Stella & Chewy's Wholesome Grains Essentials Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 3.3/10, these foods are considered high risk. There are 6 recipes that average 24% protein and 38% carbohydrate as calculated. 

Wholesome Grains Stella Essentials foods are made without corn, wheat or soy. But this line includes barley, oatmeal, millet, rice and quinoa that contribute to a high carbohydrate content and lose quality points. The Wild Caught Whitefish, Ancient Grains & Salmon Recipe Is especially high in carbohydrate at 43%. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate. Excessive carbohydrate is 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 lines, there are added vitamins and minerals, plus added amino acids in 2 recipes. This often indicates a lower quality food that’s lacking naturally occurring nutrients from whole food sources. 

One recipe also uses canola oil, which is a highly processed and highly inflammatory oil and a known GMO crop. Seed oils are an inexpensive alternative to higher quality animal fats and oils.  The same recipe also contains ocean fish meal which is an unnamed animal protein. These are of much lower quality, especially meals, which are typically from rendered waste. You will want to see the animal source named such as beef, salmon or chicken, not meat, fish or poultry. 

The ingredient safety score loses points 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. 

These recipes lose points for high pesticide or herbicide foods in the top five ingredients. One recipe also includes alfalfa which is a known GMO ingredient and affects ingredient safety. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. 

Rice is also a concern, because rice has the potential for arsenic contamination because it since it naturally absorbs arsenic and the water it’s grown in can be contaminated with arsenic. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues.

Finally, this line loses points for containing natural flavor. This ingredient is often animal digest or MSG, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. Rice is also a concern as there is potential for arsenic contamination.

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.  

Some recipes include “glam” ingredients like pumpkin and blueberries, which doesn’t lose points but is a concern. These ingredients are added to make consumers think the food has healthy ingredients. But they’re listed below the salt, which means they’re present in tiny amounts that won’t benefit your dog. 

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.

Stella & Chewy’s uses wild-caught fish which is good to see because it’s more nutritious than farmed fish, with a better fatty acid profile. 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.