Comparison of Wellness Dog Foods

You could probably lay spoiled meat in front of your dog and he'd eat it up. But what you feed your little guy plays a huge part in determining his overall health, and even plays a factor in how much he sheds. Wellness dog food comes in a slew of different recipes, catering to nearly every dog out there, including those pups who have nasty allergies.

Super5Mix is Wellness's standard brand of dog food. It's not specially formulated, nor does it have ingredients withheld for certain conditions, like food allergies. Of the three Wellness types of dog food, Super5Mix has the most plentiful options as far as life stage and recipe selections go. Recipes aimed at reducing and maintaining your pup's weight exist, as do those that provide the proper amount of nutrients for growing puppies, healthy adults and the seniors who are a bit gray around the whiskers. Some types of Super5Mix dry food have meat as the first two ingredients, while others list meat only as the first ingredient. Other ingredients include grains, fatty acids, fat, vitamins and others commonly found in all dog foods. Both dry and wet versions of Super5Mix are available.

Wellness Core does away with those pesky grains, like wheat and barley. Grains are generally considered fillers—ingredients that provide little, if any, nutritional value for your pup. So the loss of grains isn't a big deal, and some dogs have a grain allergy, so for them grain-free food is a must. You'll find more protein in Wellness Core than in Super5Mix, due to the added meat ingredients. All Wellness Core dry recipes include three meat sources in the first three ingredients. The other ingredients, aside from the grains, remain largely the same. You don't have as many life stage and recipe choices here as you do with Super5Mix, although recipes aimed at puppies, small breeds and weight management, as well as wet food, do exist.

If you're looking for as few ingredients as possible in your pup's food, consider Wellness Simple. As the name implies, this is the most basic food Wellness has to offer. The company states that every Wellness Simple recipe excludes dairy ingredients, eggs, meat byproducts, grains and artificial preservatives, colors and flavors. (Many, but not all, Super5Mix and Core recipes also forgo artificial preservatives.) Most dry recipes list meat as the first two ingredients. The turkey and oatmeal formula lists meat as the first ingredient and oatmeal as the second. The downside to Wellness Simple is that it offers fewer options than both Wellness Core and Super5Mix; the differences are only in ingredients, with no formulas catering to specific life stages or nutritional needs.

Unless your pup has a food allergy, the best type of Wellness dog food is largely a personal choice. (If you suspect she does have a food allergy, always have a chat with your vet.) Although specific prices vary, Wellness Super5Mix will almost always cost less than Core or Simple, which are comparable in price. The latter are also less caloric than Super5Mix, which means your pup will require less food per day. If you're concerned with what exactly your pup's eating, the Wellness recipes can be summed up as follows: Super5Mix has the most fillers and ingredients that aren't nutritional, while Core is free of grains and Simple is the least complex of them all.