My three dachshunds have been on Wellness their entire lives and they thrive on it.

Their coats are beautiful, they are in superb physical condition, and they are all lively...playful...energetic dogs.

I rotate their cuisine: dry chicken formula, dry lamb formula, and dry fish formula. They eat Wellness exclusively except for their daily noon treat of chicken breast.

I researched in depth numerous dog foods, and after weighing a number of factors settled on Wellness for my pack. I've never regretted the decision, their health and well being are worth every penny I pay for Wellness.

I have used the canned puppy food a few times now and Emma seems to like it. Good ingredients and she likes the texture better than some others. She also loves the puppy treats, they are soft and easy for her to chew. She can't stand hard treats. I will most likely be using the wellness core when she moves to adult food as a part of her rotation so I'll update with how that goes when the time comes. My mom is also considering switching her dogs to wellness core and they are very sensitive shetland sheepdogs. So I will update with them also, they are currently on solid gold barking at the moon. I work in a pet store and everyone I talk to that uses this brand is very happy with it and one of our groomers in particular highly recommends it to doggy customers with skin troubles.

My 9 year old lab has been on Wellness dog food for 5 years and my 1 1/2 year old has been on it since she was a puppy. Both dogs have shiny coats and lots of energy. They don't have any skin problems or any health issues and haven't since we started wellness. It is nice to see a brand that doesn't have fillers, by-products, or artificial flavors. I only rate it 4 stars because my dogs have very large (although firm) and smelly stools which can be improved with a raw or home cooked diet.

Check out my blog for more information on dog food, training, and helpful information.
http://thewaterdogblog.blogspot.com/
send me any questions or blog post ideas at waterdogblog@gmail.com

First, I would like to preface that I am not the type of person to write reviews. Despite being a tech entrepreneur, I am rarely impressed or unhappy enough with a particular product to spend the time writing something about it. That said, I highly recommend that you do not purchase this dog food for your dog. Initially, my girlfriend and I fed our dog a very expensive wet food brand. After about a year of owning our Maltipoo, we figured we would switch to a dry dog food to save us a little time and money (defrosting and preparing the wet food could be time consuming). Having received a recommendation from a close friend, we thought we would give Wellness a try. The brand seemed to be big on the natural ingredients and it seemed like more of premium (i.e., I care about my dog) brand, and I suppose we liked that. HOWEVER, after roughly three weeks into the food, our dog got as sick as we've ever seen her in her one year life time. Thinking it was the treats we were giving her, we continued to feed her Wellness. Over the next couple of days, we stopped treating her completely and continued to give her Wellness. She continued to get sick, each time more violent than before. She was vomiting and dry heaving like we had never seen her. Extremely worried, we took her to the vet who induced her to vomit until she had nothing in her stomach. Our vet recommended we put her on a chicken and rice diet for the next week or so and monitor the results. Thankfully, our dog has been fine ever since. We have even begun to treat her again and there have been no problems whatsoever. We've thrown away every bit of Wellness dog food we've owned and have tried our best to spread the word. Vet costs included, the most troubling thing about this experience was seeing our dog as sick as she was - it was extremely scary and sad and I don't wish it upon any dog. If you are even slightly considering this dog food, the please, please consider something different for the sake of your dog. I have included links to YouTube videos that you guys can watch at your convenience. Thanks for listening and enjoy your wonderful pets.

http://bit.ly/Jmbza

http://bit.ly/nRvn4

I got my morkie (half yorkie, half maltese) when she was 8 weeks old. The breeder fed her some high name brand that I couldn't even find in my local county so I asked this small pet store for a recommendation and they said Wellness. I gave my dog Wellness for puppies till she was a year old and she did great on it. I slowly introduced it to her, mixing some of it in with the high name brand she was used to before finally switching completely. She has never had problems on it. No loose stools or rashes or anything. When she turned a year old, I introduced her to small breed dog formula of Wellness. She hasn't had problems on this formula either.

I have had such great luck with Wellness for my dog that I plan to get Wellness cat food for the new kitten I just adopted. I hope that the outcome is just as good. Wellness makes good food without all the junk that the grocery store brands put in theirs. Cheap is not better and there is a difference so if you want your little furry family member to be healthy now and in the long run, get a premium food, even if not this brand.

