Understanding Food Labels

When reading this section, two words need to be firmly in your mind:

1. composition (the percentage of protein, fat, and carbohydrate in the food)

2. ingredients

Unfortunately, pet food labels are not held to the same standard as human food labels.  This means that pet food labels are seriously lacking in usable information when compared to a package of food for a human.

The “guaranteed analysis” numbers that you find on a can of food for protein, fat, and water (moisture) are listed as “minimums” and “maximums” which, by definition, are inaccurate.  Plus, the labels never list the carbohydrate amount which is very frustrating because we are trying to stay under 10% carbohydrate calories.

This makes it impossible to accurately evaluate the food in terms of composition unless you are willing to call the company and ask for their ‘typical nutrient analysis‘ which is data that comes from testing an actual batch of food.

Pet food companies can change their formulations at any point in time so if you desire the most up-to-date information, you will need to call the individual companies.

The ingredient list can help us out – but only in some ways.  For instance, if you do not see high carbohydrate ingredients such as grains, potatoes, peas, etc., listed on the label, it is a safe bet that the food is low in carbohydrates.

However, if these high carbohydrate ingredients are listed, you have no idea of the amount in the food and, therefore, no knowledge of the carbohydrate level.

Without knowing the actual amount of each ingredient, we have no indication of the impact of the ingredient on the nutritional profile of the food.  Only the composition value will answer that question. This is why it is important to not just consider the list of ingredients but to also look at the 

Cat Food Composition chart, or call the company for the information.

A good example of the above issue is a food like canned Wellness. At first glance, this food may be dismissed as inappropriate for a carnivore because it contains several high carbohydrate ingredients in the form of fruits and vegetables, including potatoes which are very high in starch (carbohydrate). However, the low carbohydrate level (3-5%) tells us that the amount of fruits and vegetables is very low.

Again, we would like to stay under 10% of calories coming from carbohydrates.

Grains and potatoes should be absent from a cat’s diet but, unfortunately, they are cheap so they are included in many commercial cat foods. Think ‘profit margin’. Grains/potatoes are cheaper than meat.

Stay away from food with gravy and sauces because they usually use high carbohydrate thickeners.

Soy contains phytoestrogens and soy also negatively influences the thyroid gland.Given how common hyperthyroidism is in the cat, soy has no business being in cat food. Unfortunately, soy is a common ingredient used by many pet food manufacturers – especially Purina – because it enhances their profit margin.

When considering allergies, the ingredient list is useful since we don’t care how much of the offending ingredient is in the food.  The bottom line is that we don’t want any of the ingredient to be present.  Fish/seafood, beef, lamb, corn, wheat, and soy tend to be the most hyperallergenic ingredients for the cat – especially fish/seafood.

By-products are always a controversial subject but it makes much more sense to feed animal-based by-products to a cat than it does to feed grains or potatoes.  Therefore, do not shy away from the more economical foods like Friskies or 9-Lives if you cannot afford the more expensive canned foods without by-products.

I would much rather see a cat eating an all-by-product canned food than any dry food.  This is because even the cheaper canned foods have the ‘Big Three’ covered:

1) high in water

2) usually low in carbohydrates

3) the protein is from animals – not plants

By-products are not necessarily low quality protein sources. In fact, they can be extremely nutritious. However, there is more variability when quality is being considered when compared to muscle meat.

The higher priced canned foods, have a muscle meat listed as the first ingredient. A muscle meat will be listed as “chicken,” or “turkey,” etc., not “chicken by-products” or “chicken by-product meal,” or “chicken broth” or “liver”.

“Chicken meal” is technically a muscle meat but the term “meal” denotes that it has been rendered (cooked for a long time at very high temperatures) and is lower in quality than meat that has not been as heavily processed. A “meal” product is more commonly found in dry foods. By-products can include feet, intestines, feathers, egg shells, etc., which are less nutritious (less biologically valuable/digestible) than meat.

Avoid foods listing “liver” as a first ingredient.  (Example: Purina’s prescription diet DM canned for feline diabetic patients.  There are far better options available that are healthier and not as expensive.)

Liver is a very nutritious organ meat – and should be present in small amounts – but it should never be the first ingredient as it is very high in vitamin A and possibly D and you don’t want to feed too much of those vitamins. Liver is cheaper than muscle meat so it will increase a company’s profit margin when used in high amounts.

Preservatives are important ingredients that we need to pay attention to.  BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are extremely questionable in terms of safety.  Please note that Hill’s has always used BHT, and ethoxyquin in many of their products although recently I have noticed that these chemicals have been removed from some of their foods.  Be sure to check the current labels.  

Other companies abandoned the practice of using these chemicals as preservatives long ago – opting for more natural and safer methods.

Also, please take note of a recent deceptive move by Hill’s whereby they have incorporated into their labeling the word “maize” as a substitute for the word “corn”.  Maize IS corn and since this company is well aware of the fact that consumers are becoming more savvy about pet food ingredients, they have decided to try to disguise the corn in their diets by calling it “maize”.  Hill’s is hoping that consumers stay ignorant regarding the fact that maize is corn.

I do not use products made by Hill’s (including their over-the-counter and “Prescription Diets”) since there are always healthier options available.

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