Pet Food Questions: #2 What Ingredients Do I Look For in My Pet's Food?

Reading the ingredients list on your pet's food can be a very complicated and frustrating process.
But, there are a few simple tips that will allow you to easily read the ingredient list.
1) Ingredients are listed from "most to least." That is, the first ingredient listed is what is most prevalent in your pet's food. While we cannot know exactly how much of a particular ingredient is in our pet's food, we can know what it has more or less of. And, this can help us differentiate higher quality foods from lower quality foods.
2) Meat is #1. You want a meat to always be the number one ingredient. If possible, you want 2 of the top 4 or 5 ingredients to be meats.
3) Is Chicken meal good? Sometimes, you may see on the ingredient list, "Chicken Meal." This is not a bad thing, in fact, it can actually be a good ingredient.