Reading pet food labels is the first step to ensuring your dog or cat gets nutritious food. Not to mention, it will identify the quality of food. Here are a few basic rules, facts and guidelines on reading dog food labels and getting the most value for your money:

• The vast majority of dogs do no require specialty foods.

• Quality food is more important than specialty food for your canine

• Be sure to review the following information on your dog’s food label: the ingredients and the guaranteed analysis. Pay close attention to the following values: protein, fiber, carbohydrates, fat, and other nutrients.

• Aside from detailing the quality and amount of protein and fat, the label should provide information regarding unwanted preservatives. Your dog’s food label will provide basic feeding guidelines.

• An important facet of reading a dog food label necessitates understanding how to convert dry matter. Although it may be a little confusing, there are a few ways to look at dry matter. Primarily, all pet foods possess varying levels of moisture. For example, canned dog foods may contain up to 80 percent moisture. For obvious reasons, some dry foods may be as low as 8 percent in moisture.

• When you think of food in terms of pounds, a dog food with an 80 percent moisture rate is nothing more than water. Therefore, only 20 percent of it is really food.

• Another good reason to understand how the percentage of dry matter compares to crude protein and fat so that you can compare–brands, canned to dry dog foods how nutritious the food is.

• To cost compare dog foods either calculate the price per pound or compare the price per day.

• Generally, most dry food is more economical than canned food. Also, the larger the dog food bag the less expensive the cost per pound.