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Wellness Large Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe package official product image via Amazon

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Wellness Large Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe

Dry food · adult dogs

A deboned-first dry food that's cheaper per calorie than 29% of the dry foods we've priced and denser than 40% (you feed fewer cups) — $2.42 a day for your 40-lb adult dog.

THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-10-19

$81.98 · 20 lb $2.42/day as of 2026-10-19 Check price →
Tell us about your dogevery number on this page updates live ↓
40 lb
For a 40-lb adult: 2½ cupsper day $2.42per day 33 daysbag lasts passes 1 fit checks ↓

Joint, kidney, dental or heart concerns? Labels can't honestly answer those — that's vet territory. Why we don't checkmark them →

The evidence

The Verified Label

Every food on this site gets this exact panel — same fields, same order, sourced from the official label — so brands finally become comparable. Dots show where this food sits among all 494 dry foods we've verified.

Verified LabelThe standardized pet-food panel
VPFD № WELLNE
verified 2026-10-19

Composition — dry-matter basis

why dry matter
Kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%, so as-fed numbers are on two different scales. As-fed values shown small. How the conversion works →
Protein 36.7%label: 33% min higher than 89% of dry foods
Fat 14.4%label: 13% min lower than 73% of dry foods
Fiber 5.6%label: 5% max typical — the median dry food is 5.4%
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimate ≈34.4%computed anchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: Ca 1.5% · P 1% 1.50 : 1ratio, as fed within the AAFCO adult range (1:1 – 2:1)

Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog

Calorie density 376 kcal/cup3681 kcal/kg typical — the median dry food is 388 (median 388) — you feed more cups
Daily serving2½ cups
Cost per day$2.42
20-lb bag lasts33 days

Cost per 1,000 kcal: $2.46 — cheaper than 29% of the 360 dry foods we've priced (median $1.93). Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.

Standards & ingredients

AAFCO statement
what this means
Two claims exist: formulated to meet a profile, or fed to real dogs in an AAFCO trial. Which is stronger, and how rare it is →
Not yet verified from label
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Deboned Chicken · Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine) · Turkey Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate) · Barley · Brown Rice
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyYes
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)None
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
A preservative added by a fish-meal supplier need not appear on the finished label, so no label can prove its absence. Why we show gaps →
None — no fish meal in this recipe

Safety

FDA recalls — Wellness, since 2023None on record
ManufacturerNot confirmed from label
Label transparency 8 of 15 standard fields
Green = verified favorable · amber = gap in the record · red = verified unfavorable · gray = not disclosed / neutral fact.
Source: official label source (official)· price: Amazon, 2026-10-19 · anchors: 494 verified dry dog foods (360 priced) · how to read this label

The fit

For your dog, specifically

Checked for a 40-lb adult with a sensitive stomach — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your dog above and these update.

·
Life-stage coverage not disclosedNo AAFCO nutrient-adequacy statement was found on the label for this SKU, so we cannot confirm adult-maintenance coverage.
✓
Passes our sensitive-stomach checksNamed animal protein first, and no unnamed by-products in the ingredient list.
·
Contains chickenNot selected as a concern for your dog — shown here for reference.

The source material

The full ingredient list

Every flag above is computed from this list. Why order is by pre-cooking weight, and how splitting bends it →

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine), Turkey Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate), Barley, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Turkey Liver, Flaxseed, Chicken Fat, Turkey Hearts, Salmon Oil, Natural Flavor, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Spinach, Broccoli, Carrots, Parsley, Apples, Blueberries, Kale, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, L-Carnitine, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract

12 ingredients in this list are ones we hold sourced evidence on , and none of them is contested in the veterinary literature.

  • Named Muscle Meat (e.g., Deboned Chicken, Beef, Salmon) · ingredient 1Well supportedA named fresh muscle meat identifies both the species and that it is clean flesh (AAFCO defines 'meat' as the clean flesh of a specified slaughtered mammal, and 'poultry' as clean flesh and skin). Naming the species is what lets an owner verify a protein for allergy avoidance.
  • Named Meat/Poultry Meal (e.g., Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal) · ingredient 2Well supportedA rendered, water- and fat-reduced concentrate from a named species (AAFCO, e.g., 'chicken meal'). Because most moisture is removed it is a dense protein source (poultry meals commonly around 57-69% crude protein) and it names the species for allergy avoidance.
  • Beet Pulp · ingredient 8Well supportedThe fibrous material left after sugar is extracted from sugar beets, included as a moderately fermentable fiber source (commonly around 5 to 7.5% of the diet). Controlled feeding studies show it supports firm, good-quality stools and short-chain fatty acid production without impairing overall nutrient digestibility, so the 'cheap filler' characterization is not supported by the evidence.
  • Fish oil (EPA + DHA omega-3) · ingredient 13Well supportedMarine-source omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from fish oil. A randomized, double-blinded controlled trial (Roush 2010) found improved weight-bearing in dogs with osteoarthritis, and a 2022 meta-analysis identified clear clinical analgesic efficacy for omega-3-enriched diets and supplements.
  • Mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin E) · ingredient 27Well supportedA blend of vitamin E forms (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-tocopherol) used as a natural-source antioxidant to slow fat rancidity, commonly chosen as an alternative to synthetic preservatives. EFSA concluded that tocopherol-rich extracts are safe for all animal species and the consumer and are efficacious antioxidants in feed.
  • Rosemary extract · ingredient 54Well supportedA plant-derived natural antioxidant (active compounds carnosic acid and carnosol) used to slow fat oxidation, frequently chosen as an alternative to synthetic preservatives. It is an authorized food antioxidant in the EU (E 392); JECFA established a temporary acceptable daily intake for rosemary extract expressed as carnosic acid plus carnosol.

Nutritional twins

Cheaper close matches

Verified foods with a closely matching label at a meaningfully lower cost per 1,000 kcal.

35.6% protein (DM)$1.76 / 1,000 kcal28% less per 1,000 kcal
37.8% protein (DM)$1.61 / 1,000 kcal34% less per 1,000 kcal
37.8% protein (DM)$1.74 / 1,000 kcal29% less per 1,000 kcal

Label-composition matches only: same species, form, and growth stage; same primary protein where both are known; grain-free preserved; protein within 4 points and fat within 4 points, and estimated carbs within 8 points, on a dry-matter basis. Not a medical or quality recommendation.

The maker

Who makes this — and how they back it up

The five questions the WSAVA nutrition guidelines tell you to ask a pet-food company. Every answer is sourced or marked as an undisclosed gap — never guessed. This is the "is it made competently?" axis that star-rating sites skip.

Owns its manufacturing Owns its plants

Company owns and operates its own plants. (Wikipedia lists Arkansas/Minnesota/Netherlands — state naming differs by source, but both confirm company-owned manufacturing, not co-packers.)

source →
Employs a qualified nutritionist Undisclosed

We could not confirm this from a public source.

source →
AAFCO feeding trials Yes — sourced

4 of 163 labels we checked carry an AAFCO feeding-trial substantiation statement.

source →
Publishes quality-control testing Not found

Wellness safety page, WSAVA-compliance blog and FAQ describe HACCP, supplier requirements, audits and certifications, but no concrete ingredient or finished-product testing statement found (system-level only).

Peer-reviewed research None found

PubMed lists no animal or pet paper with Wellness Pet Company in an author address. Not proof no research exists — only that none is indexed under that company name.

source →
Parent company Wellness Pet Company (formerly WellPet), owned by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. ↗ Founded 1997 ↗ Headquarters / plant Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA ↗ FDA recalls on record 2 on record

Full company scorecard, sources, and every SKU we've verified for this brand: Wellness brand page →