Disclaimer: I only feed about 1/2 Tbsp of dry food a day, and a very occasional dry meal, but here's what I look for in my cat's dry food:
A named meat or meat meal (by named, I mean "chicken" or "beef," not just "meat meal") as the primary ingredient (or top 2 ingredients). I don't like unnamed or vague meat products ("meat and bone meal," for example). My cat has problems with corn, so no form of corn (corn is an easy way for manufacturers to boost "protein content" without adding expensive meat, but it is a poorly utilized protein source). I also look for stuff without wheat, soy, or by-products (I am not against byproducts per se, but I have yet to see a cat food that makes judicious use of them...most either have NO byproducts or ALL byproducts...so it's easier to look for food without them). Personally, I look for whole grains (whole oats and barley, brown rice) as carbohydrates (this is negotiable, though). Since dry foods are, by their nature, higher in carbohydrates than canned food, I want its carb sources to be based in whole grains if possible. I also look for foods without a lot of fish, or with no fish at all. Omega 3's are good for skin and coat, and I look for a dry food that is high-protein (at least 30-35%) and high-fat (at least 18-20%+). I won't buy a dry food that contains the preservatives BHA or BHT, and look for a manufacturer who at least promises that their meat is ethoxyquin-free. I want food that doesn't "split" grains (ie: listing "corn" and "corn gluten meal" as separate ingredients), because often if you add those grain fractions together, they will outweigh the more important meat. I simply won't use food with sodium nitrite or dyes, and I'm always looking out for excessive sugar and salt content, as well. They say that a quick rule of thumb when assessing a dry food is that the ingredients listed before the first source of fat make up the bulk of the food.
As far as the meat/meat meal issue is concerned: meal is a meat that has been rendered by heat to have the fat and moisture removed...there is some question in my mind as to whether a named meat meal can contain more than just muscle meat...as I read the regulations, it can (within certain guidelines), whereas a named meat can only consist of the clean muscle meat and certain of the supporting tissues. When manufacturers weigh the ingredients of their food for the label listing, they do so by weight. If a food lists "Chicken" as the first ingredient, that chicken has been weighed before having its moisture weight (which accounts for 70%+ of its original weight) removed, so it is quite naturally going to be first on the list...but if it was weighed after having the moisture removed, it might actually appear much further down on the list (and the moisture has to be removed before the meat can be used in dry food). A food with "chicken meal" listed first shows that the chicken was weighed after having the moisture removed, so the weight is a more honest measure of dry ingredient vs. dry ingredient (I don't see meal as better than meat, but it IS a far more honest and easy comparison when you're reading a label)...so I read the labels as follows:
Label #1: "Chicken, rice...." Since the chicken was weighed with moisture included, the rice almost certainly outweighs it and is the main ingredient of the food.
Label #2: "Chicken, rice, chicken meal..." chicken was weighed with moisture content. Notice second ingredient by weight is rice, which outweighs the chicken meal. This food may well have more rice than chicken and chicken meal combined.
Label #3: "Chicken meal, rice..." though this doesn't have "chicken" listed, the "chicken meal" was weighed after the moisture was removed, so it clearly outweighs the rice.
Label #4: "Chicken, chicken meal, rice..." obviously, the chicken meal outweighs the rice in this food, and even though the first-listed chicken had the moisture weight included, it's just gravy, because there's already enough chicken meal to outweigh the rice.
Of these, my pick is #4.
In short (this is my quick-scan label reading), I look for as much named meat (or named meat meal) as possible, no byproducts, no unnamed meats (or meals), no corn, wheat, or soy, no excessive fish (or no fish at all), and no dyes or funky preservatives. High-protein, with sufficient fat content. Then I get nit-picky. In the end, though, the best food for any individual cat is the food that particular cat does best and is healthiest with. Feeding the most expensive food in the world is useless if your cat throws it all up, or refuses to eat it.
