10/22/2026
The front of a pet food bag is designed to catch your eye. The back is where the real story lives. In a recent Pet Summits interview, Understanding Pet Food Labels, pet nutritionist Chelsea Kent (owner of Hero's Pets, ParsleyPet, Solutions Pet Products, and Food Regulation Facts Alliance, who works closely with organizations including CIVT, RAHU, Paws For Change, and KetoPet Sanctuary) shared practical advice every pet parent can use. Here are our favorite takeaways, in her words, along with how we think about them at Pet Wellbeing.
Start by Actually Reading the Label
Kent's first point is simple: "If you don't at least take the time to read the back of the bag, then there's a really good chance that you're feeding lower quality than what you could."
Front-of-pack marketing is not the full picture. And when you do read the ingredient list, her guidance echoes how we evaluate human food: "Just like in human products, you want to be looking for ingredients that you recognize." She adds, "Just whole food ingredients in general are better," and "I think, just like with humans, fresh is better."
Don't Judge a Food Only by "Meat First"
Many of us scan for meat as the first ingredient and stop there. Kent cautions that "there are actually loopholes in ways to make it so that those ingredients are higher on the label than what they actually should be." In her view, ingredient order alone does not tell you how meat-rich a food really is.
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