Nutrients vs Ingredients: What's the difference?
A lot of pet food packaging can be confusing to read, and it may be difficult to decipher what percentage each ingredient is present in the diet. By law, food manufacturers are required to list ingredients by precooked weight in descending order. Often times, fresh meat or other water-rich ingredients are at the top of the list. However, this is usually not the main source of nutrients in the diet. If the same food also contains 20% corn, 20% rice, 15% dried fish, 10% poultry fat and 10% vegetable oil, the manufacturer is still allowed to write the meat source as the first ingredient even though other ingredients will be the main contributors of nutrients in the end product.
We recommend diets with an emphasis on nutrients rather than ingredients. We here at Head to Tail would be glad to help you choose the right diet & formulation for your pet, all essential to the health and well being of your cat or dog.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DIETS, PLEASE VISIT THE PET HEALTH NETWORK