Stella & Chewy's Grain Free Essentials Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 4.3/10, these foods are considered high risk. There are 4 recipes that average 29% protein and 34% carbohydrate as calculated.

This line loses ingredient quality points for its high carbohydrate content. This is a grain-free line yet it includes high starch ingredients like peas, chickpeas and lentils that boost the carb content. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods like these. Excessive carbohydrates are an indicator of low quality foods as they keep costs down. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance.

Like all of Stella & Chewy’s recipes in all lines, there are added vitamins and minerals. This often indicates a lower quality food that’s lacking naturally occurring nutrients from whole food sources. A few recipes also use sunflower oil, which is a highly processed and highly inflammatory oil. Seed oils are an inexpensive alternative to higher quality animal fats and oils. 

The ingredient safety score is lower because, like all kibbles, these foods are 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. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species.  

Rounding out the ingredient safety scores, the line loses points for high pesticide or herbicide foods in the top five ingredients, such as lentils, peas and chickpeas. This line also loses points for added natural flavor. This ingredient is often animal digest or MSG, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

It’s worth noting that these recipes 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.  

The company uses unsubstantiated marketing terms such as cage-free or humanely-raised. Without third-party certification, these are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards. And in fact, all chickens raised in the US are cage free as per USDA standards.

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.