Dog Kibble
A Dog Food Label Ingredient Comparison

Be a label reader! There's no law that says the picture must have anything to do with the ingredients.The truth is there's a lot of money spent on the design of those dog kibble bags to make you FEEL good and make you FEEL like you are giving your dog something healthy.

Dog food manufacturers know the prettier the package, the less chance of anyone reading the ingredients. After all, who has the time for that stuff anyway?

The first clue could be when you open the bag and it appears to be full of little dried brown turds that leave greasy stains on the carpet. Does this look like the meat and veggies on the bag? Let's get serious.

Dog kibble is a processed food (like a potato chip no longer has the same nutrition as a potato). It has to be cooked and made up of things that will stick together to form that kibble shape. And it has to have preservatives so it doesn't mold and rot.

I'm not trying to totally scare you away from dog kibble, I'm trying to make you THINK and read a dog food label or two. Since its processed, we can't see what's in it. The label is our only clue (not the guaranteed analysis) and our dog's health is at stake.

What's worse is, have you ever wondered where the meat comes from?

Personally, I'd like to kick myself for my own ignorance in years past. My mother always tried to steer me toward fresh food, including raw fruits and vegetables. Why then did I believe that dog kibble in a bag was 100% complete nutrition? Because I was dumb enough to believe the dog food commercials! How embarrassing.

THOSE PESKY DOG FOOD LABELS

For those of you who are not label readers, normally the ingredients there’s the most of, are listed first. In dog kibble, everything listed before the fat is a main ingredient. So, if the beef, chicken or lamb is listed several ingredients down, how much is there? Often, the first ingredient listed is corn. This puzzles me.

Canines are carnivores and the first source should be meat. Let's make fun of our gullibility.

“In the news tonight, Farmer John reportedly lost 3 acres of corn in just one day due to the growing pack of wolves living nearby. Farmer reports all 206 sheep were left unharmed.”

Of course I'm being ridiculous, but you get my point. Then why is CORN the first ingredient in so many of the dry dog foods out there? This makes me crazy. Why is it used? It’s cheap. Really cheap. And these same dog food companies make claims like “complete nutrition”. How can they get away with this?

Have you ever heard of the AAFCO? It’s the American Association of Feed Control Officials. Most likely, there’s a little green box on your dog kibble bag that looks like this, and states that it has been tested using the AAFCO’s standards and was found to be complete and balanced nutrition for your dog.(Sorry the picture isn't better, I couldn't get the bag flat when I took the picture.) How is the testing done? The only information I could find was this: a group of dogs is fed the food for several weeks. If there are no obvious signs of disease or malnutrition, it passes. That’s it.

Maybe we should take a group of people and give them some hot dogs, cigarettes and scotch. If after several weeks they don’t have obvious disease or malnutrition, we can label these products nutritious too. (If there is more done than this, please someone from the AAFCO, let me know.)

Okay, I'll stop ranting and give you two examples of ingredients for my dog food comparison. The first is from the cheapest dog kibble I could find. I'll make side notes about what the ingredients are.

Both of these were copied awhile ago so they may not be exactly the same as they are now. Guess which dog kibble I bought?

• ground yellow corn --- easy to understand this one
• wheat middlings --- wheat parts leftover from human food processing, commonly referred to as floor sweepings
• meat and bone meal --- dried leftover meat and bones for protein
• dried beet pulp --- No nutritional value - added to reduce gas and help form stool.
• animal digest --- can be any processed dead animal, including diseased, euthanized or road kill
• animal fat --- since its not specified, it can be from 4-D animals (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter)
• preserved with BHA --- Highly toxic preservative. Causes cancer in animal experimentsand
• citric acid --- a natural preservative
• chicken by-product meal --- dried, non-meat parts of the chicken
• rice --- one we all understand
• salt ---
• calcium carbonate --- commonly used medicinally as an antacid, but excessive consumption can be hazardous
• potassium chloride --- preservative preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi, and other micro-organisms
• choline chloride --- an important additive in feed especially for chicken where it accelerates growth (?)
• ferrous sulfate --- used to fortify foods and to treat iron-deficiency anemia
• zinc oxide --- as a source of zinc
• vitamin E supplement ---
• niacin --- vitamin B3
• copper sulfate --- kills fungus and inhibits growth of bacteria such as E. coli
• manganous oxide --- a mineral, but I don't know its purpose
• vitamin A supplement ----
• calcium pantothenate --- Pantothenic acid, also called vitamin B5
• biotin --- also known as vitamin H or B7
• vitamin B12 supplement ---
• pyridoxine hydrochloride --- vitamin B6
• thiamine mononitrate --- vitamin B1
• menadione sodium bisulfite ---harmful synthetic form of vitamin K
• calcium iodate --- A dough conditioner, this chemical is added to strengthen its texture or otherwise improve it in some way.
• vitamin D3 supplement ---
• riboflavin --- vitamin B2
• cobalt carbonate --- a mineral, but I don't know its purpose
• folic acid --- vitamin B9
• sodium selenite --- selenium, an ingredient in food supplements

