January/February Competition

Not one to disappoint, although it’s a bit late, but fancy winning a Breville Hot Cup?? Thought you would, then do what you usually do and pop on over to the Competition Page for the link to enter.

Good Luck

Jacqui

January/February Competition

Wellness® Dog Food Review

I’m pretty picky with what I feed my dogs as I think that if you give them food that’s not very nutritious then your animals won’t get the best out of it that they would if it was of a decent quality.

Our lot were really lucky this last week as they were asked to test a US dog food which has just started to grace the shelves here in the UK. Whenever they try different food it’s always best to do it slowly. Don’t ever put a dog straight on a different food as you will just be faced with runny bottoms or dodgy tummies. Best way to do this is (click image for larger size):

This is an easy way to transition between different foods so it’s taken us a few days a while to get through the food (rather than give it to all 6, we just chose 2, Pea and Daddy Bo) as we wanted to make sure they didn’t suffer any digestive problems.

Wellness® are a Family Owned Natural Pet Food company. Based in the US, their philosophy is to provide proper nutrition to give a foundation of wellbeing, to give our pets a healthy, happy, long life through the power of natural ingredients. Being a pioneer in holistic nutrition they know the importance of a healthy lifestyle so are more than able to look after the health of our beloved furry friends.

I myself tried hard when our Biscuit (RIP) was initially diagnosed with liver nodules to feed him good quality fresh food that would support his poorly liver while he was recovering from his operation. This in turn lead us to keeping him alive and well for nearly 2 years after diagnosis. If only we had known earlier then we would have done that from the word go. It’s only now that we understand the utter importance of what you put in their bowls. These days we only feed our dogs low salt, no sugar, low fat dog food. So trying Wellness was definitely a yes when we were asked.

We slowly introduced the food to Daddy Bo and Pea. One day they both tried half a tray of Chunky Centers and from us peeling back the foil, their noses were in full sniff mode. Turning it out to cut it in half, it looked like a meat pie. Cutting into it was surprising as I thought it might be hard, but out oozed a delicious looking centre with lush looking gravy. It didn’t smell like dog food either. Sometimes you can open a tin of dog food and you get an overwhelming whiff of boiled beef. This smelt incredibly pleasant. Filled with chicken, chicken liver and spinach, I was over the moon when it was the first thing that Daddy Bo picked out of the bowl (as he’s super fussy) and continued to munch on before his regular Denes. Perhaps it was a fluke though, first day trying something a bit different so we’d wait until the next day when he’d get to try another of the Chunky Centers flavours.

Pea isn’t that fussy. He’s what, a year and a month old now and will basically eat anything and everything (even some of his rope toys too if we don’t keep an eye on him) but we’ve been gradually moving him from puppy food to adult food over the last month anyway, and being smaller portions in the foil trays made this a little easier as he could have half a tray and not even notice the difference. He didn’t hesitate at all. Straight in and gone within a few minutes.

Ideally I would have wanted to try our Shelby on it but she has been living with a bit of a dodgy tummy the last week so we’ve been told just to stick to bland food for now so sadly she had to sit this test out.

Next day Daddy Bo got a handful of the Core Grain Free Dry Formula (Ocean) but I wouldn’t give it to the puppy purely because it’s a high protein food. He already has very smelly urine, so the trainer advised us against high protein food just incase he has a kidney issue which as yet they have not diagnosed but if we’re not sure, we’re not going to chance it. Bo doesn’t have any issues with his kidney so we poured a little bit of water on the triangular kibble sized food so it was a little softer for him but again, he scoffed the lot. Pea was sniffing around the bag so he had 1 or 2 handed to him out of it, but no more.

As we received quite a few of the Chunky Centers and Petite Entrees, they’ve had quite a nice week trying the different flavours. Pea’s favourite though which he had a whole tray of to himself yesterday afternoon was the Chunky Centers Turkey, Duck and Sweet Potato. He couldn’t wait for Andy to get it out of the tray as he was pawing at him to just put it on the floor. It’s lovely when they’re excited to eat something new. Pea wasn’t a big fan of the Petite Entrees though because it was a little wetter and more like a casserole, but what he didn’t eat, Daddy Bo finished so it was team work.

We also have the bag of Simple Salmon and Potato. Again we did want to test this with Shelby as she suffers with her skin and as its ingredients list flaxseed this would have been ideal to keep her scale at bay. However, we are going to keep this and try her on it when her tummy has settled in a few days. Daddy Bo though had a big bowl of these today purely because Salmon is one of his treat foods. Whenever we have smoked salmon in the house Bo will camp out by the fridge until he gets some. Daddy Bo thinks he’s a cat you see. He will wave his tail about just like a cat and creeps around like one so salmon is always a big, big favourite. Result? He scoffed the lot. I don’t think I’ve seen Bo eat all his dinner as speedily as he has on Wellness. It certainly ticks all the boxes with what I think food should be like and what it should contain. So far, so good.

Looking at the complete range Wellness® produce, it’s clear that they’ve thought of everything from puppy food to dogs with allergies or who have limited diets. I’m incredibly impressed and thrilled to have been asked to trial it with our rabble.

But you might be thinking, well I don’t have a dog! No fear. Wellness® also produce a whole range for cats. Cats always seem to get the rough end of the stick as there’s clearly not enough range on the market for them but now cats can get in on the act too. Real meat, fruit and veggies with lots more tastes and textures will give kitty a superb assortment that won’t hurt, or hinder their health.

Things cannot get any better than Wellness®, no, they truly can’t. Welcome to the UK.

If you want to try Wellness® for your little furry friends, then check out the range at Pets at Home.

Jacqui

Wellness® Dog Food Review