I am just amazed at how ignorant some people are. As some wise people have stated (even those that the food did not work for), every food is different and your pet may react differently to different brands. If you have fed this brand to your pet before and it worked, but fed it to another pet and it doesn't work...that doesn't mean that the food is crap, it means it doesn't work with your animal (your animal could be sick, or you didn't make the change properly). For instance, I can handle spicy food and Mexican food, my husband can't. It doesn't mean that spicy food or Mexican food is crap....wow people, really??? For the people that say that their dog can do well on crappy food and doesn't see the need to spend the money on a super-premium food, you're just ridiculous. Just because your dog doesn't have loose poops and isn't barfing, doesn't mean that your dog is fine. Just because you're not obese doesn't mean you're healthy. There can be sickly-looking skinny people! Also, if you're used to eating crappy food and switch to something rich and that is healthful and your body isn't used to it, that doesn't mean that you won't have an upset stomach from it it's a change that your body needs to wean into. Dogs are used to change in their diets even less people. Everyone needs an adjustment period and if you don't do the research you wouldn't know that. While I'm venting, for people that feed their animals premium food-good for you! I feel this way because we have the ability to just eat what we please and when we decide to eat it. The dogs are completely dependent on what we feed them. How fair is it that just because people are cheap, they have to eat crap food? If we choose to eat crap food, then you're dumb because you have access to healthy foods. Also, people who overfeed their dogs are just completely stupid. Joint problems and health problems are onset because of dumb people feeding their fat dogs. If your dog is SUPPOSED to be 70 lbs but is 90 lbs, that doesn't mean look on the back of the food bag and think "gee, it says for a 90 lb dog, feed it 4 cups of food a day"---REALLY PEOPLE!?!? DIET FOOD IS CRAP-FEED YOUR FAT DOG LESS...IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT----IT'S CALLED COMMON SENSE (ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS ALL TOO UNCOMMON). For one, the back of the bag recommendations isn't ALWAYS ACCURATE!!! The recommendations are for one, a marketing scheme to get you to go through more food, for two, for highly active dogs and performance animals that 99% of our pets ARE NOT. Even if your vet recommends feeding two cups/day and you can't feel your dogs ribs-DROP THE FOOD DOWN!!!! My husband and I just switched our Airedale and Brittany onto this brand and we have had them on premium food in the past. We switched them onto this food because we recognize all that I'm venting about, I did hours and hours of research, and I feel that our animals deserve the natural, fit-for- human-consumption food Their stools haven't gotten soft BECAUSE WE'RE WEANING THEM OFF OF THEIR OLD FOOD CORRECTLY and they are thriving. It's amazing what a little research will do for you. Their coats, poops, attitudes, and energy levels are fantastic. For the people that feel that $50-$60/bag is too expensive, re-budget things. You'd be amazed what you spend on yourself that you don't need that costs way more than that. When your food isn't full of crap, the dog keeps so much more nutrients, uses almost half of the food (dropping the cost of the bag in half for those of us who cannot figure that out) and they tend to poop less. Also, for the people that say my dog liked it and then stopped liking it so I switched the food for them, that doesn't even make sense. That's like saying, my kid liked carrots but then one day he decided he didn't so he refused to eat it until I gave him Mac and Cheese. REALLY?!?! If you're dog is hungry, they'll eat. All in all, we have them on this brand and are happy with it, but I really believe in most of the premium foods for our pets and we just happened to choose this one.

Another one of my favorites... meat is the first two ingredients in the bag, and corn, wheat, soy, gluten, and byproducts are not present. My problem with Wellness is minimal, and the same problem I have with some other top-echelon brands... rice fractions/fragments. Whole grain brown rice is the fifth ingredient in the bag, then rice bran is the second. Why the needd for additional bran if you're already using the whole grain earlier in the ingredients list? Rice bran is then a filler ingredient, and unimportant. Still, a superior brand of food made even more so because of it's nationwide Petco availability.

one of the best! holistic, organic food with no by-products, no preservatives, no added colorings, and 100% grain-free! I will be switching my min pin to this food once she goes into her senior stage. Not now because its a little pricy so Im feeding her Natural Balance (another all natural brand). But when the time comes, definitely switching. Not taking any chances. I want her to live happy and HEALTHY.

2 years of trying foods that don't cause allergic reactions in my dog. Two years. We determined that Venison was the best meat. My baby was on Natures Recipe and it was OK but her poops were always icky.

Finally I tried Wellness Simple Solutions Venison and Rice. OMGOODNESS!!!!

Within 24 hours her poops were perfect and she was happy. No paw licking at all and in fact within a week she has mellowed out and only poops 2 tiny little poops a day.

LOVE THIS FOOD. So does my dog.

I work at a "high end" pet store and we sell their whole line. I have people who come in all the time telling me nightmare stories about other foods and how Wellness finally made their pets happy.

Great food glad I finally tried 'em.

I SWITCHED MY TWO TOY POODLES TO WELLNESS 5 MONTHS AGO AND HAVE HAD ZERO PROBLEMS.PRIOR TO THE SWITCH MY MALE PUPPY LICKED AND ITCHED CONSTANTLY(ALLERGIES I AM SURE AFTER RESEARCHING).AND BOTH DOGS HAD MORE THAN OCCASIONAL ISSUES WITH RUNNY STOOLS.SINCE THE SWITCH THEY EAT A LITTLE LESS,POOP A LOT LESS AND THE ITCHING HAS STOPPED ALMOST 100%.MY FEMALE WAS A LIL UNDERWEIGHT ACCORDING TO THE VET AND SINCE THE SWITCH HAS PUT ON ENOUGH WEIGHT TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE.I CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT EATING HUMAN GRADE FOOD,AND NOT ROTTEN MEATS OR EVEN WORST EUTHANIZED ANIMALS HAS ATTRIBUTED TO THIS.
IF NOT WELLNESS BRAND... PLEASE RESEARCH AND FIND ONE WITH THE SAME TYPE SOURCES.YOU CAN LOOK ONLINE AND IT IS FRIGHTENING WHAT WE WERE FEEDING OUR"BABIES"...SERIOUSLY I HAD NO IDEA I WAS FEEDING MY PUPPIES ROAD KILL ETC ETC ETC

I FEEL BETTER ABOUT IT IF NOTHING ELSE BUT TRULY TRY IT OUT.IT'S MORE COSTLY TO PURCHASE BUT THEY ACTUALLY EAT ABOUT 1/3 LESS SO I FIGURE IF YOU ACCOUNT FOR PIECE OF MIND IM STILL MAKING OUT WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME

MAKE THE BEST CHOICE WITH THE INFO AVAILABLE TO YOU FOR YOUR PETS.JUST LIKE YOU WOULD FOR YOUR CHILDREN.

When I first brought my gal home, I was giving her Wellness-Just for Puppy and she was fine on it. Her stools were ok. But slowly, she started to have some fur loss on her body and vet advised me to change her diet to a fish-based one, so I switched her out of Wellness. While on the fish-based diet, her stools were ok, nice and firm.

