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/nRvn4

http://bit.ly/Jmbza

Did not work for our yellow lab, she developed itchy skin all over and was miserable.. something in it she was allergic to. Switched from Nutro to this, now trying EVO

My 3 year old Beagle started out loving it. After 6 months he wouldn't touch it. I switched to a cheaper brand to see if he would eat it and he is doing well with it. I have now started moving back up the chain, a little at a time and he seems to be adapting well to each new brand I give him. I would like to try Wellness again down the line and probably will.

My 4 shelties have always had kibble Science Diet. We thought we would spice up their food a little, so we gave them their kibble with some canned Wellness (once a week). The oldest immediately got sick, came down with pancreatitis, had her at the vets for almost a week, but she got beyond hope and we had to put her down. Within 4 weeks, my second sheltie followed the same path. I only used the Wellness once a week for 2 weeks and have now lost 2 of my 4 dogs. The last 2 seem healthy, but I am having blood work done on them just to see. I will never use anything but Science Diet again!!!!

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.

My 2 yr old beagle mix doesn't like it. Stopped eating it...and I thought this was suppose to be so good for her. She doesn't care.

I have a 2 year old sheltie who has been getting frequent skin shedding in his ear and has been so sluggish. 3 days into the food and he is acting like a puppy again!! His stools are bigger and harder and his ears are finally clearing up. This food is highly recommended if your dog has allergies. We had him on SD Natures Best which is good but it has soy it in. Seems that Chase was allergic to soy. Now he is happier and more energenic. The price is just right for such great and natural ingredients. I'm so happy and so is my pup. A+++++

To the person saying to add yogurt for the probiotics! Wellness has the probiotics which are actually added after the food is processed! Thats one of the reasons its such a great food! It has the human grade meat and all none of the bad perservatives and the probiotics! Its the best of all in griedients thats why it cost so much! Don't expect to get a quality food with quality ingriedients for the same price as a Science Diet or Pedigree type grocery store bag of food! There is no comparison and in this case you get what you pay for. For the people who say its terrible just think how you would feel if you ate Mc Donalds for years and then went to chicken and veggies your system woiuld trip out for awhile too. It may be too rich for some but you cant debate whats in the bag! I have not found a bag of food that compares and the ones that do have fish meal as an ingriedient which you all know unless the manufacturer claims to Ethoxiquin free probably is not! I just tried to find the best available but some of you crack me up the way you think "your" brand is best! It's not about you its about your dog! The ingriedents don't how do you debate whats written on the side of a bag?

Althought this food is highly rated, I have to say my amstaff did very bad on this food. His stool vloume increased ALOT! I know that there is alot of calories in it and fed him according to the guidence. He also LOST alot of weight (6 pounds in 2 weeks) doesnt sound like much but on a 61lb dog that is 10%. We have started the switch to TOTW, so we shall see...

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.

Our cocker was having what appeared to be allergy problems so we switched to Hill's ZD from Wellness CORE. Wow...what a huge mistake! Bentley lost weight on the ZD and had tar like stools and several accidents in the house. After ruling out allergies, we switched back to Wellness CORE and Bentley is happy and healthy again. No stomach issues, no accidents in the house and his coat is growning back in silky and shiney. We were also able to switch back to Core in just 2 days as it has never caused stomach upset in our dogs. (Even after getting in an open bag and snarfing until they were full....no stomach upset.) Great food and well worth the price!

I found this site doing research to find out if anyone else has had problems with this food. We feed both of our female pits the dry Wellness Whitefish and Sweet Potatoe and have always mixed in just a bit of the wet because our oldest has bad teeth. We changed the wet to Core a little over a month ago now. Right away we saw an insane increase in water intake but we never ever thought it could be the food! She even tries to drink standing water outside that is how thirsty she is! We took her to the vet and they did a water deprivation test and felt that it was diabetes insipidus. Then we spent over $100 on the medication for that but when her thirst didn't decrease the vet had us come in again to do more testing! After spending about $500 I was at my wits ends. Her skin is horrible, she has lost almost 10 pounds, and she shivers all the time! Now neither one want to eat. I happened to talk to my chiropractor today who mentioned he had a similar problem with his lab. When I found out he also had switched to Core, a light bulb went off in my head. I will be contacting Old Mother Hubbard today. And I hope they are willing to do something to compensate for my vet bills. I've been worried for a month that my poor dog was dying...this food is horrible!

