# Wellness CORE actual meat analysis



## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

So, Wellness states that their grain-free version CORE has 80% more meat than the avg. dog food...Honestly, when I look at the avg. dog food, 80% more isn't exactly wowing...

Okay, it's a little wowing, enough to make me buy the stuff over other foods, but I really want to know the ACTUAL percentage of meat in the kibble. I can't find it anywhere on the bag or on their website. I add raw meat to my dogs diet because a.) I don't know how much meat they are actually getting b.) Gives them variety and c.) Cleans their teeth nicely when bones are involved;]

Not to mention I have a dog with anal gland issues and the RMBs keep him pretty 'expressed'. ainkiller:

I'm naturally kind of "duhhh" so feeding a completely raw diet is a little beyond me and we don't have the freezer space for 4 big dogs and 1 small dog. I'd go all raw if I could. But, enough said, I can't right now, and if anyone has info on Wellness CORE's (turkey & chicken formula) actual meat content I'd be ever thankful.

Think I should email their reps and ask if they know?


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## Boxers&Pom's Mom (Jan 17, 2011)

I had the same concerns that you have about going complete RAW. I first bought a freezer at Craiglist for $50.00. Then, start searching for meat. i was still worry about the cost. 
I was able to buy enough meat that we last me at least three months for $65, much less than the cost of Kibbles. I have two Boxers and one Pomeranian.
Probably now, I want to add diversity, so I will buy a case here and a case there of different meats, but the big purchase was already done.
To end I put an ad in my Freecylcle and got a lot of beef from the supermarket, still wrap never used.
The hard part were dividing it in portions, but so far is been so easy to feed them with RAW.
Before, I had to buy kibbles, soft food to mix it with it. Organic Yogurt, Benadryl for my allergic Dog and pick up a lot of poop from my backyard. Now, the poop is very little and my allergic dog do not need medications and I don't need to recycle the empty cans or carry the heavy food bags.
So, I just like to tell you that it is not as hard as it looks like. eace:


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

I'd e-mail the company, they should be able to tell you.

I personally don't care for Wellness, for different reasons, I don't like some of the ingredients they use, and my dogs won't even touch it. For dry food, I much more prefer Orijen & Acana. I think they're a lot better quality food.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Trish, I'm emailing them now. Hopefully I'll get a timely response, if any...I'm not fond of a couple of things about Wellness (the brand). And if I'm not happy with the results I hear back from them I'll most likely be switching to Orijen. Idk, imo, Orijen is a better product than Acana.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

I called. They said they couldn't give me the percentage of meat which was actually in the kibble. Why? I don't know, she couldn't answer that for me and continued to state that she could read me the ingredients and basically tell me everything I already know because I was staring at the bag of it sitting in front of me. The representative stated that the total amount of protein, 34%, comes from all the meat which is in it...But, that is not what I wanted to know, and for some reason she couldn't give me an answer. I didn't want to be rude about it, should I have asked her to put me on the phone with someone who could tell me? I feel like someone there must know....

I stated the fact that other brands of kibble, Orijen, Acana, were able to state the exact percent of meat which made up the kibble. Wellness, I want answers. -__-'

I just want to know. Since the first two ingredients include water content, where do they really fall on the list? After the potato or before the potato which is the fifth ingredient.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I have mixed feelings about wellness, I think core is expensive and while I like the ingredient list, their customer service seems to be lacking at best. I found out when I called to ask about whether they denature their meat meals (the person on the phone didnt know). 
I also recently found out that some of their canned foods are made by Menu. 

I compared the prices and Acana costs less and I have more confidence in the company.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

I just want a big freezer...That's a very good deal on a freezer, B&Pmom! You give me hope, maybe one day I can find a good deal on one on craigslist. My father is away with the truck though, so we wouldn't have a way to get it back home! D:

Yes their customer service is lacking. They've got an email from me too, I hope the representative who answers that knows a bit more than the woman on the phone.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

CavePaws said:


> Orijen is a better product than Acana.