Recently,her skin got better, I tried giving her Wellness Puppy again by gradually mixing it into her fish kibbles. Then she started to have loose stools. Initially, I had attributed this to the changing of foods, as this can occur during the process. But during the week of feeding her Wellness, her loose stools continued and she also developed rashes on her body. Immediately, I stopped giving her Wellness and continued with her fish diet. Then her stools became firm again and her rashes went away.

I do believe that Wellness is still a much better brand than some others out there, but my gal cannot take it. Hence, I give it a rating of 3 stars.

I started my pem corgi on Science Diet and switched to Wellness after it was recommended by a co-worker whose pitt has bad allergies and could only have a few specific brands. I trusted in his research and have been pleased with the results.

Wesley loves the food and I never had problems with appetite, stool, or weight gain. He is a lean, healthy dog: 2 years, 4 months, good coat (lots of shedding though), no health issues so far, 21 lbs. (20-25 is healthy for corgis), and can do a 3 mile jog with me no problem.

I was able to switch freely between any of the Wellness dry kibble, including the Core variety.

Then my co-worker alerted me that the Wellness company had been bought out, the recipe changed, and that his poor dog was having serious reactions to the switch. Well, Wesley has NOT had any problems, but as my concerns over cost were already making me consider switching him to another brand, I will now do so. (Note: I have NOT verified my co-workers story about altered recipe.)

I will be slowly moving my pem corgi over to Innova (Note: NOT Innova EVO) as the ingredients read better and the cost is about $3 cheaper locally (Chicago, IL) for the size I tend to buy. However, if he has any issues I would not be against moving Wesley back to this brand.

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First, I feel for everyone on this thread who's had any type of bad experience with a pet.

I put my 14 pound Boston/Frenchie mix dog on Wellness Adult when he was about 6 mos old (he had previously eaten Purina One Puppy and I wanted him on a better quality diet), and he vomited the Wellness up about twice a month. I then put him on Wellness Small Breed, and over a year later, he's still gobbling it up and has never had vomiting nor diarrhea. The problem with the Wellness Adult was that the kibbels were too big, he would gobble them up, and they would expand like little sponges in his belly and he couldn't keep it all down. Maybe that's the issue for some of your pets?

I was feeding my dog Eukanuba for her entire life. Wish I would have known better. She is in her senior years and we had noticed her slowing down. Three months ago my vet recommended a higher quality food, so we went with Wellness. I just wish I would have fed her this stuff years ago. Her coat has never been this shiny in her 10 years and the shedding has decreased. She has a very sensitive stomach, bouts of pancreatitis several times from getting into the trash can (she is a beagle...what can I say). Her poop was runny for about a week, but now they are firm, and in fact she defecates less because the food is not filled with filler. The best thing though, she now can walk with me again, wants to play again. I truly believe this food will give us a few more years than we may have had, and for that, I thank Wellness.

I highly recommend the canned and dry together, and as others have said, it isn't the food that is bad, its that your dog didn't tolerate it.

For people who keep giving it bad reviews because it made your dog sick there is a reason, it is not necessarily because Wellness is a bad dog food. It is mainly the issue that the dog food was not compatible with your dog. I have fed Merrick dog food before to my lab dane mix and he could not handle all the protein, he is around 160 that for him not to be able to tolerate the food was crazy. I have since switched to Wellness and we have had no issues. I could give Merrick a bad rating because it gave my dogs the runs for days his poo never hardened and he was lethargic and refused to eat it most of the time. I am not about to bash Merrick and call their food bad, it wasn't for us so we moved on.

I personally love Wellness it has improved my dogs coat and quality of life.

It isn't for everyone, just like spicy food isn't for everyone some things reek havoc on your body that would necessary bother me.

After reading all of these reviews, I can finally sleep at night (because I haven't been able to!)

We recently adopted our 6 year old miniature cockapoo from a very reputable shelter. We switched him from Purina Pro Plan to Hills Science Diet. After reading horrible reviews on Science Diet, we again switched him gradually to Wellness Super5Mix Small Bite. Following the advice of several people and reputable breeders, I am ready to slap these people!

Wellness is the WORST dog food that has ever been made - I'd rather feed my dog Alpo (and that's saying a hell of a lot).

He was not a very active dog to begin with, but since switching him (he's been on Wellness for about a month or so) - he has absolutely no energy and sleeps all day, doesn't drink at all on some days yet we can't seem to pull him away from the water bowl on others, his stool is yellow and runny constantly, and just yesterday he began to pass stool that had blood in it.

Most days at dinner time, he skips his dinner and only when he realizes that the food that is in his dish is what he is getting, will he drag himself over to the bowl and eat his food.

I am horrified at the amount of stool he passes every day - being he's only 14 pounds. The gas is frightening and has chased my husband and I out of our own bedroom! I am so sad to see this happening to my sweet puppy.

I realize that what works for some dogs may not work for others, but I have never seen/heard so many horrible things about a natural and holistic dog food. It is heartbreaking to hear how many innocent owners want the best for their pooch and deciding to spend the extra money, instead are paying to watch their sweet puppies get sick. It's DISGUSTING.

I am switching his food tomorrow. I'm done with punishing my dog because a company markets a product as "healthy and real" and it turns my dog into something he isn't. This company should be utterly ashamed of themselves. If anyone should be out of a job, it should be these idiots.

I have a Lab and cocker spaniel who both eat wellness products. Regardless of the small fortune that it costs, we bought the product based on the nutritional quality of the contents within these products. Nutrition alone does not mandate, that every dog will enjoy or benefit from this product. Some dogs have sensitivities not uncommon to what humans have! My lab is doing fine but, my cocker spaniel has had the runs, getting sick, avoiding food almost every other day...and gas!

