Nulo Freestyle Dry DOG FOOD Review

With an average score of 4, Nulo Freestyle Dry is considered a high risk dog food. There are 13 recipes that average 31% protein and 32% average carbohydrate as calculated. 

This line loses food quality points for its high carbohydrate content. The Freestyle High-Protein Kibble Cod & Lentils Recipe is even higher at 40%. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods like these. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut bacteria. 

This line also loses significant ingredient quality points for added vitamin and mineral premix. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources and their inclusion is usually due to poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes.

The food safety score is lower because, like all kibbles, Nulo Freestyle Dry is ultra-processed. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Ultra processed foods are often supplemented as we see here. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

Rounding out the food safety scores, the line loses points for high pesticide or herbicide ingredients, like peas, red lentils or chickpeas in the top 5 ingredients, as well as apples and tomatoes lower on the list. This line also loses points for added natural flavor. This ingredient is often animal digest or MSG, which are both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

It’s also worth noting that some of the recipes in this line contain sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral (and selenium yeast is used in some recipes)

There’s also a concern about ingredient splitting in these foods. This is the practice of splitting ingredients into sub-categories (like different pea ingredients) to make them appear lower in the ingredient list. It’s often done to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food.

It’s worth noting that Nulo adds and guarantees the level of probiotics in the food. 

There’s no indication whether fish ingredients are farmed or wild-caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious, with a less favorable fatty acid balance. The label does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.