Stella & Chewy's Wholesome Grains Wild Raw Coated Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 4.8/10, these foods are considered high risk. There are 3 recipes that average 34% protein and 27% carbohydrate as calculated.

Wholesome Grains Wild Raw Coated is a kibble coated in freeze-dried raw protein but it isn’t  a main constituent of the food. In theory, the addition of minimally processed proteins should boost the nutrients, but this will be reflected in the Guaranteed Analysis protein content.

These recipes are made without corn, wheat, soy, peas, potatoes or legumes. But this line includes barley and oatmeal that contribute to a high carbohydrate content and lose quality points. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. 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 lines, there are added vitamins and minerals. This often indicates a lower quality food that’s lacking naturally occurring nutrients from whole food sources. One recipe also uses  sunflower oil, which is a highly processed and inflammatory oil. Seed oils are an inexpensive alternative to higher quality animal fats and oils. 

It’s good to see that probiotics are included in these foods and that the minimum
CFU is guaranteed in all these recipes.

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. 

Stella & Chewy’s uses organic fruits and vegetables. Organic ingredients are non-GMO and have much lower pesticide/herbicide risk than conventionally grown crops so no ingredient safety points are lost. However, the grains used are not organic so these recipes lose points for grains that are high pesticide or herbicide foods in the top five ingredients.

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.

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.  

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