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About Cat Food Decoder
Cat Food Decoder is a small, free library about one thing: reading cat food labels without being fooled by them. It's written for ordinary cat households - plain steps, no jargon, no brand rankings - and it's made by the team behind PawLine, a research-based dog and cat Q&A app. PawLine app, patent pending.
How the guides are written
Each guide starts from the questions people actually ask in the pet-food aisle, then gets built from regulatory and veterinary sources, linked below. We keep wording neutral, name the source when a claim matters, and don't invent statistics. These guides are general information, not veterinary advice - your vet knows your cat.
Sources
- Understanding Pet Food - AAFCO: label rules, ingredient definitions, the nutritional adequacy statement, and AAFCO's own note that it does not test, approve or certify pet food.
- "Complete and Balanced" Pet Food - U.S. Food and Drug Administration: what the adequacy statement requires and the dry-matter conversion for comparing wet and dry foods.
- Global Nutrition Guidelines - WSAVA: what to look for in a food and a manufacturer, and why the ingredient list cannot show ingredient quality.
- Selecting a Pet Food - WSAVA Global Nutrition Toolkit (PDF): adequacy, life stage, calories and manufacturer questions, including the vet-supervised therapeutic exception to "supplemental feeding only" labels.
- Feeding Your Cat - Cornell Feline Health Center: obligate carnivore nutrition, food formats and practical feeding guidance.
PawLine, the app behind this site
PawLine answers dog and cat questions with research-based responses tailored to your pet's breed, age, history and situation - including "is this food right for my cat?" Free to download; see the store listing for current offers, pricing and trial terms.
