How to Buy the Best Dog Food

Standing in the dog food aisle and comparing everything from caloric content to serving sizes is enough to make your head spin. Don’t panic! Remember that, at the bare minimum, the FDA has labeling standards. Those standards include providing the name and address of the producer and listing ingredients in descending order by weight—just like the labeling on packaged foods for humans. Most states have also adopted labeling language that resembles the Model Regulations of AAFCO (the Association of American Feed Control Officials). AAFCO is a nonprofit organization that brings together experts to develop model nutrition standards, label regulations, and other guidance for state, federal, and international pet food regulators.

Every vet we spoke with said pet caretakers should always look for an AAFCO nutritional guarantee on the label of any pet food. Through their own agricultural departments, health departments, or feed regulators, most states in the US have adopted regulations based on AAFCO’s standards. (The FDA currently regulates ingredients and how pet food labels should appear, but not nutritional guarantees or adequacy.)

Look for complete and balanced diets.

“For the average dog owner, I would look to make sure that the diet is complete and balanced,” said Jonathan Stockman, DVM, a veterinary nutritionist and professor at Long Island University. (Stockman is also a consultant for Petco and has received research funding in the past from Royal Canin and Hills.) The best way to do that is to make sure the AAFCO statement—which divides pet food by species, life stage, and type of food—matches up to your dog. For example, feeding senior dogs a calorie-rich dog food designed for active puppies may cause them to gain weight (though sometimes that’s a good thing), and puppies need to have food designed specifically for growth. Also, although this should go without saying, do not feed cats dog food—they require different nutrients.

Seek proof that a formula is healthy and safe.

A dog food label should indicate whether a diet has been formulated to meet nutritional requirements; this is verified through laboratory analysis. If the manufacturer has also tested the formula through feeding trials, to show that the food is safe and effective, the label should indicate that as well.

When a diet has been formulated to meet nutritional needs but hasn’t gone through feeding trials, it simply means the manufacturer matched the ingredients with the appropriate nutritional requirements. Many of these foods are safe and healthy to feed your dog, especially if they’re from established companies with good track records.

While both methods meet AAFCO’s standards, “ideally, I want a diet that’s been formulated through feeding trials,” said Amy Nichelason, a veterinarian and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “That’s going to give you the highest level of information that the diet and the ingredients are safe in the long term for an animal.”

There’s a third way of substantiating a diet, where a label may “say that the product is very similar to a product that underwent feeding trials and was shown to sustain an animal in that specific life stage,” Stockman said. Because feeding trials are so expensive, a company might use this method for a food that varies only slightly from another food—in flavor, for example.

Treats, toppers, and prescription foods won’t have AAFCO statements—and that’s okay.

If the food doesn’t have an AAFCO statement on the label, check for a phrase that mentions the dog food is only “intended for supplemental feeding.” This typically means that the food should be used only as a treat, a topper, or a mix-in.

These items can supplement your dog’s regular meals. But even though they may have some nutritional information on the label or come in a traditional pet food can, these supplemental foods are not intended to be a pup’s main source of nutrition. A dog’s regular food should make up 90% of their diet, and these special treats can account for the rest.

Another case in which a food may not have the AAFCO statement is when it’s available by prescription only. For example, a vet may recommend a vegetarian diet to help your dog manage a medical condition, and they may prescribe a specialty food that’s not be considered “complete and balanced” by AAFCO.

For an ingredient to make it into a product’s name, the food needs to contain a certain percentage of the ingredient—but there are caveats.

Don’t get duped into thinking that something called “Dog Food with Chicken” is jam-packed with poultry. AAFCO rules dictate how pet food ingredients can be listed in the product name. If there are multiple ingredients in the title, they must be listed in order of predominance, just as they are in the ingredients list. And though certain percentages of ingredients are required for those items to even make it into a food’s name, they vary greatly—from 3% to 95%. It’s good to know the naming rules (and always check the ingredients list!).

A brand could even have, say, deboned chicken as its number one ingredient, but “it’s kind of like this whole smoke and mirrors Wizard of Oz stuff. Don’t pull back the curtain,” Joe Wakshlag said. “If I dried it all down and made it into astronaut food, that chicken would not really be the number one ingredient,” he explained.