sunflower oil

What it is

Sunflower oil is pressed from sunflower seeds — a light plant oil rich in linoleic acid, the omega-6 essential fatty acid. "High oleic" versions shift the profile toward monounsaturated fat for stability.

Why it's in pet food

Linoleic acid is a genuine requirement — skin and coat quality ride on it — and sunflower oil is one of the cleanest ways to supply it. It often partners an animal fat that brings flavor while sunflower brings the fatty-acid math.

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.

Sunflower oil is on the engine's whole-foods bonus list: 2 points on the ingredient-quality pillar in the top twelve ingredients, with the class capped at 8 points per label. No deduction applies.

Read the full methodology

Common questions

Answers come from this entry and the scoring rules above — reviewed before publish, like everything else on this page. For anything about your own pet, your vet knows best.

Foods that list sunflower oil

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

• Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix93
• Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe93
• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Dry Cat Food93
• Fernbrook Kitchens Heritage Rabbit Single-Protein Pâté92
• Open Farm Wild Caught Salmon Recipe92
• ACANA Bountiful Catch90
• Hazelmoor Puppy Chicken & Oat Loaf90
• Juniper & Jack Grain-Free Duck & Sweet Potato Dinner90

Sources

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

Related ingredients

• algal oil
• animal fat
• salmon oil
• sardine oil
• soybean oil
• vegetable oil

Further reading

• Calories on the label: kcal, ME and fair comparisons
• Storing pet food so it stays the food you bought