So something is not right. Regardless of those who like the product and think that it is heaven sent! What works for one, doesn't for another. Forget the blame about science diet reps etc, bringing in negitive reviews. Face facts and respect what others say. Your animal will rely on your assistance not your denial. Wellness products just don't appear to benefit every dog in existence.

I am switching food products for the cocker spaniel. I am glad that I found this website. What brought me to this website was because of my concerns in the first place.

If your dog enjoys it - keep it that way- obviously. If you got problems with Wellness products - fix the problem - find another brand - it's what works best for you dog that counts!

I agree with the writer of theis blog post. I fed my beloved Akita - Kikit Beneful for 5 years and he passed on to cancer. I am certain that feeding my dog Purina had something to do with it. Purina is bad. DON'T make the same mistake. Feed your dog super premium no grain food, or make it yourself.

I adopted a 3 month-old dachshund mix puppy. I started her on Wellness a few weeks after we got her in hopes that this food would provide her with high quality nutrients that she needed. I fed her Wellness for several months and she had frequent bouts of diarrhea/loose stools and vomiting for one reason or another. I can't be sure that the food was the sole reason for this, but I concluded that it might have been to rich for her. Plus, on this food she constantly tried to eat any and everything off the ground as if she was starving. This food was also way too expensive, especially to be giving my dog stomach issues. So I switched her to something else and won't be using this food again.

Just because this food didn't work for my puppy doesn't mean it's a horrible food. It has very high quality ingredients that many people would be excited to feed their dog (human grade meats and whole fruits and veggies). However, I'm still not convinced that any dog NEEDS food that is this high quality... It's important to be patient and find a nutritious food that your dog likes AND that fits your budget. Expensive does not necessarily equal best for your dog!

     I am using the Wellness Canned 95% Venison meat with my dog's Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison Kibble, and he just LOVES it!! He would normally eat the kibble alone since he is not a fussy eater, but when I open the can and he smells the meat, he gets estatic!! This has been a great addition to my dog's food for allergy purposes and for how fresh and wonderful it smells. My dog absolutely loves it and has not a problem at all digesting it.

     I highly recommend this canned food for a mixer or a topper for dogs, but not as the sole meal because it is just about all meat. I've never seen my dog so happy to get his meals with the addition of the Wellness Canned 95% Venison. I love seeing him so happy and knowing that he is eating a fresh, wonderful meal!

I rescued a dog roughly two months ago and switched her from Purina Dog Chow (I know....YUCK!) to Wellness and she immediatly got sick. She had the runs, gas, gurgling etc., and was miserable. I even added a bit of pure pumpkin and it still was not agreeable to her. I have since switched her to Dic VP natural Balance venisona dn sweet potato and within 3 days everything was great! She has energy, shiny coat and minimal shedding (She is a beagle basset mix). I will continue to feed her this.
Just be careful of Wellness. Not sure what the issues are with this food causing the runs, but just be warned.

I have an 11 1/2 year old black lab. She has been on Wellness for years and never had any problems. I always get compliments on her shiny coat, her activity level is still high and she runs with me a few times a week with no problems. I've read some of the reviews on this site which concern me; however, I will specifiy I use the DRY dog food, Super 5 mix for seniors.

I recently got another lab puppy who is 7 weeks old. She has been on Purina Pro Plan from the breeder. She is doing fine, but the food contains everything it supposedly shouldn't like grain, wheat corn. Her poo was firm and black. I'm trying to transition her and have read multiple dog reviews about Taste of the Wild, By Nature, Canidae etc and since I have personal success with Wellness, I am trying to transition her first to Wellness super 5 just for puppy mix. I've noticed her poo is becoming more brown in color and she seems to be doing ok so far. I will keep watching and let you know.

I am expecting a few loose stools since she has been on a diet that contains wheat and corn etc transitioning to a diet that has more natural ingredients, veggies and probiotics etc. I'm transitioning slow since she is a puppy so I will switch for 7 days until I make a complete switch.

Any comments are welcome.

My dog got very ill from Wellness Pure Rewards and it only took a few treats. He vomited 4 times in 8 hours. Finally at 4:30 a.m. I took him to the vet. An expensive experiment, $7.99 for Wellness and $350 vet bill, just to try a new treat. I will never purchase Wellness again.

If you enjoy cleaning up Kennels than this food is great for you!!!! But I dont like it. I hate cleaning up runny, bloody, poos that are projectile at times from all over the house and yard. I have spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars testing for Parvo, worms, etc, and even had my dogs in intensive care at the vets because of bloody poos. All tests came back negative, and we were stumped.
After coming upon this site (by googling "min pin, DA2PP, Wellness Puppy, interceptor, and diarehea - all in the same search) this was the first site to come up. After reading over and over again about people having horrible experiences with Wellness Puppy with stories exactly like us, we decided to cold turkey switch to Pro Plan Small Breed Puppy. After only two meals, their poos are firming up (no longer projectile) they now look like pudding, with some shape to them. I can not believe how overjoyed I am at seeing poos that arent diarehea.
Wellness has lost a customer. I am switching ALL 7 dogs onto Proplan, and will NEVER go back to Wellness, they cant pay me enough. And when pups go home with their new owners, then I will STRESS do not buy wellness no matter what.

Vet Bills - Hundreds of dollars
Wellness - Hundreds of dollars
Switching to ProPlan and Getting better stools - PRICELESS

People have to remember that every dog is different, for the most part. Some dogs do great on crappy food, some dogs do great on terrific food! Wellness is a good brand in my mind, because I've dealt with customer service over the phone for their cat food line issues. They're very considerate about customers and do much in their power to make things right, but it all comes down to how your pet likes it and reacts to it.