Guaranteed Analysis

Protein: 18%
Fat: 5%
Fiber: 8%
Moisture: 12%

-No calories listed
-No Omega fatty acids

• Chicken --- real food
• turkey --- real food
• chicken meal --- dried chicken
• turkey meal --- dried turkey
• whole grain brown rice --- only the husk is removed so nutrients are still there like vitamins B-1, B-3, iron and magnesium
• whole grain white rice --- husk, bran and germ removed so there are few nutrients
• oatmeal --- ground hulled oats
• potatoes --- real food
• cracked pearled barley --- a healthy grain containing 8 essential amino acids that has been hulled and steamed processed
• millet --- a healthy grain rich in B vitamins, especially niacin, B6 and folic acid, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.
• chicken fat --- good that source is listed
• (preserved with mixed tocopherols) --- Vitamin E, a natural preservative
• duck --- real food
• salmon --- real food
• egg product --- any or all parts of an egg
• flaxseed --- healthy antioxident with Omega 3
• natural chicken flavor --- who knows where this comes from since they don't list a source
• kelp --- a large seaweed rich in iodine
• carrots --- real food
• peas --- real food
• apples --- real food
• dried skim milk --- no idea why a dog would need milk
• cranberry powder --- the nutrients and antioxident values are very good
• rosemary extract --- rosemary is an herb high in iron, calcium and B-6.
• parsley flake --- a nutritious herb when fresh. The Cherokee indians used it as a tonic to strengthen the bladder
• potassium chloride --- a preservative preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms
• salt ---
• choline chloride --- an important additive in feed especially for chicken where it accelerates growth (?)
• dried chicory root --- prebiotic (stimulates growth of good bacteria in the intestinal tract)
• vitamin E supplement ---
• iron proteinate --- an organic form of iron
• zinc proteinate --- an organic form of zinc
• copper proteinate --- an organic form of copper
• ferrous sulfate --- form of iron
• zinc sulfate --- form of zinc
• copper sulfate --- kills fungus and inhibits growth of bacteria such as E. coli
• potassium iodide -- nutritional supplement in animal feed (iodine?)
• thiamine mononitrate --- vitamin B-1
• manganese proteinate --- trace nutrient
• manganous oxide --- mineral
• ascorbic acid --- vitamin C
• vitamin A supplement ---
• biotin --- vitamin H or B-7
• calcium pantothenate --- vitamin B-5
• manganese sulfate --- honestly, I'm not sure
• sodium selenite --- selenium, a food supplement
• pyridoxine hydrochloride --- vitamin B6
• vitamin B12 supplement ---
• riboflavin --- vitamin B-2
• vitamin D supplement ---
• folic acid --- vitamin B-9

Guaranteed Analysis

Protein: 24%
Fat: 14%
Fiber: 3%
Moisture: 10%

Calories: 336 cal/cup

Omega Fatty Acids-

Omega 6: min 2.2%
Omega 3: min 0.4%

Ratio: 5.5:1

How did you feel after reading the ingredients in the first dog kibble? Didn't you wonder where the food was? I'm pretty confident there wasn't any at all.

The second list was much better. I would prefer to have ingredients I can pronounce. My mom used to say "If you can't pronounce it, it probably isn't food, and if its whole food, why would you need to add anything?"

Of course, whole food without additives would not squeeze into that little dog kibble shape and it would go bad before it reached the store shelf so there's a lot of compromising to do.

Let me make a little disclaimer here. While I did the best I could to define the above ingredients, I was clueless about a few even after I looked them up. I feel like I'd need a science background to understand the vitamins and minerals and whether the forms used are meant to be supplements for health or binding agents to keep the kibble held together, and whether they can be digested by dogs.

Comparing the two, the Ol' Roy dog kibble had zero ingredients I liked out of 33, while the Chicken Soup kibble had 22 ingredients I liked out of 50. Even then, I don't know the source of the meat.

One more note on label reading. Ingredients can change. I have a bag of Chicken Soup kibble and I just noticed the turkey meal has been replaced with ocean fish meal. Whether that's good or bad depends on the quality, which I don't know about. They also added two probiotics which I like very much.

If you want more detailed information, I recommend dogfoodproject.com. They even have an excellent free down-loadable booklet about dog kibble. This booklet is well worth reading and its only 7 small pages. If you print it, it only takes four pieces of paper. Consider reading it and passing it along - or even taking it with you when you shop for kibble. Take the time to educate yourself, for the dogs you love.

If this all seems like a lot of work (it is) you can pay a small fee for someone who's done all the work for you. I highly recommend Petsumer Reports, where you can find easy comparisons on over 1,600 dog foods, cat foods, and pet treats. They even tell you where the meat comes from! I can't even imagine how long it took to put that together. It would make my eyes cross after the first few comparisons. Needless to say, I think its a good investment.

In case all this makes you consider changing your dog's food completely, go to the section about raw dog food or consider homemade dog food.

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