Great ingredients throughout. High protein, low carbs. My dog did not like the salmon. It was really fishy.

I rated this with three stars only because I haven't yet had the dogs on it long enough to be sure how things are going. I decided to post because of some of the comments. I breed and show Cardigan Welsh Corgis, who--despite their short stature--actually have the bones and robustness of a large breed. And I have a Lab as well whom I show.

The reason I'm commenting is that I wanted to suggest anyone trying out Wellness CORE, or Orijen, etc--the top-ranked premium foods--should add yogurt to these foods when you first introduce them to the dogs. You want regular plain yogurt, not fat-free, and make sure there is lactobacillus and/or acidophilis as ingredients. These are probiotics and go a LONG way toward settling a dog onto a new food, particularly if the protein content is high. (The average grocery store food is 21% or less.)

Certainly I'm not suggesting that this is the right food for every dog, because some dogs do indeed have issues with certain types of food. Wellness may not be right for your dogs.

I would like to recommend this site: www.dogfoodanalysis.com, rather like Consumer Reports only about dog food. I tried Orijen and liked it, but have to have it shipped; Wellness CORE is available at my feed store and is rated on par with Orijen, so I'm trying it.

Jennifer

I went to buy a bag of this dog food and was absolutely horrified by the price!!!!! it was $35.99 for the 12lb. bag!!! Is this company on drugs or something? have they not been watching what is happening in the economy? I used a $5.00 off coupon for my purchase, but man, this stuff is expensive. My dogs like it ok, but I won't ever buy it again. I think I will try TOTW and mix it in with this. $35.99 for 12lbs, absolutely rediculous.

My two dogs (a 10 year old pit/lab mix and a 8 year old yellow lab) did not do well with the Wellness Core foods. They have always been on the holistic/all natural or organic foods and have tried most all of them. My dogs had never tried Wellness but my cat has and it's worked well for him. I was really excited about the Wellness Core fish formula for my itchy yellow lab. I bought the chicken Core for the other dog. I fed them a VERY SMALL amount for a week (2 Tbls. of dry and 1 spoonful of the matching canned formula added to their regular meal which consists of homemade and has been that way for the past 5 years.) Both dogs hid in other rooms of the house when finished eating for about 40-60 minutes. When they came to find me, they didn't seem right. (Both dogs were fine before the meal containing Wellness !) As the week went on, they kept hiding immediately after their meals. They grew increasingly tired not wanting to play anymore, no interest in their toys or attention from me. They stopped greeting me at the door when I came home and their usual happy, relaxed faces were looking unusually tired and drawn. By day 3 I noticed they were drinking alot more water than usual, and the smaller dog was getting up in the middle of the night to drink more water---something she has never done. I thought maybe they just needed some time to get used to the new food...although they have tried many new foods before and never had a reaction like this. They became increasingly lethargic, I decided by day 5 to not give them any more Core foods for a day and a half---and they seemed to do a little better but they were still very tired/no energy. I had been so sure this food would be great for them, I had purchased over $40 worth, and decided to give it one last chance before returning it to the store. Within 20 minutes of them eating the meal, they were hiding again. My yellow lab came when called but sat herself on the couch and immediately went to sleep. The other dog never came. I found her lying on her side, head stretched out on the floor and her eyes closed. I thought she had died, as I called her name and talked to her...there was no response. I began to tell her to get up and finally she lifted her head but the look in her eyes said she was very sick. I wrapped her in a blanket and she did seem to feel better in about an hour. I did return the food to the pet store. It took 5 days for the dogs to get their energy back enough to start playing with their toys again and it's now been 7 days and they seem back to being their usual healthy, happy puppy-like selves. They will be seeing their vet to have tests done to make sure there is no permanent damage, the increased water drinking has stopped. How such a small amount of dog food can make 2 dogs that never get sick this sick---I don't know. They both got sick immediately after eating the new food...they both seemed to get better together immediately when the food was stopped. I'm glad I didn't give them a larger amount of the food to eat. The lot codes were 7CDFS1, 7WDZS1, May 31, 2009, July 30, 2009. The food hasn't been out on the market long enough for anyone to know what it's going to do to pet's over a length of time...as with any pet food since FDA regulations are low...feed to your pet at their own risk. My dogs are now on 100% whole food diet with veterinary supervision and doing super. No more expensive, unrecognizable junk out of a bag or can for them!!

