Salt

Salt appears on the labels of 212 of the 244 recipes we have read and scored (87 percent of the database), in label forms including Salt, Iodized Salt, SALT, salt.

What it is

Sodium chloride: sodium is an essential mineral, and salt also lifts palatability.

Why makers use it

Every complete diet must supply sodium; the panel position of salt is the useful part, since ingredients after it are present in small amounts.

What to watch for

Healthy dogs regulate sodium well; the salt restriction conversation belongs to dogs with diagnosed heart or kidney disease and their vets.

Highest scoring recipes that carry it

The full database, filterable by brand, format, life stage and grains, is the reviews index; the food finder answers it by the proteins a dog must avoid.

Often on the same panels

Vitamin Supplements (the Vitamin Pack), Selenium Yeast and Sodium Selenite, Choline Chloride, Chelated and Proteinate Minerals. The full dictionary is the ingredient index.