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How to read the label on a bag of dog food

23 May 2026 · Pillar Bowl

Close-up of a dog eating eagerly from its food bowl

Standing in front of a shelf with a hundred different bags, all glossy packaging shouting words like premium, natural and grain-free? Of course you’ve lost the overview. The front of a dog food bag does its best to convince you, but only the back tells you what’s really inside.

Below you’ll learn in a few minutes what to look for, both for kibble and wet food. Do you feed your dog raw meat (BARF)? A lot of this applies too, but raw feeding is a world of its own, with its own rules around composition, hygiene and balance. We’ll cover that in a separate blog.

What does a dog need?

A dog is by nature a meat eater with an ability to adapt. He can digest carbohydrates (over the years living alongside humans he even developed a gene for it), but meat and fat should be the base.

First thing to know: you can’t directly compare kibble and wet food. Kibble is concentrated, wet food is about three-quarters water. That’s why the numbers on a can always look lower, while a single meal can contain just as much (or even more) protein. So always compare within the same category: kibble with kibble, can with can.

Quick rules of thumb:

For protein:

For fat:

These are guidelines, not strict rules. The exact need depends on age, weight and activity level of your dog.

Three things on the label that actually matter

Forget the front. This is what to look for on the back:

  1. The ingredient list: what’s inside, in what order.
  2. The percentages: the boring little table that tells you more than any claim.
  3. One sentence: whether the food is “complete” or not.

1. The ingredient list

Ingredients must legally be listed by weight, heaviest first. A fair system in itself, but there are a few tricks hidden in there to watch out for.

Important rule of thumb: the first five ingredients together usually make up 70 to 80% of what your dog eats. That’s why you focus mostly on those top 5.

Because a dog is by nature a meat eater, you want to see an animal protein source in the top 5, and ideally in the top 3. Do you find mainly grain, potato or pea there? That’s a red flag.

And then the three tricks.

Trick 1: the fresh-meat effect. “Fresh chicken 40%” at position 1 sounds fantastic, but fresh meat is about 70% water. When kibble is baked, that water evaporates. What’s left is far less chicken than the bag suggests. Dried meat or meat meal (for example “chicken meal”) gives a more honest picture: the water is already gone, so 100 grams of meal counts as 100 grams of actual meat. Not a dirty word, often a good sign.

Trick 2: the carbohydrate split. Read the rest of the list too, not just the top. Sometimes you’ll see peas, pea protein, pea starch and pea fibre scattered across the list. Separately they weigh little and sit lower down, but together they can be the real main ingredient. The result: you think you’re buying meat, while your dog is mostly getting plant filler. Cheap for the manufacturer, less animal protein for your dog.

Trick 3: vague catch-all names. Compare “dried turkey 30%” with “meat and animal by-products” or “plant protein extracts”. The first is crystal clear, the rest leaves everything open. Behind “animal by-products” you might find valuable organs, but also cheap leftover streams, and the composition can change per batch: chicken today, pork next week. Tracing allergies? Almost impossible. The more concrete the ingredient, the more grip you have.

And also these red flags

A few ingredients you’d rather not see at all (or definitely not at the top) in the list:

2. The percentages at the bottom

The little table most people skip. A shame, because it often tells you more than the entire front. What you usually find there:

3. The sentence that determines everything

Somewhere on the label you’ll find “Complete pet food” or “Complementary pet food”. That’s not marketing, that’s European law (FEDIAF guidelines).

Complete means: contains all the vitamins, minerals and amino acids your dog needs daily. Can be given as the only food.

Complementary means: intended as a topper or side dish. Give this every day as the main meal and over time deficiencies will appear.

Small sentence, big impact. But heads up: “complete” is a minimum, not a quality stamp. A cheap food full of filler, sugar or colourings can officially also be “complete”. It says everything is in there, not how high quality. So always combine this sentence with what you’ve learned above in the ingredient list and the percentages.

The words that literally mean nothing

A few terms you can safely ignore:

And does it suit your dog?

There’s no perfect food for every dog. A puppy or sport dog needs lots of high-quality protein and fat to grow or perform. A calm senior needs fewer calories, but still well-digestible protein to maintain muscle mass. Does your dog suffer from itching, red ears or loose stools? Then choose a food with one clear protein source (rabbit, fish, duck…) and avoid vague catch-all names.

In 30 seconds, in the shop

Grab a bag, flip it over, and tick off:

  1. Specific animal (chicken, lamb, salmon…) in the top 5, preferably in the top 3?
  2. No vague catch-all names like “animal by-products” or “animal fat”?
  3. No hidden carbohydrate split in the list?
  4. No sugar, artificial colourings or synthetic preservatives?
  5. Protein and fat around the rules of thumb (see above)?
  6. Does it say “Complete pet food”?

Does it actually suit your dog in terms of age, energy and sensitivities? You can’t read that off the packaging. Ask your vet or an independent nutritionist.

Want to be able to compare quickly yourself later? That’s what we’re working on: a tool that sorts through the labels for you, filtered by what your dog can and can’t have. More on that soon.

The front sells. The back tells the story.

At Tails that Thrive we believe that taking good care of your dog starts with knowing what’s in his bowl. What brand do you feed, and why? Share it on Instagram at @tailsthatthrive, I’d love to hear.