Orijen and Acana are very close. It comes down to preference. Some like the high 30's -40's percentile of protein and in the 20's for fat. I like low 30's protein and teens for fat. I like Acana better;0)

Champion, evo, instinct and very few others list the actual percentage of meat on the bag. I would add meat to any kibble, even the ones that list 70-80% meat. Kibble can never compare to fresh meat or cooked meat. Since you stated you already supplement with meat, I wouldn't worry about how much meats in core. You'll probably never find out:frusty: I'd rather feed diamond natural supplemented with raw or cooked meats, than feed orijen aloneeep:


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

Sassy got cooked food that was about 50% protein by dry weight. It had about 9 ounces of cooked wet meat and 4 ounces of dry grains. The dry weight of the chicken would be about 40% of it wet maybe 3.5 ounces so her food was about half grain, half meat protein by dry weight. Guess that means Core might have about 30% dry meat by weight.

There are no sneaky high protein plant foods in there except for flaxseed with 12% protein by calories and 18% by weight and an excess of that would be reflected in a high Omega 3 level. A teaspoon of seed would have 700 mg of omega 3 which is just about the amount in 100 grams of Core and that teaspoon has .6 grams of protein. Compared to the 34 grams of protein in that 100 grams of food, not much.
Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Seeds, flaxseed

Potato, even dried has only 9% protein.
Potato Product, Dried

Agree, get a freezer and feed raw. Then you will know how much meat your dogs are getting!


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

That sounds like a pretty good food you were making her protein wise O:

Yep, I'm looking for a freezer. There's one for $90 currently on CL! I've discovered I can fit three to four weeks worth of meat in our current freezer if I properly stack and distribute. The dogs haven't had kibble in a few days. We've got like 30 lbs of CORE left to go through though from a new bag and the left overs of the previous bag. Too bad I can't get my money back so I could buy the freezer and go get some meat from the store. Oh well, we'll just have to use it slowly. The good thing is the dogs will eat their kibble like it's a treat so I'm not too out of luck.


Your right Cast, my boyfriend told me a while back that it looked like I was feeding prisoners every time I rationed out only kibble for the dogs. That's when I started putting more meat into their diet, cooked and raw. I think anyone feeding kibble should supplement w/ meat, if not for variety for their pup.


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

I prefer Acana to Orijen, actually. I've read some posts where people feel like Orijen has better quality ingredients, but I don't feel that way. My dogs do way better on Acana too, nice firm poops, they usually have runny slimy poop on Orijen, the only formula of Orijen I feed is the Orijen Regional Red because they really like it, but they have squishy poop on it. I have small-ish dogs though, they range in weight from 12-28 lbs so maybe the higher protein % in Orijen is too much for them.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Well, I've not tried either brand, so honestly my opinion on either brand is pretty moot. I think it might be the high protein content? Our 15 lb terrier has no trouble on wellness core, however I think Core has a lower protein content than either of those foods. 

All my dogs are extremely active so I've never particularly worried about the protein content being high, I just always check out the fat content because Indi does a fairly decent amount of endurance running and sprint work every day.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

I couldn't find it on their dog food, but their cat food says this: 



> Higher Protein Inclusion with over 80% high quality animal protein


Wellness® CORE® Fish & Fowl for Adult Cats & Kittens

Wonder why they can't just be that specific about their dog formulas?


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

:suspicious: Are you serious?! They'll tell you the actual meat inclusion in the cat food but not my dogs food? Strange they take the same number, 80, and use it as an example for both bags...

Maybe they think it's okay for my dogs food to be made up of almost half vegetable and don't want to admit it. I have not received an email in return from them yet, hmm, wonder why? Something's fishy about this, and it's not the meat I supplement with. Dang them for deliberately keeping this information from me.


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## PUNKem733 (Jun 12, 2009)

I have just yesterday finished my first bag of Core, and from what I can tell my guy is doing the exact same as on Orijen, and Horizon Legacy, and Evo. But After the Evo fiasco, and this, I'm gonna have to switch to Raw.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Yep yep...You know, I never recieved a reply. I do like CORE a lot better than some brands, but because they won't/don't off hand know how much meat is in it I'm really skeptical...Since I still feed kibble I definitely wouldn't go without supplementing raw or cooked meat...It's just not worth it to use all CORE when you can get meat for less than CORE costs...


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