Recently switched our Otterhound and German Shepherd to Wellness Core from Avoderm because the meat content was too low, which was switched from Canidae because they changed their ingredients to questionable replacements. The Otterhound is almost two and then Shepherd almost three. WOW! Both have started acting like puppies again, which, as my wife says, might not be a good thing afterall!! However, the Shepherd's coat is gleeming and so very soft. She, the Shepherd, has more energy, her eyes are full of life and she seems more alert and focused. The OH is more active, as when he was a pup, and he naps less and plays more. Anyone who has ever ever owned an Otterhound can tell you, these guys love to sleep! Even his nose seems to be more active, if that is possible!! The protein content is quite high as this is a grain free, high meat diet so you definitely have to watch how much you feed them and their exercise! As long as they are active and you get them a GOOD amount of exercise, this food should be on your list. As with all high protein diets, gradual change is important. Also, the high protein can cause digestive problems in some pooches. However, GSD's and Otterhounds are NOTORIOUS for their hyper-sensitive guts, and these two are no exception, but we have had zero problems with the transition. Even their poops are firmer than on the other two mentioned foods! Yes it is expensive, but, aren't your buddies worth it?? Mine sure are!!

I tried this for my yellow lab who is 4 who seems to have problems with everything. She was on this for 5 days before I stopped using it. Something in it made her itch horribly, her eyes are still a little puffy from all the itching she did.
I have also tried the Wellness Super 5 Mix, however, she did horrible on that too.
Point is each dog is different, but with mine, it was horrible for her... Very Very Itchy.

Great kibble,one of my dogs,wants nothing but this,and does great on it,but still I will not give 5 stars but 4,cause they went too high on the price.

My American Bulldog was on Wellness Core Ocean Formula and she did well on that. However, I couldn't afford that any more since they raised the prices. Also, the ocean formula smelled like rotten fish!

I then switched her to Wellness Core Regular and now she has the runs! (And yes, I switched her slowly) I guess for some dogs it settles well and for others it does not. For my dog, it does not.

good quality ingredients. TOO expensive now. They jacked the price up 11 dollars from the last month we bought the food. I bought it and then decided to return it. I then purchased Taste of the Wild Bison and venison version. Our 2 puggles love this food the best out of everything they have ever had, we can tell. It is cheaper, comes in 33 lbs instead of 26, and they like it more. Just as good of quality as the CORE. Try you will not be dissatisfied.

My friend bought a  bag of this food and there were worms in it,jacky!!!

Our dogs didn t like this kibble,we forced them to eat it,never again I say.

too expensive,and not easy to  get to : ((

I tried this once,couple of months ago,terrible,all my dogs got diarrhea...maybe it was only ma dogs,but stil...for me this is never again

This is a great food. Grain free and good sources of meat content. Dogs do not naturally eat grains in the wild so I appreciate the fact that they do not include them. The high protein content isn't good for house dogs or puppies in the early growth stages. There are good sources of Probiotics and vegetables.

Wellness was recommended by our vet when we took our then 10 week old lab in for his first visit. He loves it and enjoys great health and a beautiful coat. It's a tad expensive but we've adjusted and have greater peace of mind in light of recent problems with other pet food brands.

