This is the label I was looking at, from a photo of a bag of Royal Canin Yorkshire Terrier Adult dry food on the chewy.com website:
Attachment 413519
This food is for adult Yorkies with no medical problems.
The problem that most stands out to me and
my untrained mind is that there are around 6-7 ingredients on this label that are actually food, like what can be found in a grocery store, the rest are additives, meaning something that is added to the actual food, for whatever reason. The fact that their (RC) additive list is so much longer than the food list tells me that maybe if they used different food items they wouldn’t have to add so many additives. I don’t know, just using my common sense here.
There are certain things that I look for when I shop for me and/or my dogs. I tend to purchase foods that can provide the nutrients we need In the most natural form available, as in occurs by nature without any additives, if possible. I try to avoid foods with preservatives, when possible.
I choose products with natural additives over synthetic or man-made. I do this because our bodies cannot always use nor process synthetic additives. I believe this is called ‘bioavailability’ and is an important factor I look for when shopping.
Another thing I look at is protein. I believe that meat and eggs supply the closest ratio of amino acids that best matches what my body and my dogs’s bodies need. Plant proteins I think contain the same amino acids but in a different ratio. To end up with a more complete array of amino acids that our bodies need, I have to add proteins by eating different plants, like a salad mix.
Once a dog food meets my requirements, then I look at other factors, like where and how the food is made and who makes it, etc. Tufts University recommends not looking at the ingredients, you can go to their website to get more info and some free tools to use to help you decide.
If you ask your vet for recommendations, and he/she won’t tell you, ask what they feed their dog(s).