How WELL does Wellness rate?

[Lisa]

Hello GMACLEOD and others …….

Would love some feedback and your opinion on the Wellness line … this is what we will, most likely, :confused: be feeding our new pup (but it still remains to be seen)

Here is the claim …

Wellness Dog and Cat Foods Rival Human Food in Ingredient Quality
Wellness represents a new generation of uniquely formulated, all-natural pet food which rivals human food in quality, nutrition and the cooking process. The primary protein source in the Wellness line is human grade deboned chicken, human grade Atlantic whitefish or hormone-free lamb, depending on the formula. In addition, these top-of-the-line dog and cat foods contain fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy grains, and vitamins and minerals. Another major differentiator is that unlike most commercial dog food manufacturers that rapidly extrude their food, Old Mother Hubbard slowly oven bakes its Wellness Super5Mix dog foods and treats to preserve and enrich the nutrients, and to enhance the aroma.
As rates of feline and canine allergies, cancers and diseases continue to rise, the link between pet nutrition and health is being examined more closely than ever. Healthy thoughtful ingredients in Wellness, like fresh fruits and vegetables, provide essential antioxidants that protect and strengthen your pet's immune system for a healthy, long life.
Wellness does not contain any rendered animal fats, meat by-products, wheat, corn or white rice and also does not contain any artificial colors, flavors or preservatives of any kind.
Wellness Dog Food:
Ranked a "Top Dry Dog Food" by Whole Dog Journal (WDJ)

Here are the ingredients of the Super5 Puppy mix from Wellness

Deboned Chicken, Salmon Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Oatmeal, Barley Flour, Ground Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Tomatoes, Flaxseed, Peas, Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Bananas, Whole Apples, Whole Pears, Garlic, Beta-Carotene, Potassium Chloride, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of Zinc), Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of Copper), Copper Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate ( a chelated source of Manganese), Sodium Selenite, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid.

What say you?

[gmacleod]

As kibbles go, I'd rate Wellness pretty highly :) There are a lot of members on Boxerworld who feed it, and it gets some very good reviews. The only thing I'd note is that some dogs don't seem too keen on it's fishy smell/flavour. Some dogs are very keen though - and there's only one way to find out which camp your pup will be in ;)

In particular, I like that the top three ingredients are meat sources. The first one, deboned chicken, I'm not incredibly keen on - first because it is chicken inclusive of water content (which simply means that there isn't as much ckicken there as you might think - ingredients are in order of weight, and this includes water), and second because it is deboned. Bone is a good thing for dogs to have in their diet. But this still is a good indication that the food contains a reasonable amount of meat - so that's a definite positive :)

What else... The grains are reasonably good. Ideally, I'd rather not see flour. But overall, the grains are decent ones. No cheap and nasty corn, wheat or beet pulp. And there are plenty of fruits and vegetables, some of which are whole. So that's another positive :) No chemical preservatives or other ingredients thought to be carcinogenic either. And that's a big positive.

Yep, overall IMO that's a pretty good kibble :)

[gmacleod]

...if you don't already know by now I am ANTI-GRAIN for dogs.
LOL - actually, so am I. Which is one reason I feed raw, the other one being that I grew up doing it and have never seen fit to switch.

But within grains, some are better than others. Grains like corn and wheat offer poor nutrition for a dog (mostly inaccessible), and often are the cause of allergy problems (persistent yeast and/or ear infections included). Things like barley, rice and oatmeal are much better quality.

If at all possible, grains should be WHOLE too. If they're not whole, then they're just as likely to be floor sweepings or fragments after the nutritious bits have been removed for use in some other (probably human) food product. And if they *are* whole grains, you can bet that it's advertised on the label ;) Same thing goes for fruits/vegetables too - except that the fragments still have some nutritional value.

But grains are a fact of life if you're feeding kibble. It just makes sense to choose something without too many grains, that uses good quality ones, and preferably uses whole grains rather than fragments. And Wellness stacks up fairly well against other kibbles in that respect.

The only kibble that I can think of right now that doesn't contain grains at all is Innova EVO (http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B@id%3D%271246%27%5D).

[Martina]

I am no where near as well versed about dog foods as many others, but here's my two cents about Wellness. It's what I put my two on in the beginning because, from what I read, I understood it to be one of the best 'human grade' kibbles available. I started them on Wellness puppy and then moved to fish and potato (I think that's it, I forget it was so long ago now) because of Lola's allergies and everyone said the fish was better for dogs suffering from allergies. Well, they HATED the fish version. After 5 days of no eating, it was back to puppychow. Neither Gigi or Lola could produce a firm stool on it. Then Gigi developed her anal prolapse (NOT a result of the kibble) and had to go on super-high fiber kibble so it was off the Wellness.