I have been using Wellness and my American Staffordshire terrier (Pitbull) is having a difficult time digesting it. He is running around with a swollen butt, and constantly sniffing his butt and my other dog hate it as well and she eats any and everything. i am going to try Blue Buffalo or Innov because this is concerning. For the past couple of days, i've made them turkey necks with rice and vitamins and chicken back with rice and veggies.

We tried this food a couple months ago for about a months time. It was alright, but my dog wasnt impressed with the taste. I had concerns over the amount of potato, and the use of canola oil, so we decided to stop continuing it. OTOH though, it is nice to have another choice of a grain free diet, and for some dogs I am sure it works quite well.

Best food we've tried for our pups - especially for our pug with skin issues and grain sensitivity. My Daschund love this product!!! It has helped us keep her weight where we want it! She was a lil fat when we rescued her! This is a great product to get your lil couch potatoes to lose the weight!

I love this food... Wellness Core is on my very short list of kibbles I would actually feed my dogs.

I have three performance Border Collies. I recently started using a rotating diet. I added Wellness Core into the rotation.
My dogs love it. One of my dogs is a picky eater and will occasionally not finish her meal, but is still, more enthusiastic about this food than any in the past.
Their stools are smaller and well formed and their coats are shiney.
Due to the caloric value of this food, I did have to cut back a bit on the amount that I feed, which is not a bad thing considering the cost.
Wellness Core is expensive.
Also, because it is a bit higher in protein than most other foods, I read that you should always add water to the kibble before feeding. It helps the body handle the extra protein.

I am feeding food to six dogs. Four are German Shepherds, one Beagle and one Border Collie. They range in age from 1 year to 12 years.

After a month we have amazing results. Weight has stabilized and coats are beautiful. All of the dogs love the food dry.

Our rescue GSD had a dry, dull grey coat. After a month on Wellness Core she is becoming a black and red dog with a soft coat! Amazing transformation.

My 9 year old was slowing considerably but is now showing renewed energy.
We are feeding a lot less kibble also due to the nutritional content.

When switching foods, upset and diarrhea can occur. This is very common. Go slow in transitioning.


I have tried other meat-based diets and none had results like those of Core.

My pit has been eating this food for almost one year now. She LOVES wellness core, and has had NO problems at all. She seems to have gain more muscle and she has alot more energy. I am NOT a fan of EVO, I found out that the dog food company does secretly put animal by product in that food and that is why it contains more protein than wellness .

My dog has lost interest in this food. I'm switching him partly for that reason and partly because he's very stiff in the mornings, and I wonder if the food could have anything to do with that. I think I'm switching him to Natural Balance - I'll write again when he's adjusted to a different food.

I have an adult samoyed with lots of energy. She has tried both Wellness Core Regular and Reduced Fat with excellent results. We just bought a bag of Core Ocean.  She is alert and active. Her appetite is healthy on this food and her coat is excellent. She has a history of struvite crystals in her urine but I wanted to feed her a grainless kibble. Core isn't as high a protein as Orijen or Evo.

My girl really enjoyed the flavor of this food, but she was constantly scratching herself. She was allergic to something in the food as I have never seen her scratch at her legs like this and she has seasonal allergies. It is a good food, but just not for my girl.

I tried this food in rotation with Orijen, and my dogs didn't go nuts over it. That, coupled with the fact that it didn't keep the weight on them well (my dogs are fairly active), and some concerns about long-term use, is the reason I didn't buy it again.

On the bag, it looks okay; don't love the use of canola oil, but I did have some other concerns.

I don't know about the problems I've seen several people report, but I suspect there were other issues in these situations. We have been using Core for 4 months now and have had no problems. In fact, just the opposite of some of the reviews here - my Westie's poos have firmed up and his tummy has been more settled. (He has had bouts of recurring pancreatitis in the past.) We recently adopted a rescue Westie and he has made tremendous progress on this food.
I love this food and have had fantastic results! We need to remember there is not one food that is perfect for every dog and adding fresh foods to your dog's diet is always helpful too.

