Wellness CORE Dry Dog Food, Grain-Free, High Protein, Natural, Original Turkey & Chicken Recipe, (4-Pound Bag)

I am a dog owner and dog trainer with a thirst for knowledge. When I first started hunting for a great dog food I did my research and began with Blue Buffalo. I tried a number of premium brands and formulas before this came out and nothing, including the regular line by this brand, can hold a candle to CORE. It's not the most affordable, but at least in MN, I can't find a better price for this. If you can get the subscribe and save discount this food is a steal! My dogs are constantly observed as extremely healthy by vets and trainers alike. They have noticeably softer coats since switching them to CORE and less skin issues. I also no longer deal with frequent gas - something several premium brands caused. If you're still not sold, here are some guiding principles for why this food is great and how to shop for quality dog food. Everyone has a budget, but try to find one you can afford with the best of these: - The first ingredients should always be meat. Just like human labels, the first ingredients comprise the largest quantities within the product. - Lamb and then chicken tend to be most digestible for most dogs. - Meal is like a protein powder made by rendering down a stew-like mixture to maximum potency. It contains more protein than meat alone by eliminating water per ounce. That said, not all meal is created equal. Make sure the source is specified. Simply saying "poultry meal" can mean it came from any source they could find and usually that means varying degrees of quality. - Avoid grains as they can irritate many dogs stomachs. You want potatoes, oats, and/or brown rice for fiber and carbs. If you see "brewers rice" on a label, it shouldn't be in the top five ingredients (or at all for me). It's a cheaply obtained processed carb and a filler. - Flaxseed and fish oils are great for skin and coat. I used to supplement my dog food with salmon oil in winter, but it hasn't been necessary since they started this food. Mentioning the source of the fish oil indicates its quality, just like the meal source. - I like a food with few antioxidant ingredients in it, such as blueberries and broccoli. Healthy for us, healthy for them. That's just my opinion though. I treat with the fresh stuff when I can. - That list of vitamins at the end? It's your dog's daily multi vitamin. Glucosamine is important to joint health for any size, age, or weight. This product has natural preservatives, which is my preference where possible for their diet and my own. - Protein percentage! Vets say stay above 15% for a normal adult dog; my goal is closer to 25% or 30%. If your dog is very active, that should be your goal too; however, even if your dog isn't that active a higher protein content is fine. Early research used to claim it could cause renal failure, but that research has long been debunked. Don't believe me? Do the research yourself. Don't trust the word of food reps, breeders, or even many vets. Most haven't paid attention to nutrition science, it's advances, or have an agenda of their own. Even a well meaning vet may not know some of this and be operating on outdated common knowledge. Never transition your dog's food all at once. Pay attention to their unique reaction to a new food over the first few weeks at 100% of it. Pay attention to their stool and frequency of bowl movements. Watch for weight fluctuations. New food means you may have to increase or decrease their volume per meal. Each dog has unique needs and sensitivities, just like we do, so even a great food may not be great for your dog. I hope this helps!

After some research, I purchased this food in hopes of curbing my dog's appetite. My 8-year-old Pomeranian began constantly begging for more food and knocking her food dish around until I gave in and filled it with more kibble. This was happening 4-5x a day. Now, maybe I'm a sucker but I know what it feels like to be hungry and its unpleasant, to say the least. But being that I'm a human, with working legs and opposable thumbs, I can easily buy or make food when hunger occurs, but dogs cannot. I began reading and researching reasons and remedies for my dog's constant state of hunger. I found that most store-bought dog kibble contains mostly filler, carbohydrates (which for humans and animals alike keeps our brains' hunger switch perpetually turned ON) and very little protein (hunger switch turned OFF.) This brand of food came up in an Internet compilation list of dog kibbles with highest protein/lowest filler list and it was the most reasonably priced. After reading quite a few positive reviews, I purchased. It arrived very quickly, though not as quickly as promised, but only a day late - who cares? I desperately wanted my dog's overeating to stop so I avruptly began her on this food and stopped her old kibble. It's not recommended but I did it, oh well. And it worked out, my dog had no stomach issues due to the abrupt switch and more importantly, she was full and satisfied after eating one serving and 2 months later, it's still working out very well. Yes, it's more expensive than her old kibble (not that I care, I'd spend my last penny to make sure she's well cared for) but she eats significantly less now (2 servings a day as opposed to 5-6) and I haven't done the math but I'm sure it evens out. Also, I've noticed she seems more energetic and goes doo-doo far less often. Bonus.

