When you pick up a bag of dog food, the label is your single best tool for understanding what you're feeding your pet. But with vague marketing claims and confusing terminology, it's easy to be misled. This guide will help you cut through the noise.
Understanding the Ingredients List
By law, UK dog food manufacturers must list all ingredients in descending order of weight. This means the first ingredient makes up the largest proportion of the food. Look for a named meat source like 'chicken' or 'salmon' at the top of the list rather than vague terms like 'meat and animal derivatives'.
What the Typical Analysis Really Tells You
The typical analysis panel shows crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, crude ash, and moisture. These figures tell you the minimum or maximum levels of each nutrient, but they don't tell you about digestibility or quality. Two foods with identical protein percentages can vary hugely in how well your dog can actually use that protein.
Watch Out for Ingredient Splitting
Watch out for ingredient splitting, where manufacturers list the same ingredient under multiple names to push it further down the list. For example, 'maize', 'maize gluten', and 'maize flour' might all appear separately, but together they could be the main ingredient.
Marketing Claims vs Regulated Terms
Claims like 'premium', 'natural', or 'holistic' have no legal definition in pet food. The only regulated terms are 'complete' (meaning the food provides all necessary nutrients) and 'complementary' (meaning it needs to be fed alongside other foods). Always check the ingredients rather than relying on front-of-pack marketing.
Find the best food for your dog
Browse our independent, algorithm-based ratings for every dog food sold in the UK.
Browse Dog Foods →About the Author
Dog Trainer & Co-founder, Furra
Graham is a professional dog trainer and co-founder of Furra, with over ten years of experience living and working with dogs. His journey began with two remarkable Shar Pei, Bane and Ivy, who shaped everything he knows about dog welfare, nutrition, and what it means to truly care for a dog. Both are dearly missed. Today he shares his life with Stella, a Goldador who goes everywhere with him, including up quite a few mountains. The frustration of navigating a pet food market full of vague claims and poor transparency drove Graham to build Furra: a platform that gives dog owners honest, data-driven information so they can make genuinely better choices for their dogs.
View all articles →
