Crowded Labels, Compromised Doses: A Look at Pet Supplement Design

Pet supplements are everywhere and growing fast. There are calming chews, joint chews, skin-and-coat chews, and gut-health chews, often promising a long list of benefits packed into a very small product.  

As these products become more common in veterinary conversations, retail aisles, and pet households, a reasonable question is bound to arise: How can so many active ingredients realistically fit into one small supplement chew and still work? Thanks to real-world limits of formulation and dosing, the answer might make you think twice the next time you're supplement shopping. 

A soft supplement chew may look simple, but it is actually a carefully engineered product with finite space. Before any active ingredients are added, the chew must already contain a base matrix: ingredients that provide structure, moisture control, palatability, shelf stability, and manufacturability. These typically include proteins or starches, fats, binders, humectants, natural flavors, and processing aids. These components are what makethe chew hold together, stay fresh on the shelf, and appeal to pets’ tastes. However, these ingredients typically takes up 60% to 75% of the chew. Only after this base is built does a formulator have room to add active ingredients, and that remaining space (25% to 40%) is often much smaller than most labels imply. 

This is where the distinction between the number of ingredients and how those ingredients are dosed becomes critical. Many supplement labels highlight all the many functional ingredients that are included, but they don’t always communicate how much of each ingredient is present in a way that’s meaningful to pet owners.  

From a nutritional and physiological standpoint, dose matters far more than the length of an ingredient list. For an active ingredient to have a meaningful effect, it must be included at a biologically relevant level, physically fit into the chew, remain stable over the product’s shelf life, and avoid interfering with the absorption or function of other ingredients. When a product attempts to include too many actives in a small chew, something almost always has to give, and that compromise shows up in dosing. 

This is how supplements can end up looking impressive on the label while delivering active ingredients in amounts that may be too low to produce the desired benefit. The ingredients are technically present, but they could be included at symbolic levels instead of functional ones. This isn’t always intentional or deceptive as one might think at first glance. It is often the result of trying to satisfy market demand for “everything in one chew” or being competitive with other products in the market while working within the physical limits of the product form itself. 

There is a natural assumption that more ingredients automatically means more support. In reality, the most effective supplements are usually built around transparency and restraint. They focus on a specific physiological goal, rely on a small number of well-studied active ingredients, and include those ingredients at levels supported by evidence rather than trends or buzzwords. Trying to support joints, digestion, skin, mood, immunity, and cognition all at once often leads to compromise rather than synergy. A supplement designed to do one job well will almost always outperform a crowded product that attempts to do everything at once.  

Now, don’t get me wrong—there are some formulations that can successfully include multiple active ingredients when they are designed thoughtfully. This typically involves choosing ingredients that are effective at relatively low inclusion rates and combining actives with complementary mechanisms, rather than overlapping. In some cases, it also means designing the chew size and feeding directions to support appropriate dosing, such as allowing multiple chews per day for larger dogs. This is why two supplements with similar-looking ingredient lists can perform very differently in real-world use. It’s not the label that is different; it’s the philosophy behind the formulation. 

For veterinarians, retailers, and pet parents alike, this shifts the conversation in a meaningful way. Instead of focusing on all the amazing ingredients a supplement contains, more useful questions might include what the product's primary goal is, whether the key ingredients are included at meaningful doses, and whether the chew size and feeding directions support those doses. Supplements are most effective when they complement a complete-and-balanced diet and appropriate medical care, not when they attempt to replace them. 

A small supplement chew can absolutely deliver meaningful health support, but only when the formulation respects biology, physics, and evidence. In the pet supplement space, restraint is often a sign of expertise. Fewer ingredients, thoughtfully chosen and properly dosed, always outperform a long list squeezed into too little space with ineffective dosing.  

For brands, retailers, and pet parents who want to move beyond crowded labels and toward supplements that actually work, formulation philosophy matters. Working with BSM Partners and choosing BSM-formulated or BSM-veterinary-formulated supplements means navigating these real-world constraints with intention, prioritizing evidence-based dosing, functional synergy, and product forms that support meaningful inclusion levels. When every gram counts, expert formulation is what ensures that what you want in a supplement is also what pets can truly benefit from. 

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About the Author

Dr. Katy Miller works as the Director of Veterinary Services at BSM Partners. She earned her veterinary degree at Ross University and completed her clinical year at Louisiana State University. She previously served for 11 years as the Director of Dog and Cat Health and Nutrition for Mud Bay where she earned multiple certifications and specialized in pet food nutrition, prior to which she practiced general and emergency medicine for seven years. She is also a competitive three-day eventer, licensed falconer, and claims only two (Golden and Mini Doxie) of their nine dogs.