dandelion greens

What it is

Dried leaves of the common dandelion: genuinely edible (human salad tradition), mildly bitter, carrying potassium and carotenoids at garnish scale. The folk 'liver and kidney tonic' story rests on tradition, not trials.

Why it's in pet food

Foraged-wholesomeness branding in 'ancestral' and 'garden' recipes. At label doses the leaf is a harmless green fleck with a good backstory.

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: no bonus seat (the leafy-green seats belong to spinach and kale), no deduction, no flag. The folk-diuretic claim is the kind the engine deliberately can't hear — and a pet that actually needs diuresis is deep in veterinary territory where labels stopped mattering several decisions ago.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list dandelion greens

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

• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Dry Cat Food93
• Open Farm Chicken & Salmon Rustic Blend Cat Wet Food90
• Open Farm Harvest Chicken Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• Open Farm Homestead Turkey Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Paté Recipe for Cats89
• Stella & Chewy's Yummy Lickin' Salmon & Chicken Freeze Dried Raw Dinner Morsels88
• Stella & Chewy's Raw Coated Cat Kibble Cage-Free Chicken Recipe78

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food

Related ingredients

• chamomile
• chicory root
• cinnamon
• dried kelp
• fennel
• garlic

Further reading

• The marketing dictionary: which label words mean anything
• How to read a pet food label