Later, after talking w/ vets and breeders, I kept hearing that small dogs sometimes have problems with high protein diets ... poor stool quality and joint problems. But that was simply empirical evidence - not scientific fact.

The long and the short of it is that I think that this is a high quality kibble, but, the end result is how your dog actually does on it. Just like people, dogs have likes and dislikes, and digest some things better than others. Just like you're doing, get the info, make the best educated decision you can make, and then see how your dog does ... and good luck with it!

[Carolyn]

Lisa....Abby and Ferris are both on Wellness lamb kibble and I am very happy with it. They like it, coats are healthy and I believe it to be very high grade stuff.

Carolyn

[franp]

My experience with Wellness; someone gave Dari a few pieces as a treat.She was covered in hives about an hour later.This is a dog who has NO allergies..

Picking a dog food is almost as difficult as choosing a breed of dog. What is good for one dog is horrid for another..

fran

[WhitneysMom]

Picking a dog food is almost as difficult as choosing a breed of dog. What is good for one dog is horrid for another..

franI second that!!!!! With Whitney, me picking a food (after lots of questions and research of my own) was not terribly hard just time consuming. I quess I just thought well I like what's in it (and not) so she will love love to eat it right? Wrong? I guess ultimatlly they help choose the food in the end, my favorite kibble was not her favorite. Lucky for me though my second choice is her favorite. On the subject of raw.. She came face to face with raw a few weeks ago and went nuts, she never even took time to smell it, and she ate 2 full bowls!!! So we may just switch to raw.

[gmacleod]

LOL - yep, there is no dog food in existance that will suit every dog, irrespective of the quality.

I certainly think Wellness is worth a try - it does seem to work very nicely for many people, and it is a very good quality kibble. If it doesn't happen to suit your dog though (and there's really only one way to find that out), a few alternatives you might like to consider - and that I'm sure are available in Canada are:

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul:
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/formulasnew.html
This one is based on chicken and turkey, contains whole rice as the main grains, and lots of fruits/veges. The puppy version is a little high in fat, but since the chicken fat content is the sole difference between the puppy and adult formulas, I'd just go straight with the adult. No chemical preservatives here.

Innova, Innova EVO, or California Natural:
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=foods-tab
Personally, I think that Innova is one of the best dry dog foods available. It is chicken/turkey based with barley and rice as the main grains (sadly not whole) and plenty of fruits/vegetables included. It is naturally preserved. I also like that the fat occurs a long way down the ingredient list.

EVO is outstanding in that it contains no grains at all, and unlike many allergy formulas, is not made up of mostly potato with a bit of meat. This one is mostly meat - it has four meat (chicken/turkey) sources ahead of the first vegetable (potato) and is otherwise made up of fruits/vegetables. The only caution I would make with Innova is that it is formulated for very active dogs (it's 42% protein). I would be cautious about giving this to a growing puppy - and even the manufacturer says not to if it's a large breed puppy. Well, given the link between overnutrition and musculoskeletal disorders, I personally wouldn't give it to a growing puppy of any breed. A very good food to consider for an active young adult though :)

California Natural is more similar to an allergy formula, except that it does still contain grains (rice). Nothing nasty in it though :)

Canidae:
http://www.canidae.com/
Chicken/turkey based, but also contains lamb and fish meal. The grains are mainly rice. Nothing nasty in this one, it's got a good amount of meat and it's an all-life-stages food (which I like because I think puppy formulas are a bit of a have LOL).

[Lisa]

Great info from everyone – thanks!
We’ll try the wellness and see how it goes.

I’ve also been extremely moved by the success many of you have had with RAW. It will also be a consideration.

[franp]

Lisa,
At the risk of repeating myself;Dari was the WORST eater.For almost 4 years I literally force fed her.No matter what brand of food; she would NOT eat.
And to add insult to injury;she was gassy, her bm was soft and she had body odor.

I switched to raw out of desperation..OH HAPPY DAY..Dari has not missed a meal since we changed over a year ago..No gas; great bm and no smell..
Her bloodwork is perfect.

It is a pleasure to feed her. :D

fran

[WhitneysMom]

Innova, Innova EVO, or California Natural:
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=foods-tab
Personally, I think that Innova is one of the best dry dog foods available. It is chicken/turkey based with barley and rice as the main grains (sadly not whole) and plenty of fruits/vegetables included. It is naturally preserved. I also like that the fat occurs a long way down the ingredient list.




Innova is what Whitney is eating and is the one she likes. My favorite was and still is Canine Caviar. My cats eat Feline Caviar, they look and act like whole different cats since I switched the 10 yr old looks and acts more like a kitten now and has no skin problems now, that was a huge problem before. I have heard about soft stools with Innova and she is having some of that, but with the C Caviar is was perfect. Bummer. We will see for now.

Lisa good luck! :lol: :D