Wellness Dog Food: Review

Wellness produces some of the most popular formulas right now, rubbing shoulders with the largest pet brands and offering over a hundred different recipes designed to suit dogs of all sizes and ages.

Wellness Pet Food has been around since 1997 when it was formed by a team of veterinarians and nutrition experts, but the company has moved through several iterations since its early days. Today, Wellness is owned by Wellpet LLC, an umbrella corporation that is themselves owned by Berwind, a private investment management company.

WellPet formed a little over a decade ago, after a merger between two historic pet food companies: Eagle Pack and Old Mother Hubbard. Alongside Wellness and their own brands, they also produce Holistic, Sojos, and Whimzees products. 

With all the brand names floating around, it can be hard to pin down exactly where Wellness products are manufactured, and who by. A 2012 recall revealed that some Wellness products were being made by Diamond Pet Foods, one of the largest manufacturers in the world and the subject of many contamination and recall events. This includes the widespread melamine recall in 2007.

With this Wellness Core dry dog food, you’re getting a dog food that is full of protein, it has 34%, well above the industry average of 26.5% for dry dog food. It gets it’s a high level of proteins and healthy, salmon meal, and menhaden fish meal. Rounding out the top 5 ingredients are peas, and easily digestible carbs to help fuel your pup’s energy levels. This recipe is also grain-free!

If your dog has any poultry allergies, this is a good choice, as it is 100% free of poultry-protein. It has all you can ask for (and more) in terms of nutritional content. It features quality fatty acids from the 4 fish meats, as well as antioxidants, glucosamine, probiotics, taurine, vitamins and minerals. It gets many of these valuable nutrients from fruits and vegetables. And don’t fret, this recipe is made without the use of by-products, fillers, corn, soy, wheat gluten, artificial colors/preservatives/flavors. In summary, this recipe will be easy on your dog’s stomach, and will encourage lean muscle growth, healthy skin and coat development, and aid your dog’s immune system.

Customer reviews:

“I have a Chesapeake Bay Retriever with mild/severe allergies. He absolutely loves this dog food. At times he is very picky about what he eats, yet with food he eats it quite readily. It is a bit stinky but if he is eating and not having an allergic reaction it’s worth it.”

“Recently our Mastiff became covered in red, blotchy, spots that turned to scabs and caused hair loss. We headed to the vet. She suspected after all these years, he developed a food allergy, and most common she said, is beef and poultry. She suggested we try a change in food and treats. We looked up the best foods to try. Core by Wellness has whitefish and had very high ratings. We bought a 4lb bag to try out. He loved it, he also loved the treats we got him. After a month now, he is doing so much better. I believe the vet was right. Definitely sticking to this food.”

Guaranteed analysis: 

• Protein (min): 34.0%
• Fat (min): 15.0%
• Fiber (max):7.0%
• Moisture (max): 10.0%

Nutritional Info
Ingredients: Whitefish, Herring Meal (source of Glucosamine), Salmon Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate), Menhaden Fish Meal, Peas, Lentils, Dried Ground Potatoes, Canola Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Ground Flaxseed, Pea Fiber, Tomato Pomace, Natural Fish Flavor, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, Choline Chloride, Spinach, Broccoli, Carrots, Parsley, Apples, Blueberries, Kale, Zinc Proteinate, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Chicory Root Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Dried Lactobacillus plantarum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract.

Caloric Content

This food contains 3,568 kcal/kg or 414 kcal/cup ME (metabolizable energy) on an as fed basis.

Wellness Core’s top wet dog food is made to keep your dog’s gut health running like a finely tuned engine. It is made with beef, beef broth, pork liver, and whitefish as its top 4 ingredients, and ground peas round out the top 5. This gives the recipe a nice source of protein and fats and an easily digestible carb. In fact, this recipe has 12% protein, well above the 8.6% industry average for wet food. If you are looking for a high protein dog food to maintain your dog’s lean muscle, then you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better product or brand. 