Personally in my experience, my dog:
Always threw up and had horrible runs on the fish canned foods. (I stopped feeding him this when it was painfully apparent this was the case)
Wouldn't eat the lamb-based canned food at all. (I stopped buying this for him, because he really just didn't like it.)
Really liked chicken, duck, and venison canned food.
Pooped a lot more than he does now on Castor and Pollux (4x a day, versus 2x currently).
Had a nice, shiny coat, was healthy, and had ample energy. No complaints there.

Alternatingly, between different batches of food (when I'd buy more cans/bags of food), it seemed like something was different:
Would throw up kibble on occasion for no apparent reason once or twice a week or so, which seemed odd.
Would have random bouts of the runs, loose stool, or really bad breath weekly.
Had a rumbly tummy more often, though no gas.


Why did I switch to a different brand? The big thing had to do with what another reviewer said down below. I think they changed their recipe somewhere along the line, or they may have compromised the quality of their ingredients. Around the same time my dog had problems, my cats also developed explosive uhm....well, we'll say you could hear them expelling the (watery, vile) contents of their bowels down the hall (and smell them within seconds). My cats were on Wellness feline at the time. My little girl was so traumatized, she refuses to use the litterbox anymore (which traumatizes me daily...). I had tried ordering a new batch of food for my dog and cats, but it was still a nightmare after two weeks.

SO, after a month of suffering, I contacted Old Mother Hubbard and they sent me bags to ship the cans up to them in for testing. One big negative there? They made ME pay for shipping. After living with diarrhea rocketing animals for several weeks, a couple phone calls and emails between the Wellness people and the distributor, I really would have appreciated if they'd covered me for shipping. Of course the tests turned up nothing. Rather than risk my animals' health further, I opted to switch them to another brand altogether. It's also possible that my animals are/were sensitive to something in the recipe. I'd fed one of my cats Wellness since he was a kitten and he'd only started developing bowel problems during that stint of bad food.

My young dog has a sensitive stomach, so to speak. On the wrong food he will vomit daily or, at the very least, have room-clearing gassy eipsodes. On Wellness we have experienced no issues. We have tried both Wellness Super 5 and Wellness Core. He loves both and does well on them.

My dog's coat is shiny, skin is healthy, his stools are firm and small, no room-clearing gas, and his energy is very good.

My older dog has just recently started on Wellness Core (reduced fat) and is doing well. No signs of tummy troubles and he's loving the food.

We have always had dogs, but only in recent years have I been aware of the real differences between the various food brands. This is a little embaressing because I work in an extremely regulated industry and I am very aware of what goes into labeling requirements, facility inspections etc.. as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.

Be that as it may, I have made up for lost time with regards to research in this area and come to the conclusion that more often than not, you get what you pay for. This doesnt mean that there arent any decent brands that are somewhat reasonably priced, or that you have to buy the priciest ones out there (some of which are are so exhorbitantly expensive, I wonder how anyone can afford them).

Wellness is a good brand that falls somewhere between the 2 extremes.

Over the last few years I have fed my lab mix a variety of brands, most of them quite good. Since she tends to be a little chunky we usually stick with "weight management" choices..

I have been feeding her the (diet) Wellness now for about three years and its one of the few that she will eat dry without too much hassle..(i.e. I dont have to disguise it under wet food).

She gets fed morning and night and has maintained her weight. In the evening I mix in a small amount of wet food..usually one of the good brands I can find on sale. Some of the Wellness cans also have sweet potato in them which she really loves.

Overall I am very happy with the product. The downside is that definitely is not cheap, although with a little luck I am able to use coupon deals allow me to purchase online for cheaper than I would in the local store (yes including shipping) . You'd be amazed at the price ranges I have seen for the same bag of dog food.

There is definitely something to be said for quality of diet, and a pets longevity.. We also have an almost 17 year old terrier who has been on wellness senior for a few years. If that isnt good advertising, I dont know what is.

I have had my pit puppy on Wellness for 4 weeks now and she is doing fine! The ingriedients are great and frankly the negative reviews on here I'm sure some are fake! Give me a break! People saying "im switching to science diet because the wellness is terrible yeh right! It's one of the best foods out there based on ingriedients and we all knoew that! Maybe to rich for some but give me a break! Too many Iams, Science Diet ect. reps trying to find ways to hurt the good competition! I gaurantee 90% of dogs will do great on this food! Deboned chicken and turkey, fruits and veggies arnt giving dogs diarrehah and bloody stools!

Unfortunately, my puppy could not handle the canned puppy food by Wellness. She vomited 3 times a couple of hours after eating the food. Amazingly, it came out of her looking like it hadn't even been digested. My assumption is that it was too rich for her stomach.

I am absolutely shocked to see all the negative remarks about this food. I belong to another website for corgi's and this is hands down one of the number one foods that most of us on that website feed our dogs. I have NEVER in the year I have had my dog, heard of any problems with this food and I know 100+ people who feed this to their dog. With that said, I can't trust the reviews on this site about this particular food.
My dog has been eating this food for a year now and has had no problems. Her coat is absolutely beautiful and shiny. Her eyes don't tear up....she loves to eat....her stools are like they should be......and she hardly poos throughout the day. I have never had any problems with vomiting or diarrhea that is caused by this food. I would recommend this food to anyone in a heartbeat. The company is wonderful.....no I don't work for them.....but they have been great in sending me free samples of their product so I could try it out on my dog. I couldn't say anything better about this food....and my vet agrees.....he claims he has never seen a corgi with such beautiful, shiny fur like what she has. Kudos for Wellness and their awesome food.

