With a score of 8, these cooked foods in pouches are considered low risk. This is Stella & Chewy’s highest scoring line of cooked dog foods. There are 6 recipes that average 59% protein and 9% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. This is a low level of carbohydrates which is what we expect to see in a cooked dog food. 

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

The ingredient safety score loses a point because of moderate processing of the cooked food, so there’s some nutrient loss from cooking. 

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 label does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.