While selecting healthy and nutritious food for dogs and cats, our prime responsibility should be to analyse the food product properly. Sometimes, it can be quite a tedious task for us to select appropriate dog food or cat food from the heap of diverse brands and categories available in the market.
The sad part is that our pets can’t speak, but they can express themselves, and people cannot understand the minor but concerning issues faced by them. At this stage, it becomes crucial to understand each minor detail mentioned on pet food labels properly to feed your companion with a healthy diet. However, in recent years, the usage of goat milk for pets as a supplement has increased, as it is full of nutrition and easy to digest by pets. Let’s have a glance at the whole scenario.
Do you know?
“ The highest revenue is generated in the USA from pet food for 2024 i.e 59,740m US $ and continuing ”
Why is it important to read pet food labels appropriately?
It is crucial to take care of a pet’s balanced diet as we do for us. All the foods available in the market for our pets must be checked before it is consumed by them. The best Dog food and cat food items contain vital information on the labels to make you aware of the ingredients present inside them.
Examining the merits and demerits of added constituents in pet food can nurture the health of your pet’s life. Hence, reading and interpreting the pet food label can help you select the best cat food and quality dog food appropriately.
Do you know?
“North America produces the highest quantity of pet food by volume than any other region”
Analyse Pet Food Labels Correctly: Enhance Your Pet’s Life
Before buying pet food online, you need to be well aware of their requirements and cross-check them with the food labels you are supposed to buy. Here are the most essential details of pet food labels that need to be kept in mind before purchasing them.
Understand the product name.
At the very first step, knowing all the key components of food labels is necessary to comprehend. Having proper knowledge of a product’s name can easily provide you with hints about its ingredients present inside such as:
| Mentioned words on products/labels | Percentage of meat |
| “Chicken dog food” or “chicken for dogs” | If chicken is listed on the food label without modifiers: it must consist of 95% of chicken. |
| Chicken dinner, platter or Entrée “25% rule” | Availability of around 25% chicken |
| With chicken “the with rule” | If written only “with chicken” there must be the presence of 3% chicken. |
| Chicken flavour | The product has a very low amount of chicken. |
According to this, there may be a very slight difference, but overall it adds nutritional value to your dog’s diet or cat’s diet.
Examine the major ingredients
Remember that all the ingredients are listed according to their weightage present in your healthy dog food and cat food. Check the listed below ingredients on priority to fulfill your dog’s nutrition properly.
- Animal protein: Always look for a rich source of concentrated protein like chicken, beef, lamb and fish as the first ingredient.
- Grains and carbohydrates: Since dogs are omnivores, they can flourish on vegetable-based food items, whereas cats are carnivores and require animal-based ingredients more. You can buy brown rice, oats, or goat milk for dogs as a rich source of nutrients. However, always ensure that grain protein should not be over-excessed for cats.
- Fillers: Ingredients like soy, wheat and corn are considered fillers as they are highly used in various pet foods. They might contribute very little to fulfilling a cat’s or dog’s nutrients.
Check the Nutritional Breakdown
Analysing the percentage of the nutrient section is quite pivotal to knowing the worthiness of selected pet food. Never compromise with the dog food or cat food price, as you need to feed your pets with fully loaded protein, fiber, fat and moisture. Here are some basic nutrients you should know about:
| Nutrients | Reason Of Requirement | Percentage |
| Protein | Essential for muscle building, maintenance and energy. | For dog food (18-22%), for cat food (26-30%) protein |
| Fat | Essential for healthy skin and smooth fur | For dog food (8-15%), for cat food (9-25%) |
| Fibre | It helps in a smooth digestive system but sometimes depends on dietary requirements. | For dog food (2-4%), for cat food 3-4%) |
| Moisture | Fulfil water content in your pets | Dry food contains (10% moisture) and wet food contains (78% moisture) |
Nutritional Adequacy Statement
To ensure that your dog food or cat food meets specific standards of AAFCO’s nutritional level, start reading nutritional adequacy statements. Certainly, you will choose the best cat food or dog food to provide a balanced diet to them. AAFCO guidelines consist of some life-stage tags on pet food items such as:
- All life stages: It means the food is suitable for pets of any age and loaded with high levels of specific nutrients like protein and calcium. It is generally required for growing kittens and puppies, after all can be considered as best puppy and kitten food.
- Adult maintenance: Formulated as adult dog food and already has enough extra nutrients as compared to puppies and kittens.
- Growth and development: It is generally more supportive in the case of younger pets that are in the developing and growing stage to get enough extra calories with specific nutrients.
- Senior: Such statements in products can point to the product as helpful for older pets with lower calories and contains nutrients for joint support. A perfect supplement to fulfil an adequate amount of cat and dog nutrition.
Check the Marketing Pet Food Buzzwords and select wisely
There are several marketing terms used by pet food companies that sound healthier to the customers but are not that effective in reality. However, you should know the real meaning of those terminologies such as:
- Natural: If a company claims their product as natural cat food or natural dog food, it means the food doesn’t contain any artificial flavors or additives, but must have minerals, vitamins and nutrients.
- Organic: If any pet food is manufactured with the organic label, means all the ingredients are processed under some specific guidelines and standards. Organic and healthy dog food or cat food prices can be slightly higher than any other pet food.
- Grain-free: Grain-free pet food items are highly in trend but not too much effective. Due to allergies, some pets cannot digest grain food items.
- By-products: These are generally meat trimmings, organs of animals like (liver, kidney, heart) which are avoided by humans but highly rich in nutrients.
- Holistic: It is generally defined as the addition of extra nutrients, and high-quality ingredients but no specific value of it.
Special product tags for your pet’s unique Needs
Your pet might be suffering from some allergies or health conditions and they require special attention with a unique diet chart. Adhere to the table to know what exactly matches your dog and cat food diets:
| Limited ingredient diets | Made for pets suffering from allergies and contains fewer ingredients to reduce the risk. |
| Hypoallergenic Diets | It contains novel proteins that your pet hasn’t been used to before and reduces the chances of triggered allergy. |
| Weight management | To control the weight or obesity in your pet, as it is full of fiber. |
| Joint health | Very healthy for older pets for joint support with added omega-3 fatty acids and glucosamine. |
Goat Milk for Pets: A Perfect Nutrition Package for Your Pets
Recently, goat milk for pets has gained huge attention due to the high presence of overall nutrition. It is easier to digest, contains probiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties and is also a good source of hydration. Hence, you should know the presence of nutritional values in dog goat milk powder.
Let’s have a glance at its major nutrients breakdown (244 gm)
- Calories: Approximately around 168 kcal
- Proteins: About 8.7gm
- Fat: around 10gm
- Saturated fat: 6.5gm
- Carbohydrates: 11gm
- Vitamins A: 0.1 mg
- Vitamin B2: 0.14 mg
- Vitamin D: 3.2mcg
- Calcium: 327 mg
- Potassium: 498 mg
- Magnesium: 34 mg
- Sodium: 122mg
- Iron: 0.12 mg
Final Thoughts
Understanding the whole scenario of reading cat and dog food labels, it makes easier for you to choose the right product for your pets. Never compromise with the cat food price or dog food price, since it is the value of nutrients you are providing to them necessary for their health and growth.
However, goat milk for pets is highly in demand as it brings out overall nutrients for your pets available in the market at reasonable prices. Check all the necessary ingredients and read the food labels appropriately to find the perfect dog food and cat food.