Are you confused about pet foods ingredients?  You're not alone. Here are some tips to help you navigate all those Pet Food Ingredient Lists.

1. Understand ingredient list tricks. Ingredients are listed in order of the highest quantity ingredient to the lowest. The very first ingredient should be an identifiable meat (such as beef, chicken, turkey, lamb). A meat meal is still very good, but has to be identifiable. Two to three identifiable meat ingredients at the very top of the list is very good.

   Generic “meat meal” can contain pretty nearly anything mammalian that found it’s way into the processing bin, whether 4-D (animals declared unfit for human consumption, Dead, Diseased, Disabled or Dying), or a load of carcasses from an animal shelter after euthanasia day, or road kill picked up by whoever is in charge of cleaning up the roadside, or even parts of carcasses that have been treated with chemicals like carbolic acid or fuel oil for denaturing. All of that can — and does — go into generic “meat meal” in any given batch. Also, avoid pet foods with meat-by-products; meat by-products consist of organs and parts not desired or not fit for human consumption. This can include organs, bones, blood and fatty tissue. It can also include brains, feet, heads, intestines and any other internal parts. Unbelievably, by-products can also contain cancerous or diseased tissue containing parasites.

   What you want to look for in kibble is specific meals. Beef meal has to be beef. Lamb, must be made from lamb, poultry . . . you get the idea.

2. Go through the listed ingredients and determine their quality. Highly processed carbohydrates, like corn meal, wheat and soy, are simply used as fillers and are almost completely indigestible to your pet. A higher position on the list of ingredients, especially if any of these are the number one ingredient, indicates they have been used instead of a more expensive, higher quality alternative.

3. Look for ingredients you can recognize as natural sources of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Some examples are brown rice, and real vegetables like broccoli, carrots and peas. These whole, unprocessed ingredients are readily digestible so the nutrients can be absorbed and used by your pet's body. 

4. Note the amount of words you don't recognize or cannot pronounce. These are most likely artificial chemical additives like colors, artificial preservatives (such as BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, and propylene glycol), artificial sweeteners (including corn syrup, sucrose, sugar, and ammoniated glycyrrhizin), and artificial flavoring. In preservatives, natural vitamin E, A and C do the same job as the chemicals.

5. Compare the ingredient lists of many different pet foods to find the best one for your pet. Remember, sometimes what is not in the pet food is just as important as what is in it.