Ingredients are similar to EVO, so I added a spoonful (only a few kibbles) to my dog's food, and it give my dog running stool badly, and I have to keep washing my dog's butt.

Has anyone had any problems with in the last 2 weeks with their dog refusing to eat the Core. My Pitty girl and Boston male will not eat it anymore, my boston male eats like a pig and never took but a couple of minutes to eat his 2 daily meals. But now they both act like they dont want to eat it anymore.

Initial results very good and I will update soon. I didn't realize that most Dog foods were that bad. I knew commercial brands like Purina, Science Diet, & Beneful were awful and always stayed away from them. I thought I was feeding a good type. With research I found out what I had been using was not that great.  We switched recently to CORE and first results are great. We will have to see how they take to it over the next few months.

I give it one star because my dogs loved the stuff, but after several months on it, they all began developing odd conditions - gunk in their eyes (they've never had a problem before) and the oldest dog began having hair loss and awful lesions around his eyes, eyebrows, ears and mouth. After many vet visits, biopsies and specialist consults, the cause of these problems was diagnosed as a zinc deficiency - the only change had been the change in diet to the Core food, and our vet said to stop using it immediately. Our guys are now on other food which has a long-term track record for quality, and the older guy is on prescription zinc supplements and other medications due to the problem caused by the Core food. I would be very cautious about switching to a new food which has not been on the market very long again in the future. I contacted the company and they simply advised that the food has enough zinc, but my vet feels the formulation may not allow for proper absorption of it.

Great dog food. Highly recommend!

This is right up there with Evo! Some different ingredients but almost identical results.

Have been using Innova Evo for about two years after discovering my Pugs do not digest grains at all, even the "good ones"...and of course, in educating myself more on canine nutrition, discovered grain free foods and that grains do not do a thing for dogs...Anyhow, I started the grain free "quest" w/Raw Instinct. Noah was still getting terrible gas. Found Innova Evo and it went well, but still some gas so switched to the low fat version. What a difference. Then along comes Brody, Pug #3. He was already litter box trained, so I didn't want to change that. However, he had RANCID gas and terrible smelling poops (imagine a cat box that has NEVER been cleaned) even though I would pick them up immediately..the whole house just reeked! Recently switched him to Wellness Core and the smell and gas are GONE! Will continue w/the Core for Brody. Am keeping the others on Evo RF as the only concern I have for Core is the double use of potato. Am looking into that.

wished they used a different oil than canola.

AMAZING. I cannot say enough about this food! I have my beagle on the reduced fat formula and not only does she LOVE it but she is as healthy as can be. Not fat like most beagles you see out there, but still has all of her energy! I would give this food more ratings if I could!! :)

This is great food! My 4 y/o boxer is very fussy eater, but he loves this food. He has tons of energy and cant wait to eat this stuff!

Was pushed onto Science Diet now Using Wellness CORE!!  Love It.

I was a skeptic from the beginning and recently moved into the states from Toronto Canada.  Are vet in Toronto never mentioned the food and never pushed it on us, but would always have a few products in the office that she supported, not one was science diet.  Also the local pet food supplier never carried any of hills products.  Now the local pet food supplier here in South Carolina says not to feed my dog SD, but the new vet does and the office is filled with SD and Hills products.  We were unable to get the same dog food we used in Canada so we Tried SD (Im embarrassed to say) my dogs coat changed, gained wait, lost energy and would not eat until late evening till the poor guy realized that was it.  That was for 6 months.6 months to dam long..Try looking @ Wellness, they are an old mother hubbard company wich makes all natural treats and food.  They have a new line wich is called Core its Protein focused and grain free.  Its based on the raw food philosophy providing nutrient-rich, high quality meat to a dogs diet.  Now you would have to see it to believe but he will it his food before touching a bone that is filled with a little penut butter.  Its nice to see him enjoying eating and become that little puppy all over again.