Home Reviews Wellness Core Chunky Centers Dog Food Review (Cups)

Wellness Core Chunky Centers Dog Food Review (Cups)

By Mike Sagman

Updated: October 6, 2023

• 0
• 0
• More

Product May Have Been Discontinued
Unable to Locate Complete Label Info
On Company Website¹

Rating:

Wellness Core Chunky Centers Dog Food receives the Advisor’s top rating of 5 stars.

The Wellness Core Chunky Centers product line includes 6 wet dog foods.

Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Use the links below to check prices and package sizes at an online retailer.

• Core Chunky Centers Tuna, Chicken and Kale [M]
• Core Chunky Centers Salmon, Tuna and Spinach [M]
• Core Chunky Centers Lamb, Turkey and Kale (4.5 stars) [M]
• Core Chunky Centers Beef, Lamb and White Sweet Potato (4 stars) [M]
• Core Chunky Centers Chicken, Chicken Liver and Spinach (2.5 stars) [M]
• Core Chunky Centers Turkey, Duck and White Sweet Potato (4.5 stars) [M]

Wellness Core Chunky Centers Lamb, Turkey and Kale was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken broth. Broths are of only modest nutritional value. Yet because they add both flavor and moisture to a dog food, they are a common addition component in many canned products.

The second ingredient is water, which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.

The third ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.²

The fourth ingredient is lamb. Lamb is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered” lamb and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.³

Both chicken and lamb are naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The fifth ingredient is turkey, another quality raw item.

The sixth ingredient is kale. Kale is a type of cabbage in which the central leaves do not form a head. This dark green vegetable is especially rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin K and calcium.

And like broccoli, kale contains sulforaphane, a natural chemical believed to possess potent anti-cancer properties.

The seventh ingredient is potato starch. Potato starch is a gluten-free carbohydrate used more for its thickening properties than its nutritional value.

The eighth ingredient is chicken liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The ninth ingredient is egg. Eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With two notable exceptions…

First, carrageenan is a gelatin-like thickening agent extracted from seaweed. Although carrageenan has been used as a food additive for hundreds of years, there appears to be some recent controversy regarding its long term biological safety.

And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Wellness Core Chunky Centers
Dog Food Review

Judging by its ingredients alone, Wellness Core Chunky Centers Dog Food looks like an above-average wet product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 47%, a fat level of 33% and estimated carbohydrates of about 12%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 47% and a mean fat level of 28%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 18% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 60%.

Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical wet dog food.

Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a wet product containing a significant amount of meat.

However, with 58% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 34% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for every animal.

Bottom line?

Wellness Core Chunky Centers is a grain-free wet dog food using a significant amount of named meats as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.

Enthusiastically recommended.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

Notes and Updates