In the age of too many choices when it comes to our woofer's diet, many people are afraid to take the plunge into a raw diet. They turn to commercial kibble diets with the hopes that they are feeding a balanced and optimal diet. With literally hundreds of choices, how do you know you've chosen the best for your pet?

How to pick an optimal kibble diet for your dog:

Look at the whole picture of your dog. Selecting the right food begins with taking a look at your dog’s individual needs. Some factors to consider when looking for the best food for your dog include age, lifestyle, weight, breed, allergies and dietary restrictions.,

Growing puppies and aging dogs have different nutritional needs than adults, and a dog that works will have different needs than a dog that spends most of the day on the couch. These are all important factors in determining what food is best for your dog.

Read (actually read) the entire ingredients list, and question anything you don't know. Ingredients on kibble are listed by weight, but clever marketing tactics can move ingredients up the list when they in fact make up little of the food.

“Ingredient splitting is the deceptive practice of subdividing a more abundant — yet inferior quality — ingredient into smaller portions.

This dubious tactic can be used to artificially raise a meat item to a higher position on an ingredients list — and lower an inferior one.

Being able to divide a dominant ingredient into smaller portions permits any pet food company to trick you into believing there’s more meat in a product than there actually is.” – Dog Food Advisor

For instance, in the photo a random bag of pet food was chosen that was labeled Pork and Peas. The pea ingredient has been broken down into 3 different categories: peas, pea flour and pea protein. By breaking them down into different categories, the weight of the peas can be divided into three, leaving the meat ingredient on top of the list.

The peas outnumber the meat, almost a 3:1 ratio. Rather than the bag being called peas and pork, it can now be labeled pork and peas because of this sneaky trick!

Some other examples to look for when ingredient splitting can occur:

Corn: corn gluten meal, corn flour, and whole ground corn

Rice: whole rice, white rice, brown rice, rice flour and rice bran

Potatoes: dried potatoes, potato starch, potato protein, and potato flour

Pet food labels are also listed before the cooking process.

Even though a product lists pork as the first ingredient, the pork meat still includes about 70-75% water. Once extruded, the moisture is removed and left at around 10%, so the pork will have shrunk to 25% of the original amount while dry ingredients, like the different pea categories, will not change that much!

“So, the next time you see a meat item as the first ingredient on the list — don’t be too impressed. Or you could become the next victim of the pet food industry’s ability to re-order its ingredients list to suit its marketing strategy.” - Dog food adviser

Pay attention to the wording on the bag.

Unfortunately, a slight change in wording can mean a serious decline in quality of ingredients. Phrases like "dinner", "platter" and "entrée" means the foods must contain only at least 25% of the named ingredient. If the name states “with” a specific ingredient (such as “with beef”) only 3% of the named ingredient is required. Products that advertise specific “flavors” need to contain only a detectable amount of that ingredient. Gross and sneaky, right?

By-products are not (always) the enemy!

Pet food ingredients labeled "by-products" include highly digestible and nutritious organs, such as the liver, kidney, heart and lungs. They do NOT include things like hair, horns or hooves, as advertising would have you believe. In a raw diet, we often search for the ingredients considered "by-products" as important staples in the diet!

While by-products can actually be very nutritious, where they are sourced from is still important. Pet food companies do not have to specify the type of meat or the parts being used and often cheap companies just list them generically as “meat meal” or “meat by-product meal.”

Look for labels that say exactly what type of meat is being used such as "Turkey by-products" instead of just "Poultry or Meat by-products."

Read the Guaranteed Analysis.

This lists the minimum amount of protein and fat and the maximum amount of fiber and moisture,. This can be important for dog's that need lower fat in their diet, or those that need a higher protein percentage. The GA will not tell you the amount of carbs in the food, but there is an easy calculation to figure this out:

To calculate the percentage of carbohydrates in a commercial diet, subtract the percentages of protein, fat, moisture, crude fiber, and ash from 100.

For example,

A dog food contains 26% protein, 14% fat and 10% water. What is the % of carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates = 100% – 26% – 14% – 10% – 8% = 42%

In other words, if you subtract all the “known” nutrients, you’d be left with the missing variable — carbohydrates — which in our example would be 42%.

Check for dyes and unsafe preservatives.

Cheap kibbles will use common dyes to make the kibble more appealing to humans (They certainly aren't making those kibbles coloured for our dog's sake!). Dyes are linked to a number of alarming health concerns, including cancer.

Avoid foods that use BHA/BHT as a preservative as this has been shown to cause tumors in lab rats. Instead, look for natural preservatives such as Vitamin E and Rosemary.

Education is power!

Research your brand. Information on sourcing and quality control in manufacturing is not required on pet food labels. You may be able to find the information on the company’s website but if not, call their consumer relations department and ask where its ingredients are sourced. Any reputable company with a quality product will be happy to engage with its consumers and answer your questions!

Avoid corn and wheat based kibbles. Many cheaper diets on the market are corn and wheat based (though they may initially not look like it....remember ingredient splitting!) When we consider the very basic fact that we are feeding a carnivore, a corn-based diet just doesn't really make sense. While a dog can certainly survive on a diet such as this, are they really thriving? Absolutely not.

Finally, remember that your woofer's health is an investment and not an expense. Please spend your time researching your food choice and don't spend money on cheap grocery store kibbles. You get what you pay for, and you'll never be sorry for spending a little extra when it means more quality of life for your dog!