preservative ethoxyquin – a questionable additive that has possible links to several health risks, and no safety studies to back it up.
Since the fish is treated before it's purchased by the food manufacturer, this ingredient does not need to be listed on the pet food label.
Look for natural preservatives instead, such as mixed tocopherols, citric acid, and rosemary oil, instead of these common and dangerous chemical preservatives:
- Ethoxyquin
- butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
- butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
- propyl gallate
- tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ)
9. CHEAP FAT SOURCES
In the same way that unidentified or very general meat sources can indicate a very cheap and inconsistent quality food, unidentified fat sources also show that your dog food manufacturer is cutting corners.
These non-descript fats are often of a low quality and are typically rendered, which means they are cooked at extremely high temperatures, degrading most of the nutritional value that may have been there in the first place.
Even some fat sources that are named, such as beef tallow or beef lard, may still be low-quality. While these fat sources are appealing to pets flavor-wise, they are all cheap by-products of rendering, and mostly void of nutrition.
Look for healthful, nutrient-rich, and tasty options such as chicken or beef fat that should be considered instead.
10. UNKNOWN SOURCING
With the frequency of recalls from pet food ingredients sourced out of places like China, it is important that you know where your pet food ingredients come from. If a bag does not specify where ingredients are sourced, or the information is not available on their website, then they are likely to be from inexpensive, cheap manufacturers, such as those found in China and other developing countries.
Manufacturing standards in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States are much higher than many other countries. While companies can specify a certain quality of imported ingredients, they have no direct involvement in regulation. They have no way of knowing that certain standards are being met consistently unless they test everything that comes into their facility (also highly unlikely).
While food safety mishaps can happen anywhere, they are less likely to happen where processes are monitored frequently at a high standard. Ingredients should be sourced from farmers, fisherman, and ranchers that follow USDA, EU, or CFIA policies and standards.
When it comes to pet food, what goes on the bag is more than just clever marketing – it also has meaning. Pet food labels have guidelines that manufacturers must adhere to, and shed light on what exactly is in your pet food. Click the buttom below to learn more:
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In the image above, there is an example of a food that uses sweet potatoes and potatoes for starch and carbohydrates. If they would have used just sweet potatoes or just potatoes, it likely would have made these ingredients show first in the ingredient panel over the salmon meal.
Ingredient splitting is a game that almost all pet food manufacturers play, so it isn't necessarily a sign that the food is bad. We include it in this list because it is important for you to recognize possible issues in your pet's food so that you can make more informed decisions about their diet.
7. ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS AND COLORS

Cats and dogs love the taste of real meat, so why would healthy pet foods require artificial flavor? The truth is that artificial flavors are used in pet foods to cover up the taste of substandard, spoiled or rancid meats, or a lack of meat entirely.
Even the relatively cheap and flavorful broths are bypassed by ingredients such as sugar (often disguised under other names such as molasses or corn syrup).
Artificial colors are used only to attract pet owners. Colorful foods are more appealing to the consumer’s eye – but pets don’t care what their food looks like! Your dog doesn't know that their kibble looks like Lucky Charms. All they care about is that it tastes good.
Common artificial offenders in pet food are:- flavor
- corn syrup
- caramel
- propylene glycol (a sweet-tasting sister to anti-freeze)
- Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6
8. ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES
Chemical preservatives are used in pet foods because they are cheap and make food last much longer than natural preservatives. Unfortunately, chemical preservatives can also be very damaging to pet health.
Be wary of unspecified fish meals or oils. As in meat, this ambiguity often indicates poor quality. Fish not destined for human consumption is pre-treated with the preservative ethoxyquin – a questionable additive that has possible links to several health risks, and no safety studies to back it up.
Since the fish is treated before it's purchased by the food manufacturer, this ingredient does not need to be listed on the pet food label.
Look for natural preservatives instead, such as mixed tocopherols, citric acid, and rosemary oil, instead of these common and dangerous chemical preservatives:
- Ethoxyquin
- butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
- butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
- propyl gallate
- tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ)
9. CHEAP FAT SOURCES

These non-descript fats are often of a low quality and are typically rendered, which means they are cooked at extremely high temperatures, degrading most of the nutritional value that may have been there in the first place.
Even some fat sources that are named, such as beef tallow or beef lard, may still be low-quality. While these fat sources are appealing to pets flavor-wise, they are all cheap by-products of rendering, and mostly void of nutrition.
Look for healthful, nutrient-rich, and tasty options such as chicken or beef fat that should be considered instead.
10. UNKNOWN SOURCING
Manufacturing standards in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States are much higher than many other countries. While companies can specify a certain quality of imported ingredients, they have no direct involvement in regulation. They have no way of knowing that certain standards are being met consistently unless they test everything that comes into their facility (also highly unlikely).
While food safety mishaps can happen anywhere, they are less likely to happen where processes are monitored frequently at a high standard. Ingredients should be sourced from farmers, fisherman, and ranchers that follow USDA, EU, or CFIA policies and standards.
When it comes to pet food, what goes on the bag is more than just clever marketing – it also has meaning. Pet food labels have guidelines that manufacturers must adhere to, and shed light on what exactly is in your pet food. Click the buttom below to learn more:
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.