In short, our experience has been that this is awesome food for adult years. Two dogs: Male GSD on Core from five years old to 10-1/2 years old. Female Rottie, On a mix of 1ea 26lbs bag Core and 1ea 35lbs bag Canidae All Life Stages formula at five years old, still on it at seven years old. All dogs are different, so your results may vary. Took a bit more than 9 days for a smooth transition for the GSD, with a bit of loose stool during the transition (off Purina One). The Rottie, had no problems, and made the switch in an easy 7 days. For the GSD senior years, it is too much protein. GSD eats about 2.5 cups a day. Rottie eats over 4 cups a day. Fed Super-Mutt (the GSD) on this for about 7 years, until he was 10-1/2. He did great on it for all that time. Great coat, firm stool, easy to maintain weight, and great blood tests at his yearly check-ups. We were extremely active, with daily runs and walks, play at the park, etc. But digestibility was always a bit on the low side. If I cut the volume of food down, he would loose weight before any noticeable decrease in stool size. I could also use the kibble for training, as he really liked the flavor. My Girl Friend's Rottie is on a mix of this with Canidae All Life Stages. She is a high drive, work-aholic! Honest, you would be hard pressed to find a more active dog. She does amazingly well on this. Stunningly beautiful coat, great digestibility, easily maintained weight. She has been on this mix for about 2 years now, and she is seven. No kidney issues with high protein, but we will watch as she ages. Her focus, and attention seems more rock solid too on this mix... At Super-Mutts yearly check-up (when he was 10-1/2) we noticed kidney functions were out of whack. So as a test I switched him to a senior food (Chicken Soup for the Soul), this is much lower protein. This change brought his kidney functions back to normal, and digestibility is better. So he is enjoying his senior years on "senior food". Hth,

Upon researching dog health I was appalled to discover that most dog foods (especially the most popular brands) use grains (as their main ingredients) and fillers. I then found a few lists of "five-star" dog foods, compared them, and chose to give Wellness CORE a try. Admittedly it is much more expensive than the popular commercial brand we had been using but,"according to the web site of one of the most popular brands of dog food sold in the U.S., the feeding instructions tell you that a thirty pound dog would need to eat around three cups of food per day. The cost of this pet food breaks down to being about $.67 per cup. So that means Fido would eat $2.01 worth of dog food each day according to the recommended feeding instructions on the label. But on the other hand, from a web site of a high end, all human grade ingredients, all U.S. ingredients dog food -- the feeding instructions tell you that a thirty pound dog would need to eat around 1 ½ cups of food per day. The cost of this food is about $1.16 per cup. This food seems to be about twice as expensive as the popular brand. However, according to the recommended feeding amount, Fido would eat $1.74 worth of dog food each day. That's a savings of $.27 per day to feed your dog a high quality, human grade ingredients, no risky imports dog food." It's true! My dogs eat half of what they used to and their bowel movements have also decreased by half. (I read that because the good foods contain the true nutritional needs of a dog as opposed to the bad foods that are relatively low in delivering their nutritional needs that dogs would "go" less frequently by feeding them a good food. This is because dogs would expel the unneeded grains and fillers in the bad food more often). I walk and feed my dogs in the morning and in the evening and both dogs would "go" 2-4 times between both walks and both meals. Now my 60 lb pit mix "goes" just once daily and my 20 lb terrier/lab mix "goes" just twice. I also read that bad foods contributed to a dogs allergies and bloating. My pit mix would have these huge disgusting "eye boogers" all day long no matter how often I'd wipe his face and my terrier mix had these dark (his coat is a sandy color) tear stains from his constantly watering eyes. Not anymore! The "eye boogies" have disappeared and the tear stains are gone! Although I never noticed any bloating in my little dog I did notice that my muscular pit mix had a "fat" stomach. Needless to say that is gone as well! Lastly, I noticed that both dogs have been shedding less and that their coats are so much softer and shinier. What pleasant surprises! Having a skeptical demeanor it's actually VERY surprising to me that there have been so many benefits to purchasing a quality food. I couldn't be more pleased with this purchase! Thumbs up Wellness Core!

