The ingredient list contains plenty of useful information, once you know what to look for.

The front of a pet food pack often features appealing images and claims such as made with fresh chicken, rich in salmon or natural. But if you want to understand what a food is really made of, the ingredient list is a much better place to look.

At first glance, it may seem complicated. With a few simple guidelines, however, you can learn quite a lot from it.

Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight at the time they are added to the recipe.

This means that an ingredient near the beginning of the list was added in a larger quantity than one listed further down.

The first few ingredients therefore give you a useful indication of what forms the basis of the recipe. But don't stop reading there.

Some ingredients are only needed in small quantities and will naturally appear further down the list. These may include botanicals, prebiotics or ingredients such as glucosamine and chondroitin. Their position near the end of the list does not necessarily mean they have no useful role within the recipe.

So always look at the ingredient list as a whole. The first ingredients tell you most about the main components, while ingredients further down are generally included in smaller amounts.

Is fresh chicken listed as the first ingredient? That tells you that a relatively large amount of fresh chicken was used when the food was made.

However, fresh meat naturally contains a considerable amount of moisture. Some of that moisture is lost during the production of dry food. As a result, its proportion in the finished kibble may be lower than its position at the top of the ingredient list initially suggests.

A dried animal ingredient already contains much less moisture and is therefore more concentrated.

So fresh versus dried is not simply a question of better or worse. Both can have a valuable place in a well-formulated recipe.

Fresh meat provides a clearly identifiable animal ingredient and can contribute to palatability. Dried animal ingredients are more concentrated and can make a significant contribution to the overall animal protein content of the food.

For example, if you see both fresh chicken and dried chicken near the top of the ingredient list, consider them together when assessing the animal ingredients in the recipe.

Don't focus only on whether the meat is fresh or dried. Look at how all the different animal ingredients work together within the complete recipe.

It isn't only important to look at which ingredients are used. How clearly they are described can also tell you something.

Compare: fresh chicken, dried turkey, salmon with: meat and animal derivatives

The first description tells you exactly which animal sources are being used. The second gives you much less information.

The same applies to salmon oil compared with fish oil. Salmon oil tells you which fish the oil comes from, whereas the term fish oil does not.

A specific description does not automatically prove that an ingredient is of higher quality. You cannot determine that from the ingredient list alone. What it does provide is greater transparency.

You know more clearly what you are buying, you can compare different foods more easily and you can pay closer attention to ingredients that your individual dog or cat does well on.

The clearer the ingredient descriptions, the less guesswork is involved in understanding what ends up in your pet's bowl.

The first ingredient often receives the most attention. But judging a food based solely on the ingredient at the top of the list is too simplistic.

Look at what follows as well. Which other animal ingredients are included? Which sources of fat are used? Which carbohydrate sources does the food contain? And how do all of these ingredients relate to one another?

What about grains?

Grains such as rice, oats, maize or wheat can all be used in pet food. Grain is not automatically bad, just as grain-free does not automatically mean better.

What is more useful is looking at the role that grains and other carbohydrate sources play within the complete recipe.

If several grain or carbohydrate ingredients appear prominently in the list, they may make up a considerable proportion of the food when combined.

When carbohydrate-rich ingredients account for a large part of a recipe, it is worth looking at why they are there and how much room the recipe leaves for clearly identified animal ingredients.

So rather than looking only for the words grain-free on the packaging, examine which ingredients have actually been used and how the complete recipe is put together.

Look out for split ingredients too

Ingredients from a similar source may sometimes appear separately in different forms.

For example, a recipe could contain several ingredients derived from peas, potatoes or grains. Because each is listed separately, they appear in different positions on the ingredient list. Together, however, they may represent a larger proportion of the recipe than you might assume when looking at each ingredient individually.

This is sometimes referred to as ingredient splitting.

That does not automatically mean the manufacturer has deliberately divided ingredients to make the list look more appealing. It is simply something worth keeping in mind when comparing recipes.

Try to look beyond the individual position of each ingredient and understand how the complete formula fits together.

Sometimes you will see a percentage next to an ingredient, such as: fresh chicken (20%)

This gives you additional information about how much of that ingredient was used when the food was produced.

A total meat or fish percentage can also be helpful. But once again, the highest percentage does not automatically mean the best food.

Ask yourself:

•  Which animal ingredients are included in that percentage?
•  Are they clearly identified?
•  Are they fresh, dried or another type of animal ingredient?
•  How is the rest of the recipe formulated?

A percentage is one piece of the puzzle, not the whole story.

An ingredient appearing near the end of the ingredient list is not automatically unimportant.

Some ingredients are intentionally included in relatively small quantities simply because large amounts are not required.

These may include:

•  botanicals
•  prebiotics
•  specific fat sources such as salmon oil
•  glucosamine
•  chondroitin
•  certain plant extracts

Because less of these ingredients is used than of the main ingredients, you will naturally find them further down the list.

So don't look only at where an ingredient appears. Also consider why it is included in the recipe.

An ingredient list can help you understand quite a lot about a pet food.

It shows you which ingredients form the basis of the recipe, which animal and plant-based ingredients are used, how clearly they are identified and which ingredients are included in smaller quantities.

However, the list alone does not tell you everything about:

•  the quality of every individual raw ingredient
•  the digestibility of the complete recipe
•  the nutritional value of the finished food
•  how the ingredients have been processed
•  how well your individual pet will tolerate the food

The ingredient list is therefore a valuable tool, but it should not be the only thing you use to judge the quality or suitability of a food.

Want to compare two different pet foods? Ask yourself these questions:

1. What forms the basis of the recipe?
Look at the ingredients listed first.

2. Which animal ingredients are used?
Do you see fresh and/or dried animal ingredients?

3. How clearly are the ingredients identified?
Does it say fresh chicken or simply meat? Salmon oil or fish oil?

4. Which carbohydrate sources are used?
And how much of the recipe do they appear to make up when considered together?

5. Do similar ingredients appear several times?
Consider them together rather than looking only at their individual positions.

6. What else appears further down the list?
Are there botanicals, prebiotics or other functional ingredients?

7. Can you understand what you are reading?
The more transparent the information provided by the manufacturer, the easier it is to compare foods properly.

Don't base your decision on one eye-catching ingredient. Try to understand the recipe as a whole.

A transparent ingredient list and a carefully formulated recipe are important. But even a high-quality food is not automatically the right choice for every dog or cat.

Age, activity level, body condition, eating habits and individual sensitivities can all play a role.

So ultimately, there are two separate questions to consider:

Is this a high-quality food?
Look at the ingredients, complete composition and transparency.

Does this food suit my pet?
Look at your pet's individual needs.

When both aspects come together, you have a much stronger basis for choosing the right food.