Wellness Core Canned Dog Food | Review | Rating

Wellness Core Turkey Chicken Liver and Turkey Liver Wet Dog Food

Rating:

Which Wellness Core Wet Recipes Get
Our Best Ratings?

Wellness Core Pate canned dog food receives the Advisor’s top rating of 5 stars.

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The Wellness Core product line includes the 5 canned dog foods listed below.

Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile when available… Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Product	Rating	AAFCO
Core Grain Free Turkey, Chicken Liver and Turkey Liver	5	M
Core Grain Free Whitefish, Salmon and Herring	4.5	A
Core Grain Free Beef, Venison and Lamb	5	M
Core Grain Free Weight Management	5	M
Core Grain Free Turkey, Pork Liver and Duck	5	M

Recipe and Label Analysis

Core Grain Free Turkey, Chicken Liver and Turkey Liver was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Label and nutrient data below are calculated using dry matter basis.

Wellness Core Turkey, Chicken Liver and Turkey Liver

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 50% | Fat = 34% | Carbs = 8%

Ingredients: Chicken, turkey, chicken broth, chicken liver, turkey liver, sweet potatoes, chicken meal, ground flaxseed, carrageenan, guar gum, carrots, apples, spinach, parsley, blueberries, broccoli, kale, potassium chloride, salt, chicory root extract, Yucca schidigera extract, choline chloride, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin E supplement, 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

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 2.3%

Red denotes controversial item

Estimated Nutrient Content
Method	Protein	Fat	Carbs
Guaranteed Analysis	11%	8%	NA
Dry Matter Basis	50%	34%	8%
Calorie Weighted Basis	36%	59%	6%

Protein = 36% | Fat = 59% | Carbs = 6%

Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.¹

The second ingredient is turkey, another quality, raw item.

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

The third ingredient 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 component in many canned products.

The next two items include chicken and turkey liver. These are organ meats sourced from named animals and thus considered beneficial components.

The next ingredient is sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a gluten-free source of complex carbohydrates in dog food. They are naturally rich in dietary fiber and beta carotene.

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The seventh inclusion is chicken meal. Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

The eighth ingredient is flaxseed, one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Provided they’ve first been ground into a meal, flax seeds are also rich in soluble fiber.

However, flaxseed contains about 19% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

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 Wellness product line.

With 4 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.

The article, The Carrageenan Controversy, published in Scientific American, does a good job of addressing this topic.

Next, chicory root is rich in inulin, a starch-like compound made up of repeating units of carbohydrates and found in certain roots and tubers.

Not only is inulin a natural source of soluble dietary fiber, it’s also a prebiotic used to promote the growth of healthy bacteria in a dog’s digestive tract.

In addition, 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.

And lastly, this recipe includes sodium selenite, a controversial form of the mineral selenium. Sodium selenite appears to be nutritionally inferior to the more natural source of selenium found in selenium yeast.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Wellness Core Pate canned dog food looks like an above-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 50%, a fat level of 34% and estimated carbohydrates of about 8%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 50% and a mean fat level of 31%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 11% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 63%.

Which means this Wellness product line contains…

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

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the flaxseed, this looks like the profile of a wet product containing a generous amount of meat.

However, with 59% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 36% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for every animal.

Our Rating of Wellness Core Pate Dog Food

Wellness Core is a grain-free canned dog food using a liberal amount of named meats and organs as its dominant source of animal protein, thus receiving 5 stars.

Enthusiastically recommended.

Readers may also want to consider the company’s other canned lines, Wellness Canned Formulas and Wellness 95%.

Our Editor’s Top Picks
December 2023

Wellness Core Dog Food
Recall History

The following automated list (if present) includes all dog food recalls related to Wellness through December 2023.

Wellness Dog Food Recall of March 2017 (3/18/2017)
Wellness Dog Food Recall October 2012 (10/30/2012)
Wellness Dog Food Recall May 2012 (5/5/2012)

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls since 2009 here.

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More Wellness Brand Reviews

The following Wellness dog food reviews are also posted on this website:

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