How to choose a pet food scanner app
Eight things worth checking before you trust a score, and how the main apps compare.
October 2026
A pet food scanner reads the barcode on a bag, can or pouch of dog or cat food and tells you what is in it. They are not all alike. Some charge before you can scan, some score against human nutrition rules, and some give you a grade without saying why. Here is what to look for.
We make FurMetric, so we are not neutral. We have tried to keep this to things you can check for yourself in a minute, and each point below says how FurMetric handles it.
What to look for
1. Pet standards, not human ones
Dogs and cats need different things from people, and some foods that are fine for us are dangerous for them. A pet food scanner should judge food against pet nutrition standards, such as the AAFCO nutrient profiles used on US pet food labels.
FurMetric: scores ingredients, additives and the label’s guaranteed analysis with rules built for dogs and cats, drawing on AAFCO, the FDA, the ASPCA and veterinary nutrition sources.
2. Free to scan, without a daily limit
You usually want a score while you are standing in the aisle. Check whether the app charges before you can scan, or caps how many products you can scan a day.
FurMetric: scanning is free and unlimited. No account, no trial countdown.
3. The reasons behind the score
A letter or a number on its own asks you to take it on trust. A good scanner shows which ingredients helped and which hurt, and where a flag comes from.
FurMetric: every score lists what helped and what hurt, with the outside source where one exists. Many ingredients can be tapped for a plain-English explanation of what they are.
4. Toxic ingredients caught every time
FurMetric: xylitol, onion, and grapes and raisins are checked on every scan and flagged at once, however good the rest of the label looks.
5. Allergy flags for each of your pets
If your pets react to different ingredients, the app should know which pet you are buying for.
FurMetric: add each dog or cat with the ingredients they react to, pick which pet you are scanning for, and matching ingredients are flagged.
6. Recall alerts
FurMetric: if a food you have scanned may be affected by an FDA pet food recall, you are alerted for free, with a link to the official notice.
7. The same score for everyone
A score that changes from one scan to the next is hard to trust.
FurMetric: everyone who scans a product sees the same score. It changes only if the recipe changes or our reading of the label is corrected.
8. No money from the brands being scored
If an app earns money when you buy a product it recommends, its recommendations are harder to trust.
FurMetric: no ads, no sponsored placement and no affiliate links. A brand cannot buy a better score, and we earn nothing when you buy something we scored well.
One thing FurMetric deliberately doesn’t do
Some apps adjust their advice to your pet’s breed, weight or health conditions. We don’t. Deciding what a particular animal with a particular condition should eat is a job for a vet who knows that animal. FurMetric tells you what is in the bag and what the label claims, and leaves the rest to your vet.
How the main apps compare
| App | Scanning | What you pay for |
|---|---|---|
| FurMetric dogs and cats | Free, unlimited | Nothing. No in-app purchases. |
| Leo cats | Needs a paid subscription | Scanning and food analysis |
| Doggo Eats dogs | Free | Personalized features and diet plans |
| Pawdi dogs and cats | Limited free scans each day | Unlimited daily scans and more |
Checked October 2026 against each app’s own App Store page. Plans and prices change, so check the store page before you decide.
Where FurMetric is still growing
FurMetric is new. It scores about 1,300 products sold in the US, and adds more every week, mostly from photos of real labels. If a product isn’t in it yet, the app says so and lets you add it with two photos, so the next person who scans it gets a score.
Common questions
What is the best pet food scanner app?
It depends on what you need, so it helps to check a few things: whether scanning is free or limited, whether the app judges food by pet standards rather than human ones, whether it shows the reasons behind a score, and whether it covers both dogs and cats. FurMetric is free to scan without limits, covers dogs and cats, shows the reasons and sources behind every score, and takes no money from pet food brands.
Can I use a human food scanner like Yuka for pet food?
Human food scanners are built around human nutrition and human food rules. Dogs and cats have different needs, and some ingredients that are fine for people, such as onion, grapes or xylitol, are dangerous for pets. A pet food scanner judges food against pet standards and flags ingredients that are risky for dogs and cats.
Are pet food scanner apps free?
Some are and some are not. Several charge a weekly or yearly subscription before you can scan, or limit how many products you can scan each day. Scanning in FurMetric is free and unlimited, with no account.
Are pet food scanner scores accurate?
A score is only as good as the ingredient list behind it, so look for an app that is open about where its data comes from. FurMetric reads ingredients from a photo of the actual label or from an open database, marks newly added products as not confirmed until a person has checked them against the label photo, and says plainly when it doesn't have a product rather than guessing.
Try FurMetric on your pet’s food. Scan the barcode and see the score with the reasoning behind it. Then tell us what you think: we read and reply to every comment.