I can't say enough good about this food. I've never been into the "high dollar" dog foods. Not because I don't love my dog, but because I thought the other stuff was fine. I'm embarrassed to say that I used to think Iams was the "primo supremo" of dog foods (I know, I know). But, after getting a Golden Retriever puppy, and dealing with 3 months of diarrhea (sometimes so bad as to wake us 5-6 times throughout the night), I realize that all food is not the same! He came to us on Purina Puppy Chow (which I knew was horrible), and had very loose stool and vomiting. We then switched him to Kirkland Puppy (not the greatest, but a 3 star on dogfoodanalysis.com). His diarrhea continued, and was pretty bad. For the first couple weeks, I assumed it was just the adjustment, and him being a puppy. I even took him to the vet, to have a fecal done to check for worms or ghiardia, thinking there must be something wrong with him. They found nothing, but gave him an antibiotic, just to be safe. During the week he was on it, everything was OK. I thought that was the problem (the vet said maybe some type of protozoa, though he didn't see anything - it can be hard to miss). But, the day after the antibiotic, it all started again. The antibiotic must have been masking his "symptoms". For the last few weeks, we've been fighting it all over again. He was having BMs MANY times a day, and they were always soft, at best. At worst - you don't want to know =). So, I FINALLY decided to spend, what I think is a VERY high amount on dog food, just to see. Wellness offers a money-back guarantee, so I figured I had nothing to lose. If it didn't help anything, I could return it. Now, I will say, I was very skeptical. I was fully expecting to have to return it. But, you wouldn't BELIEVE the results! Now, I even did the transition the "wrong way". I didn't slowly mix in the new food - my thoughts were that his stomach was already so out of whack, that it couldn't get any worse. Well, he IMMEDIATELY stopped having diarrhea. He's been on it for almost a week now, and not ONE runny stool, not ONE! Not only that, but he had this odd water "fetish" before. I couldn't leave water down, because he would drink all of it. That has even stopped. He drinks at least 1/4 of what he was drinking. I don't know if the old food was too salty, or if the constant "soft" stools were causing him to dehydrate. He also used to itch his ears a lot, and I thought the collar was just bothering him. Well, he doesn't do that either.

Sorry for the long review, but I am just in love with this food. I went out and bought the Wellbars that Wellness makes, as well as a bag of Wellness for our Shih-Tzu/Maltese mix. I felt mean feeding our Golden so well, and giving our other dog the "bad stuff" =) Now, I know that all dogs do differently on different foods, so I'm by no means bashing the Kirkland stuff (it's VERY affordable, and has decent ingredients). I just know what I experienced. I'm thinking it's the beet pulp in the Kirkland stuff, as it's known to be an allergen in dogs. A lot of the cheaper dog food has it, and the Wellness doesn't. You also feed a little less of the Wellness, if that helps with the justification of the high price any, and my dog now poops 2 times a day, instead of 100!

This food is quality, the fact that so many people are saying it's horrible is suspicious. Probably reps for purina, pedigree, iams, and all the other crappy dog food brands out there. Read the ingredients, compare this to other dog foods, enough said...

I'm so glad I found this - I got my Standard Poodle puppy from a breeder feeding Iams Puppy and after a lot of researching and comparing I began feeding Wellness. My previous dog was a Pomeranian and I tried to get her to eat Natural Balance but she Loved Bil-Jac (often scoffed at but for some it works AMAZINGLY well). Both Natural Balance and Bil-Jac gave the Pom nice firm, regular stools and high activity/glossy coat etc she just loved the taste of Bill-Jac.

Now with this puppy on Wellness I was experiencing vomiting (food and bile in the morning), diarrhea, loose stools and low interest in food from the beginning. He was vaccinated right after I got him so I was thinking that was it. He's only up to 60/40 Wellness/Iams and I'm STOPPING right now because I believe these problems are like those of other negative reviewers and from the possible recent changes or bad bags. I would be fine with 10% of dogs not responding well but the reviewers who have feed Wellness for years and are just now having problems scare me.

It also scares me that so many people readily jump on the NO corn/NO soy/Holistic bandwagon without realizing other formulas might have lower quality ingredients but that doesn't necessarily mean your dog will be less healthy - if you find something your dog thrives on and it's been around for years with research to back it up then it doesn't matter, don't feel guilty about it, do what is best for YOUR dog! I do believe the main ingredients should be meat and carbs should be limited. The whole 'by-products' bit has always cracked me up - I haven't studied canine hunting/feeding behavior indepth but I'm guessing all those 'gross' parts that are "not fit for human consumption" are readily consumed. . The holistic food surge is a fad and you have to be careful about falling for good marketing. From now on I will be using holistic foods as treats (variety = the best thing in my opinion) and "lower-quality" foods that have been tested for decades as the staple. I do give meat while I'm preparing dinner as well.

We adopted a dog and chose this food for her because the ingredients sounded great. We slowly transistioned her. She was on it for about a month but apparently her stomach just couldn't handle it. She had loose stools all the time. And when they weren't loose they were huge. Too big for her body size. I don't think she was absorbing the nutrients in the food. She was thin when we adopted her and she just wasn't putting on weight with Wellness. We put her on a bland diet and slowly transistioned her to a different food (Natural Balance) and it has worked well for her. I'm sure Wellness is a great food for some dogs, which is why I gave it three stars, but ours couldn't handle it.

This is just a cheap shot replication of Nutro's multiple protein sourced Ultra. Wellness are incapable of producing an original product, with the exception of their little bones that always seem to be opened already at the store. Wellness is a company that were doing mediocre sales and needed something to come up with quick. I wouldn't feed this to my pets. All it is is some meat and fruit. My dog doesn't like fruit, c'mon guys.

