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Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings (Cups)

Rating:

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

Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings Dog Food receives the Advisor’s mid-tier rating of 3 stars.

The Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings 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.

Important: Because many websites do not reliably specify which Growth or All Life Stages recipes are safe for large breed puppies, we do not include that data in this report. Be sure to check actual packaging for that information.

  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Carrots, Salmon & Cod [M]
  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Pumpkin, Lamb & Duck [M]
  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Chicken, Carrots & Duck [M]
  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Chicken, Pumpkin & Beef [M]
  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Green Beans, Beef & Lamb Liver [M]
  • TruFood Tasty Pairings with Chicken, Green Beans & Chicken Liver [M]

Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings with Chicken, Carrots & Duck was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings with Chicken, Carrots and Duck

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 27% | Fat = 17% | Carbs = 49%

Ingredients: Chicken broth, water sufficient for processing, chicken, carrots, potato starch, chicken liver, eggs, duck, natural flavor, salt, potassium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, locust bean gum, sodium carbonate, xanthan gum, guar gum, magnesium sulfate, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, thiamine hydrochloride, niacin, vitamin A supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement], choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 13.3%

Red denotes controversial item

Estimated Nutrient Content
MethodProteinFatCarbs
Guaranteed Analysis4%3%NA
Dry Matter Basis27%17%49%
Calorie Weighted Basis23%35%42%
Protein = 23% | Fat = 35% | Carbs = 42%

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

Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

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

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

The sixth ingredient includes eggs. Eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

The seventh ingredient is duck. Duck is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of duck”.3

Duck is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

After the natural flavor, we find salt (also known as sodium chloride). Salt is a common additive in many dog foods. That’s because sodium is a necessary mineral for all animals — including humans.

However, since the actual amount of salt added to this recipe isn’t disclosed on the list of ingredients, it’s impossible to judge the nutritional value of this item.

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 one notable exception

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 TruFood
Tasty Pairings Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings 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 27%, a fat level of 17% and estimated carbohydrates of about 49%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 27% and a mean fat level of 17%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 49% for the overall product line.

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

Below-average protein. Below-average fat. And above-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 moderate amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Wellness TruFood Tasty Pairings is a grain-free, meat-based wet dog food using a moderate amount of named meat as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 3 stars.

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.

Wellness Dog Food
Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.

To learn why our ratings have nothing to do with a product’s recall history, please visit our Dog Food Recalls FAQ page.

Get free dog food recall alerts sent to you by email. Subscribe to The Advisor’s recall notification list.

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A Final Word

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Notes and Updates

  1. “Last Update” field at the end of this review reflects the last time we attempted to visit this product’s website. The current review itself was last updated 03/28/2018
  2. Association of American Feed Control Officials
  3. Adapted by the Dog Food Advisor from the official definition for chicken published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, 2008 Edition
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