Dog food brands in India: how Indian dog food labels compare with FEDIAF minimums

01The short answer

Dog food brands in India, Indian and imported, can be audited against the FEDIAF nutritional guidelines as well as India’s IS 11968 standard. A guaranteed analysis states the food as sold, so it has to be converted to dry matter first. A dry food at 10% moisture needs 18.9% protein on the pack to reach FEDIAF’s 21.0 g per 100 g dry matter, while a canned food at 78% moisture needs only 4.6% ¹. In our three-product spot check every label met the protein and fat minimums, but none of the listings declared calcium or phosphorus, so the label alone cannot show whether a food is complete and balanced.

02The dog food market in India

Shoppers looking for the best dog food in India are buying into a fast-growing market. Government of Canada market intelligence puts India’s pet food retail sales at US$629.6 million in 2023, up from US$245.4 million in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 20.7%, with about US$1.3 billion forecast for 2028 at 15.0% a year ⁸. Dog food was US$539.0 million, or 85.6% of the total, and dry food made up 89.6% of dog food sales. India had 38.5 million pets in 2023, of which 33.6 million (87.4%) were dogs ⁸.

Other estimates use different scopes, so treat any single figure as indicative. Dry food dominates, so our spot check uses dry foods.

Domestic and imported brands

Origin does not change the yardstick: an Indian brand and an import are judged on the same guaranteed analysis. Imports carry one extra step. Dog and cat food that contains animal-origin material needs a veterinary health certificate, under Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying notification S.O. 3926(E) of 22 September 2021 ³.

How dog food is regulated: IS 11968 and FSSAI

The Bureau of Indian Standards lists IS 11968:2019, Pet food for dogs and cats, which prescribes requirements, sampling and test methods for complete pet food for dogs and cats ². FSSAI said in December 2019 that it would bring animal feed under the Food Safety and Standards Act and insisted on BIS compliance for now, but that statement concerned feed for food-producing animals and did not mention pet food ⁴. These instruments are still evolving, so confirm the current position before relying on any of them.

03How to read an Indian dog food label

The guaranteed analysis declares minimum levels of nutrients such as protein and fat, and maximum levels of fibre and moisture, for the product as sold ⁷. Look also for a nutritional adequacy statement that the food is complete and balanced for a named life stage.

A label is a guarantee, not a measurement. In a 2026 study of 96 dog and cat foods, 82.3% met their label guarantees for seven mandatory nutrients ⁵. It also says nothing about digestibility.

04Benchmarking against FEDIAF minimums

The FEDIAF nutritional guidelines are the European reference for complete pet food. The 2025 edition gives FEDIAF nutrient minimums per 100 g dry matter and per 1000 kcal of metabolisable energy, assuming 4.0 kcal per gram of dry matter ¹. That makes it a practical benchmark for Indian labels, though it is not an Indian legal requirement.

Table 1. FEDIAF 2025 adult dog minimums and the as-fed label value that reaches them at three moisture levels. Paired values are for dogs eating 95 / 110 kcal per kg^0.75, on a 4,000 kcal/kg dry matter basis ¹. As-fed columns calculated by Guires PNL.

So a kibble declaring 18% protein at 10% moisture holds 20.0% in its dry matter. That falls short of the 21.0 g minimum for less active dogs, though it meets the 18.0 g for active ones. A canned food declaring only 8% protein at 78% moisture holds 36.4% and clears both.

05The audit method

1. Record moisture, guaranteed protein, fat, calcium and phosphorus, and the life stage.
2. Convert each value to dry matter.
3. Compare it with the matching FEDIAF row ¹.
4. Where energy density differs from 4.0 kcal ME per g of dry matter, also express values per 1000 kcal ME ¹.
5. Send products near a threshold for laboratory analysis.

This label-audit methodology has limits. Label data may not fully represent the actual nutrient content, because formulation and production vary ⁶. A converted label is a screen, not a result.

06Label audit: what we found

We converted the printed guarantees of three dry foods sold in India. All state minimum protein and fat. None of the listings declares calcium or phosphorus.

Table 2. Guires PNL spot check, label guarantees converted to dry matter. FEDIAF adult minimums per 100 g DM: protein 21.0 / 18.0, fat 5.5 ¹. Label values from public listings: Drools Chicken & Egg and Drools Focus (retailer pages), and Royal Canin Maxi Adult (brand page), checked 30 Oct 2026. The Royal Canin page lists no moisture, so 10% is assumed.

Where labels meet or miss the minimums

All three clear FEDIAF protein and fat on dry matter. Because 10% is a maximum, the true moisture may be lower, and lower moisture gives a lower dry matter value. Even so, Chicken & Egg would drop below 21.0% only if its moisture were under 4.8%. The real gap is elsewhere: without calcium and phosphorus, these dog food labels in India cannot be tested against FEDIAF minerals at all. This is a spot check, not a survey, and two of the three listings are retailer pages.

07What to look for when choosing a dog food in India

08Questions brands ask

Sources

1. FEDIAF (2025). Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs. Source ↗
2. Bureau of Indian Standards (2019). IS 11968:2019 Pet food for dogs and cats: specification (first revision). Source ↗
3. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (22 Sep 2021). Notification S.O. 3926(E): veterinary health certificate requirements for dog and cat food products (containing animal origin material) imported into India. Source ↗
4. FSSAI (Dec 2019). FSSAI to bring animal feed under FSSA; insists on BIS compliance for now [news clipping]. Source ↗
5. Cho H-W, Lee MY, Lee W-D, Lee S-Y, Kim KH, So K-M (2026). Nutritional evaluation of commercial dog and cat foods based on key nutrient requirements. Animals 16(6):909. Source ↗
6. Boukid F, Rosentrater KA (2025). Nutritional profiling and labeling practices of plant-based, hybrid, and animal-based dog foods: a study of European pack labels (2020–2024). Animals 15(13):1883. Source ↗
7. Hill RC, Dzanis DA (2024). Updates to pet food labels and the effect on nutritional evaluation. Today’s Veterinary Practice, May/June 2024, 34–38. Source ↗
8. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2024). Sector trend analysis: pet food trends in India. Source ↗

Evidence reviewed by the Guires Pet Nutrition Lab scientific team. This article is general information for product developers and is not legal or veterinary advice.