Wellness Dog Food is one of the best and highest rated dog food brands available on the market today.
Once you try it with your pup, you'll soon discover that it's very much worth your while (and every single penny you're paying for it), especially if you go with just the right formula tailored for your dog's specific needs.
But, before we get into all that, here's a quick look at some of the Wellness Dog Food formulas and options we rate the highest.
Our List Of The Top 5 Wellness Dog Food Options Of Today (Updated List For 2023)
Top Pick: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Dry Dog Food
Pick #2: Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Large Breed Dog Food
Pick #3: Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Small Breed Dog Food
Pick #4: Wellness Simple Natural Limited Ingredient Dry Dog Food
Pick #5: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Dog Food
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*Note: The links in the table above, as well as several links in the remainder of the article below, will take you to over to Chewy.com where you can find out more information about the products, such as current prices and customer reviews.
Introduction To Wellness Dog Food
It all started back when a company called A. Hubbard and Sons Bakery, specializing in producing biscuits and headquartered in Gloucester, Massachusetts, was renamed in 1926 to Old Mother Hubbard.
An animal nutritionist named Jim Scott Sr. purchased Old Mother Hubbard back in 1961 and moved its headquarters to Lowell, Massachusetts.
Later on down the road, Old Mother Hubbard started producing dog food in the year 1997 and expanded to cat food in the year 2000.
Wellness dog food is a product that belongs to WellPet LLC, a company with headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (formed in 2008 as a result of a merge between Eagle Pack Pet Foods and Old Mother Hubbard) that manufactures dog food as well as cat food food.
These 2 companies, founded in the years 1970 and 1926 respectively, were eventually purchased by the Berwind Corporation.
Wellness was first introduced to the pet food market back in the year 1997, where it has made a very strong name for itself and preserved a place for itself for a long time to come in the pet food industry.
Wellness checks many (if not all) if the criteria that's required to make a high-quality dog food, most important of which are:
- Protein sources coming from real meat, not low-quality stuff like meat by products
- No usage of artificial additives (such as colors or flavors)
- No usage of preservatives
- No usage of inexpensive, useless filler (such as soy, corn and wheat)
- Coming packed with antioxidants
- Coming packed with probiotics (which greatly help the digestive system of dogs and boosts their immunity systems)
- Supplying dogs with the essential fatty acids they need in their diets.
When WellPet LLC was formed as a result of a merge between Eagle Pack and Old Mother Hubbard, customers continued to trust the new merge company with no rough patches in between the transition phase, mainly because the two companies both had very good reputations in the pet food industry back when they used to operate separately.
As of today, here are the different formulas that Wellness pet food has under its belt:
- Wellness Complete Health
- Wellness CORE Grain-Free
- Wellness Super5Mix
- Wellness Simple Foods Solutions
- Wellness Toy Breed Complete Health
- Wellness Complete Health
- Wellness Chunks & Gravy
Wellness Dog Food Recall
If you're reading this section for the first time, please note that we're constantly monitoring for any possible future recalls Wellness is involved in.
When (and if) any future recalls that Wellness is involved in do actually take place, we'll we sure to immediately come back and edit this part to make mention of these recalls as soon as they happen.
For now, the following list covers all the past recalls Wellness has been involved in up until today.
2011
In February of 2011, Wellness was involved in a massive voluntary recall for around 21 million cans of its cat food, due to "inadequate levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1)", among which was Wellness CORE.
At the time, the CEO of WellPet commented on this issue by saying that although the chances of cats suffering from thiamine deficiency is very unlikely, they are recalling these canned cat food varieties just to be on the safe side.
This list of canned cat foods were recalled at the time:
- Wellness canned cat food (all flavors and sizes, including CORE)
- Wellness Chicken & Herring (all sizes)
2012
In 2012, Wellness witnessed 2 recalls, one in May and the other later on in October.
In May of 2012, the following dog food was recalled because of possible salmonella poisoning:
- Wellness Complete Health Super5Mix Large Breed Puppy, 15 lb. and 30 lb. bags and 5 oz. sample bags.
In October of 2012, the following dog food was recalled because of possible moisture contamination:
- Wellness Small Breed Adult Health Dry Dog Food, 12 lb. package
Wellness Dog Food Legal Issue
Wellness has long been known to produce only the top quality dog and cat food, and still is known for that high standard today, but a lawsuit they were involved in a few years back must be noted.
Wellness faced a lawsuit a few years ago because they used to refer to their products as “human grade” when advertising them.
Eventually, Wellness won the lawsuit, but they have since refrained from using the term "human grade" to describe their dog/cat food products, a practice which was followed by other pet food manufacturers as well.
The reason this happened is because for a certain pet food to be deemed as "human grade", then the entirety of its ingredients must be deemed as human grade for the former claim to be true.
If just one ingredient out of the many ingredients on the list is not deemed as human grade, then the pet food at hand isn't really human grade after all.