I have now used this food for two of my dogs, and I've always been very happy with the product. I usually buy the Original formula because it's the cheapest option, but I have also given my dogs the Ocean & Wild Game formulas as well. Just by looking at the ingredients list you can see that it's a high quality food with minimal fillers. One thing that I really like about this food is that they produce less stool than on other foods, mainly due to the low amount of fillers. That means more of the food gets absorbed by their bodies, and there's less waste. I never really appreciated that until recently when I decided to try another food and my dog was going twice as often as before, and making larger poo piles in the yard. Big mistake on my part! With the Original formula, my dog does tend to get bored with it, which is understandable, I know I don't want to eat the same thing every day for months at a time. I try to switch out the formulas every other bag to give her some variety. She LOVES the Wild Game formula, even though it does have a bit of a weird smell to it. My previous dog loved the Ocean formula, which is mainly what I gave her due to some allergies she developed later in her life. This will always be my go to food option for my animals. I also feed the feline version to my cats as well. It is a bit of a higher cost than your generic dog foods, but I like to know that I'm feeding my animals the best, and this comes pretty close to being the best without giving them straight up fresh, raw meats.

I adopted an adult German Shepherd 9 years ago who had horrible fur, skin, and digestive issues. After trying several different kinds of food, none of which helped the skin issues, and all made the digestive issues worse (even with slow switching over a month), Wellness CORE turkey was the ONLY thing he could eat and he loved it. His fur became softer and thicker and his skin issues went away. We also have a Border Collie adopted when she was 7 months old, and she started out on Wellness puppy until she was ~12mo, then switched to Wellness CORE turkey for the last 7 years. Her fur is super silky, and looks so healthy people typically comment. When feeding a large dog, this is more economical than it seems (see calories per cup and calculations below). I didn't have to feed him as much at a time compared to cheaper grain filled kibble, which seemed to also help the stomach issues he was plagued with. CALORIC INFORMATION Per the Wellness CORE website: 421 calories per cup HOW TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH KIBBLE YOUR DOG NEEDS w/ NEW KIBBLE (a general guide) Caloric calculations seem to vary, but the Ohio State University School of Vet Medicine recommends the following as a starting point (google for original source). I'll use my Border Collie as an example: My Border Collie is 30lb, 8 years old and spayed. Weight must be in killograms, so divide her weight in pounds by 2.2: 30lb / 2.2 = 13.636 kg We then plug her weight into their formula for her resting energy needs (how many calories she needs w/o activity): (70*13.636)^0.75 = 496.6 calories Then we need to multiply by the appropriate activity factor to get her daily energy needs (google the website for the full table of activity factors) 496.6 x 1.6 (her factor for a fixed adult) = 794.5 calories / day Now I take the calories per cup (8 oz per cup per the website) and divide by 8 to get the calories per oz 421 / 8 = 52.6 calories per oz kibble Total calories per day (794.5) / Calories per oz (52.6) = 15.1 oz / day or slightly under two cups This is the starting point for how much I would feed her per day. I'd also monitor her weight and adjust if she's losing or gaining to find the amount of kibble per day to maintain a healthy weight at her activity level. Because she's getting older, I actually feed her a little less than this and an activity factor of 1.5 or 1.4 might be more appropriate as she's not as "BC crazy" as she was when she was younger. TIPS ON SWITCHING FOOD When switching kibble make sure it's a slow transition to minimize any GI distress they might experience from a sudden diet change. Depending on tolerance, I typically decrease the old kibble by 10-20% and add in the new kibble to maintain about the same amount of food per day. Changing the percentage every other day, depending on tolerance, until they are eating nothing but the new kibble.

My two little ones love this food, didn't know the pieces was a little bigger than I wanted, quality is yummy, found something new they really like, my little ones are very active considering one is 16 yr old nd the other is 3 yr old, we found something they love eating

I own a White German Sheppard Puppy and a Pomeranian Chihuahua mix. They are both full of energy! My Pom-Chi started developing an allergy about a year ago. She was chewing and licking her little feet raw! We tried everything! Took her to the vet multiple times who put her on steroids, antibiotics and gave us cleansing pads we changed her food 4 times and finally started keeping booties on her feet when she went outside... NOTHING work. It was absolutely heartbreaking. We picked up our second dog (the White German Sheppard) and the breeder recommended Wellness for both dogs. It has been two months and my dog's paws are completely healed. She no longer bites or licks them. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of this food. The first ingredient in this dog food ingredient list is as follows; 1. Turkey 2. Turkey meal- meat concentrate of sorts with more protein then fresh turkey 3. Chicken Meal 4. Peas - a good source of fiber 5. Potato - a good gluten-free source of carbs 6. Dried Potato - contains more protein 7. Chicken Fat - in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid 8. Tomato Pomace - This one is high in fiber but, many think it's a cheap food filler 9. Chicken Liver This food is loaded with other great ingredients like salmon oil, flaxseed, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, broccoli, spinach, parsley, apples and blueberries All in all this is a top quality grain free food. ***Added bonus*** This is human grade so if you're ever looking for a snack... ;)