Navigating the countless options in the pet food section of your favorite store can be confusing. Here's a quick guide to help you get started in making informed decisions when selecting the food that's right for your pet.
According to government regulations, the label on every bag or can of pet food shall contain the following information:
This section contains a branded name, like Purina® Cat Chow®, along with an indication of the primary ingredient or a formula name such as chicken and rice.
This indicates how much food is contained in the bag or can.
This provides the manufacturer’s contact information in case you have questions or comments about the product.
Just like human food, the ingredients are listed in descending order of content weight. Further down the list, you'll see many chemical-sounding names that correspond to vitamins and minerals.
State regulations recommend a minimum level of certain nutrients. The guaranteed analysis shows the pet food's minimum or maximum of essential nutrients.
To substantiate claims, pet food must be complete and balanced to meet or exceed the standards of an established profile, or be proven to meet certain nutritional recommendations.
Follow these instructions to determine how much food to feed your pet each day. These are just guidelines, and you may need to increase or decrease the amount of food you feed to help maintain your pet’s ideal body condition.
This is expressed as a kilocalorie per kilogram basis. It may also be expressed as a common unit of measure, such as kilocalories per cup. This information will help you get a handle on the differences between dry pet food brands.
It's important to know how to navigate the information contained in a pet food label. Just know that any time you choose a pet food from Purina, you can be confident you've selected a pet food that provides complete and balanced nutrition.