Wellness Core Dog Food Review
The Wellness CORE grain-free dog food variety includes 7 formulas for you to choose from.
- Wellness Core Puppy
- Wellness Core Ocean
- Wellness Core Original
- Wellness Core Wild Game
- Wellness Core Reduced Fat
- Wellness Core Original Small Breed
- Wellness Core Original Large Breed
These formulas contain all the protein your dog needs in their diet as well as a perfect combination of carbohydrates and fats to keep them energetic throughout the day and preserve their coats.
As far as this review is concerned, we will be talking about the Wellness Core Large Breed Formula Dry Dog Food, which is one of the best grain-free dog food options ever introduced to the pet food industry.
First off, let's go over the ingredients list this dog food has to offer.
Ingredients: Deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, potatoes, peas, tomato pomace, dried ground potatoes, ground flaxseed, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural chicken flavor, pea fiber, potassium chloride, spinach, broccoli, vitamin E supplement, carrots, parsley, apples, blueberries, kale, sweet potatoes, taurine, l-carnitine, mixed tocopherols added to preserve freshness, zinc proteinate, glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium carbonate, niacin, ferrous sulfate, iron proteinate, beta-carotene, vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganese sulfate, d-calcium pantothenate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride, chicory root extract, Yucca schidigera extract, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, 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.
The first 3 ingredients on the list are de-boned chicken, chicken meal and turkey meal, all 3 very high-quality sources of protein that are always a joy to learn of their presence in dog food.
Many dog food brands would only have protein sources as their #1 and #2 ingredients, but Wellness have done a great job with this dog food by having their top 3 ingredients being very high quality sources of protein.
As for the sources of carbohydrate, you'll find high quality sources such as peas. With that being said, there are a few carbohydrate sources such as potato which we would have preferred that it not be included in the mix of ingredients, or at least be substituted by more nutritious ingredients like sweet potato.
It should also be noted that there are a few "controversial" ingredients on the list (albeit not in enough quantities at all), such as tomato pomace (a by-product that results from processing tomatoes, and deemed by many as useless filler in dog food products) as well as pea fiber (which arguably proves no nutritional benefit to dogs other than dietary fiber).
We should also note the presence of a few ingredients such as ground dried potatoes and flaxseed that do contain decent amounts of protein, which could ultimately cause a slight over-estimation when it comes to meat content in this dog food. However, even without these ingredients being taken into consideration, this dog food still contains vast amounts of protein that come from its meat content.
As for fat content in this particular formula, you'll notice the presence of excellent sources such as flaxseed (a source of omega 3 essential fatty acids) as well as chicken fat (a source of omega 6 essential fatty acids).
Where Can I Buy Wellness Dog Food?
You can find Wellness dog food products in just about any retailer or pet store you could think of.
If you're an avid online shopper that likes to get all their pet food from online retailers, then have a look at the table below to check out our favorite formulas and recipes Wellness dog food has to offer on Amazon.com.
Our List Of The Top 5 Wellness Dog Food Options Of Today (Updated List For 2023)
Top Pick: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Dry Dog Food
Pick #2: Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Large Breed Dog Food
Pick #3: Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Small Breed Dog Food
Pick #4: Wellness Simple Natural Limited Ingredient Dry Dog Food
Pick #5: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Dog Food
Conclusion On Wellness Dog Food
To sum this all up, Wellness dog food is one of the best options you could go with when shopping for dog food for your dogs, recommended by a very large portion of dog owners as their #1 go to option, as well as a notable amount of pet nutrition experts.
Compared to other dog food brands out there on the market, reports of dogs getting allergic reactions after switching to Wellness are MUCH less than is the case when dog owners switch their dogs to other dog food.
After all, its macro-nutrient breakdown is very good for the majority of dog breeds (of-course, there are a few exceptions when it comes to some special cases), containing 38% protein, 13% fat and 41% carbohydrates).
How about the lawsuit against Wellness Ocean formula for containing excess amount of toxins?
Yes, what about that lawsuit filed in July 2017? Wellness core ocean blend dry dog food has deadly amounts of lead and arsenic . I spoke with Wellpet Llc, this week. I called to find out the source of B 12. Neither the author of this article, nor nor Wellpet Llc, can say it has nothing artificial in it. It contains cyanocobalamin, NOT methylcobalamin. Methylcobalamin is the preferred, non-toxic form of B 12. Cyanocobalamin contains a cyanide group, as opposed to a methyl group. Cyanocobalamin is toxic, in that the body has to convert it to methylcobalamin, and remove the toxic cyanide. It is a much cheaper and artificial type of B 12, though. Why am I paying $80 for 26 pounds of dog food, only to find out that they’re not manufacturing the product as advertised, and it has been harmful to my dogs?! I’m furious, and deeply concerned for my dogs, as well as any other pets fed Wellness.