Two of my three dogs are on this food, and I think it's fantastic! One is on the Senior Formula, and the other is on the Duck Formula for sensetive skin. They enjoy both the dry food, and the wet food. Anyone with a pet who suffers from skin allergies knows how hard it is to find an OTC food that works as well as the prescription brands. This one does! I like being able to read the ingredients, and know what they are. How great is a senior food with blueberries as one of their top ingredients? I worked at a vet's office for over five years. Science Diet, Royal Canine, and Iams gave the staff members FREE FOOD (on a monthly basis) to help increase their sales. I fed this to my pets, and can safely say I know dog foods. Wellness, however, is worth the money. This dog food is the cat's meow!

So, my 4 month old black lab mix had trouble with her last food, so I switched to vet-recommended Wellness. She loved it at first, but after the trial week ended and she fully transitioned over to Wellness - her stool is still watery & pudding texture. I'm at a cross roads, I don't know what to do buy. Everyone I've talked to uses a different variety of brands; and I'm not convinced anymore that the more expensive the food is, the most effective the food will be.

Any suggestions would really help me. Bill Cosby would not recommend my pup's pudding poop.

I have a 18 mo old Pekingese, Baby, who is the love of my life. My husband did lots of research for a premium dog food and we ended up with Innova, wet and dry. She loved it - doing handstands while she ate. Then my son took her for one month (she originally belonged to him) and only fed her Purina Puppy Chow (HUH???). Well by the time I got her back, she would no longer eat the Innova - no matter what. We then started buying lots of dog food and throwing it away. She is super picky. Then our pet store recommended Dr. Harvey's mix - which is home cooking...like oatmeal and you add the protein. Baby loved it and that is what she eats for dinner.
I was looking for a kibble for her to snack on during the day...Evo was recommended and she only would eat it mixed with cottage cheese and turkey. ( I was trying to make my mornings a little easier!?) Then the local Petco gave me a sample of Wellness Small Breed Super Mix. The ingredients are not the best (evo 42% protein; wellness 28% protein), but it is not Purina Puppy Chow either. Baby loves this food...and I am happy!! Granted this only supplements her daily diet, but if Baby likes it, I will buy it. Oh, this is how picky(spoiled) she is...she will not eat kibble in her dog food dish, but in an overturned frisbee....!!:)

Add the f-word to the below review every other word and that's how I feel about Old Mother Hubbard's Wellness formula. (It could just be all the vomit I've had to clean up, though.)

Until I read some of the reviews below, I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST MY DOGS! I decided to switch my Yorkie Bichons from Purina Beneful to Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed a couple of months ago, slowly. Better for them, right? Mistake. At first, they loved it. Daisy would actually pick out the pieces of her new food from her old food and eat them first. I watched astonished. She's always been a picky eater. Now, though, neither of my dogs will eat it---not even Bandit, who will pretty much eat anything. All they'll do is sniff it, before looking up at me and walking away.

As if the not-eating-thing wasn't bad enough, a week or so ago, Daisy had blood in her stool...a lot of blood. Worried because I'd never seen blood come out of my dog before, I took a sample of her stool to the vet. Nothing, and even now that she's been given a round of dewormer and antibiotic, she isn't feeling any better or eating. Then there's Bandit. His stool has become soft and yellowish. Yellowish, people! And for the first time ever, he's not eating. IT'S THE FOOD. My sleeping-too-much, loose-and-stinky-soft-stool, hungry-but-unwilling-to-eat-even-a-single-piece-of-Wellness-kibble, whiny-because-they-don't-feel-good dogs will be switched to a new food tomorrow. No transition, I love them too much.

After a little time on Dogster, I've decided to try California Natural, either the Lamb and Rice or Herring and Sweet Potato. Both foods are for supposedly good for sensitive tummies, which my 1 1/2 year old dogs apparently have.

I have to say I was shocked to see the bad reviews on this food! I have used the canned venison for years on a greyhound who had terrible diarrhea when we rescued him from the track and we fed our other dog their assorted selections of canned food without a problem. These two dogs are now gone. We now have another greyhound that we rescued. He was on Nutro for sensitive stomachs when we got him. The diarrhea was terrible until we could change him to the Wellness dry venison and rice which we mix with the duck and sweet potato canned food. Our shih tzu has been on any of the canned food (even the fish) with no problem. Maybe I've been lucky, but if my dogs ever have a problem, I will not assume it's not the food! Thank you.

I switched my dog from Purina ProPlan shredded chicken formula to Wellness Super 5 Mix Whitefish and Sweet Potato about 2 weeks ago. He has environmental allergies and I was concerned that the constant itching could also be related to his food. After much research and cost/benefit analysis at the pet store, I decided on this one. Unfortunate choice. Even though Purina is supposed to be nothing short of "poisonous" according to the dog food police, the dog's coat was progressively getting softer and shinier while he was eating it. I wrote it off to the fact that he had previously been a shelter dog and who knows what he had been eating! Anything would be a step up. I figured he would be 100% better once he started eating Wellness.

In fact, his coat is becoming progressively duller and he is shedding for the first time since I rescued him two months ago. He is gassy and after several days of making weird retching noises, he finally started to throw up yesterday. I would never think of blaming the food, of course! After all, I was making sacrifices to afford Wellness! Anyway, after a $250 vet bill for a visit showing absolutely nothing wrong with the dog, I was plagued by the burning question... What did happen to this dog?!? After ruling out everything I could think of, I started googling the food and, after getting past all of the sites I had looked at already (all with glowing reviews) I found a couple of websites where people had similar experiences.

I am so angry at this company! I will return the bag to the store tomorrow and demand my money back. It is outrageous for a company to charge double the amount of a premium grocery store brand and effectively make a dog sick while the "evil" food was just fine. I will now buy a small bag of California Natural Lamb and Rice formula after reading that this formula has actually passed food trials and it not merely a formula put together to meet the AAFCO protocols and using my dog as the guinea pig. If he was not prone to allergies, I swear I would go right back to Purina ProPlan... If you have a healthy dog, don't go for the hype, do your own food trials before committing to expensive foods just because they seem to be great.

