ascorbic acid

What it is

Ascorbic acid and its stabilized forms (the polyphosphate ester survives processing best). The core fact travels from the rose-hips page: healthy dogs and cats synthesize their own vitamin C hepatically and carry no dietary requirement — scurvy is a human, primate, and guinea-pig story.

Why it's in pet food

Modest antioxidant support in the food, joint-supplement adjacency in marketing, and reassurance for the human reading the bag. None of it is harmful; none of it is necessary.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Neutral. 'With added vitamin C!' is the vitamin aisle's clearest example of label copy addressed to the wrong species — priced by the engine at exactly zero, in both directions. The one legitimate niche (stabilized C in some therapeutic contexts) is a vet's call, not a label feature.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list ascorbic acid

Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.

• Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food - Chicken & Brown Rice91
• ACANA Bountiful Catch90
• ACANA Indoor Entrée Recipe with Poultry & Fish90
• Canidae Pure Farm To Bowl Free-Range Bison, Lentil & Carrot Grain Free Recipe89
• Canidae Pure Farm To Bowl Grain-Free Duck and Sweet Potato Recipe89
• Canidae Pure Farm To Bowl Pasture-Raised Lamb & Sweet Potato Grain Free Recipe89
• Canidae Pure Farm To Bowl Wild Boar & Garbanzo Bean Grain Free Recipe89
• Canidae All Life Stages Real Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe88

Sources

• NRC Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006)
• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food

Related ingredients

• biotin
• calcium pantothenate
• choline chloride
• vitamin b12 supplement
• vitamin d3 supplement
• vitamin e supplement

Further reading

• The guaranteed analysis, decoded
• How to read a pet food label