The addition of superfoods like pumpkin and papaya to this recipe catches the eye, it’s like your dog is eating at a boujie cafe! These foods do add essential vitamins and minerals to the already ingredient list. The fact that this recipe can be given to adult dogs of all life stages is nice as well! If you have a puppy, check out Wellness Core’s puppy food further down on this page.

Customer reviews:

“My dog is picky but really enjoys this food! It is hearty & healthy. She enjoys the flavor & texture. It is easy to portion & is a generous size. Good for fast eaters too. The ingredients are healthy & gentle on sensitive stomachs. I am sticking with this brand.

“This is a really high-quality dog food pate that has a list of really solid ingredients. Nearly all the top ingredients listed are meats with almost no filler. According to most of the dog food analysis websites, it contains an above-average amount of proteins with almost all of it coming animal meat. It is grain-free and easy on a dog’s digestion….”

Guaranteed analysis: 

• Protein (min): 12.0%
• Fat (min): 5.0%
• Fiber (max):1.0%
• Moisture (max): 78.0%

Nutritional Info
Ingredients: Beef, Beef Broth, Pork Liver, Whitefish, Ground Dried Peas, Potato Protein, Ground Flaxseed, Canola Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Cassia Gum, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Chloride, Apple Powder, Cranberry Powder, Pumpkin Powder, Calcium Carbonate, Inulin, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Blueberry Powder, Papaya Powder, Pomegranate Powder, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin E Supplement, Peppermint Leaf Powder, Cinnamon, Fennel Powder, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

Caloric Content

Beef: 1,145 kcal/kg, 423 kcal/can

Our favorite Wellness product range is their CORE line, which uses grain-free recipes and freeze-drying production methods to retain a maximum amount of nutrition in meat ingredients.

It can be hard to sum up the dry food range of a brand like Wellness, which includes over 50 individual formulas split across several product ranges designed for different doggo needs. One thing that does unite this brand’s kibbles is that they’re all made in large production facilities, and aren’t afraid to incorporate processed ingredients into their recipes. This includes meat meals, which are concentrated products made from offcuts and parts of animals that can’t be sold as individually edible.

While Wellness kibbles do use potatoes and flax, they’re relatively free of more sinister ingredients such as cornmeal or soy. This should help ensure your dog is receiving complex sources of fiber without overloading on carbohydrates and sugars. Just be sure to read the individual ingredient list of any Wellness product you’re considering.

Protein levels in Wellness dry foods span a wide range, from 38% in some of their CORE products to just 6% in their Petite Entrees range. Fats range from 8 to 18%. When looking at nutritional levels, it’s always important to take a careful look at each product’s ingredient list—not just the numbers—as the quality of ingredients and balance of nutrients is often more important for health than sheer levels of protein or fat.

Like their dry food range, Wellness’s wet foods include a diverse set of products that have recipes designed to meet specific needs for dogs of different ages, as described by AAFCO Life Stages. Again, for a large, corporate pet food manufacturer Wellness sits above average, both in terms of its nutritional content and its ingredients, which include real meat paired with meat meals and a lack of wheat or soy. This makes Wellness a good compromise between quality, availability, and price—just don’t expect the brand to rival small-batch family producers.

Looking at the FDA and AVMA databases as well as other online sources, it seems that Wellness has had a large number of recent product recalls, for both their cat and dog products:

• March 2017: Wellness issued a voluntary wet food recall due to elevated levels of beef thyroid hormone.
• February 2017: 7 Wellness cat food formulas were recalled due to the discovery of metal fragments in a batch.
• October 2012: Wellness Super5Mix Dog Food was recalled again due to unusual levels of moisture detected, suggesting contamination.
• May 2012: Wellness recalled its Super5Mix Dog Food, manufactured at the time by Diamond Pet Foods, due to the presence of Salmonella detected in the production facility.
• February 2011: 12 types of Wellness cat foods were recalled due to inadequate levels of thiamine, including Wellness CORE. Thiamine (vitamin B1) essential for metabolism function.