My Bichon LOVES Wellness!

He is totally thriving on it and has been eating it for 2 years. His coat is thick and full, his eyes sparkle. His stools are firm and he goes only once per day. Never has loose stools. I supplement his diet with fruits and vegetables only.

My Golden Retriever started having diarrhea and vomiting while on the Wellness Weight Management formula. She had been on it for many months without problem, but after they changed the packaging, she developed this problem. As soon as we took her off this food, her diarrhea and vomiting stopped. We put her on Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul and she's been fine since then. A friend of ours has a Samoyed who has a rock solid digestive system, but she too just developed Diarrhea on the Wellness Fish formula. She had been fine on Wellness for months as well, until the packaging changed. Something has to be different with the new formula. Where are the ingredients coming from? I am wondering if they are importing the ingredients? We both threw our Wellness out!

I have a 4 month old Great Pyrenees and did alot of stressing on what to feed him. We started w/Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy and he bit and scratched himself CONSTANTLY. After lots of research and finding the breed has allergies to all those corn fillers that most dog foods use, (really, IS corn part of the canine diet??) I switched gradually to Wellness For Puppy. His biting and scratching have almost completely stopped and it's only been a little over a week that he's eating it solely. Now, I will say he does (sorry) eat his poop sometimes, but he did that prior w/the other food too. He loves the food itself and I haven't run into any other issues with it. Reading all these negative comments is making me second guess my choice, but unless I see drastic changes in him, I'm sticking with the Wellness!

I wish we had visited this site earlier. We have been feeding our 7 yr old blue heeler Wellness for a couple of years w/ no problems. This past summer she developed the same digestive problems as I see reported in these reviews. Not suspecting the dog food We spent $300.00-$400.00 in vet bills. But that is not what prompted me to look up Wellness on the net. Today I opened a 26Lb bag of food that I bought at a Petco here in Houston Tx. The bag was full of bug Larve and even some mature insects that flew out when the bag was opened. Needless to say we will be switching brands.

We started our St. Bernard puppy on Wellness the day we got her as we weren't sure what her food was before. She ate it ok and did well for the first month and a half. Like most users on here before me, we started to see changes.

She showed no interest in the food at all. She started to eat half of each meal slowly skipping them all together. Vet checks were clear and she's in great health. We added all types of things to the food to try and get her to eat it. Pumpkin, Egg, Cottage Cheese, etc. She would root thru the food, getting the good stuff and leaving the Wellness behind. Her stool started to become soft, terrible gas and she was drinking an insane amount of water causing many bathroom trips. Then the itching began.

Again, I thought we had a broken dog until I read these reviews bringing up the exact same problems. After trusting in the "great" foods I decided to try out Science Diet. Every moment of the day has been changed since changing the food. She loves meal time and comes into the living room after eating with her tail swinging with joy. (Not the traditional sulk that came with the Wellness) Her play time is more energetic and fun, and her mouthing has stopped almost instantly. Her stool has firmed up and her bathroom breaks are more predictable.

The Wellness did not work at all for us. And despite people treating some foods like the devils fuel, I decided to see it first hand. Everyone hates SD and says the "evil" vets push it because they get a cut. How can I put trust in my vet to poke, prod and medicate my sweet little (well, St. Bernards aren't so little) girl and then think they're out to hurt me when recommending a food. It doesn't make sense really.

Go with your gut and listen to your dog.

Ok I have fed Wellness in the past. I became concerned when Wellness changed their packaging (OH WOW nice bags I WANT to feed that colorful bagged dogfood to my dog)....if that wasnt enough to set up red flags PETCO started stocking the dogfood. So this concerns me. I have never actually had a problem with any of the Wellness dog foods (no loose stools, vomiting or sickness, and my dog is gassy no matter what I feed her) my rottweiler (who is a food hound) will NOT eat the Fish formula, absolutely loves the puppy food and will eat the core but is not as fond of it as the puppy food (she just whelped a litter).  In all honesty I dont think any dog food company can be trusted, YES some are better than most and the real bad dogfoods should be avoided at all costs (PURINA, SCIENCE DIET, DIAMOND,ALPO ect) really the only thing that people can do is cook their dogfood at home....before anyone attempts this they should get the book (by a vet) Home Prepared Meals for Dogs& Cats....then you can learn the proper way to formulate a meal for your pooch. Dogs require much more calcium than we do and this book shows you how to prepare a balanced meal. It also has recipes for dogs with all sort of disorders and intestinal upsets. Meals also include vegetarian and protein sources other than meat.

I have a three year old yorkie that I started on Wellness about 3 months ago. At first I really liked it, and my dog loved it. I did notice though after a while she had loose stools which was very odd for her, and she seemed to not be going on a regular basis and when she had to go she had to go right then; she could not wait to go to the back yard and she has been house broken for sometime now. Then about a week ago in the middle of the night, she was up and would not lay to go to sleep and finally she vomitted all over the place, and then went outside and was like she needed to poop but could not. The next day she seemed as if she did not feel 100% but ate her food and didnt throw up again. The next day she would not eat at all and threw up again. We put her on some antibotics and the next couple of days she was back to normal eating and running around. Then that Thursday my dad found her laying in the bathroom so lethargic that she could not get up, she just layed there and there was diarreha and vomit all around, so we rushed her the emergency vet. They ran all kinds of test and found nothing and once the wellness was out of her system she never got sick again. I am 100 percent her sickness and tummy upset was caused from the wellness..... Watch out because it seems so good and wonderful at the beginning, but it does some nasty things after a while.