Nutrish Premium Pate Canned DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 5.4, Nutrish Premium Pate Canned is considered a moderate risk dog food. It’s also the highest scoring line among the Nutrish dog foods. There are 4 recipes that average 36% protein and 23% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. 

These recipes have acceptable protein levels but the carbohydrate content is higher than expected in a wet dog food. 

Most of these recipes are made with rice, peas and pumpkin, which are high starch, high carbohydrate ingredients. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

The carbohydrate content is also concerning because one recipe is Weight Management Turkey with a high carbohydrate content of 29.5%  – even higher than the other foods. Another specialty food in this line is Gentle Digestion Chicken recipe, but like all the recipes in this line, it contains carrageenan which may be linked to intestinal inflammation that affects digestion, and other negative health effects. 

The recipes in this line lose ingredient quality points because recipes are supplemented with an excessive amount of added vitamins and minerals. This can indicate lower quality or incomplete ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods.  

It’s also worth noting that the line contains 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.  

The ingredient safety score for this line is low. These are canned foods so they are highly processed, which involves several stages of heating. That causes a loss of active enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients.  

There are foods in the top 5 ingredients of several recipes known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues when spray-dried with Roundup (glyphosate), an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. 

Canola is a GMO crop that appears in most recipes as canola oil. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, require increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off. Canola oil is also a highly processed, inflammatory seed oil. 

Finally, rice is in most foods and that’s a concern as it can contain arsenic, which is linked to chronic health issues. 

One recipe includes salmon but it doesn’t specify whether it’s from farmed or wild caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

It’s also worth noting that Nutrish Premium Pate Canned doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in these recipes. While this is true of most foods, it’s unfortunate since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1.