If you've ever felt confused about how to choose the healthiest cat food for your feline companion, you're not alone. The pet food recall sent many spinning.

Most pet owners are aware that pet food manufacturers are required by law to list all of the product ingredients in order of weight. While that is helpful, an organized checklist is more useful when shopping. Here are some guidelines from top animal food experts.

Cat Food Ingredients in Order of Importance

1. Proteins

LOOK FOR: Meat or fish named on the label with words like--chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, herring, salmon, etc. Also acceptable are concentrated named meat proteins like--chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, herring meal, etc.

WHY? Cats are what scientists call "obligate carnivores". This means that they are designed to eat a meat diet. When you're choosing a food for your cat, you want it to have all the available nutrients to provide for good energy, strong muscle tone and a

stable immune system so the meat protein source should be primary.

AVOID: Unnamed food ingredients with words like--poultry by products, meat and bone meal, meat meal, poultry meal, animal digest, etc. Also avoid protein fillers like--corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, egg product meal, soybean meal, wheat germ meal.

TIP: If you look at a cat food label and group all the grain ingredients together, they are often more primary than the meat pictured by manufacturers. This disguises protein ingredients that are inferior, portraying them as nutritious.

REASON: Cat foods containing by-products, meat and bone meal or non-specific, generic meat meals are often rejected leftovers from the human food chain. That means they can contain "4-D" nutrient-deficient animal protein sources such as:

• Dead animals (including meat with sodium pentobarbital, the most common euthanasia drug though industry sources deny they use dead dogs and cats, however there are no laws or regulations against it).

• Dying animals (including those that FDA meat inspectors reject for the human food chain plus dying animals from zoos and pet farms).

• Diseased animals (according to federal meat inspection regulations, fuel oil, kerosene, crude carbolic acid, and citronella can be used to denature diseased meat before rendering).

• Disabled animals (including those who are too weak to walk due to disease or malnutrition).

2. Carbohydrates and Vegetables

LOOK FOR: Whole grains like brown rice and barley or starches like whole potatoes or sweet potatoes. Whole fruits and vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, alfalfa, apples, cranberries, etc.

WHY? These whole grains and starches are actually digestible by cats providing a good source of energy. The whole fruits and veggies provide an excellent source of fiber plus natural occurring vitamins and minerals.

AVOID: Vegetable proteins and gluten, which are indigestible and cause allergies for cats, are made from refined flours, wheat, mill runs, brewer's rice, etc. Also watch out for processed fruits and vegetables like dehydrated potatoes, tomato pumice and alfalfa meal.

REASON: Vegetable proteins, especially soybean meal protein, have become favorites of pet food manufacturers because they are cheap sources of protein, giving them bigger profits and making it appear that cats are getting good protein. Glutens made from flours are merely cheap binders or "glue" in pet foods. Both sources can result in severe nutritional deficiencies.