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WellPet LLC is a cat and dog food company formed by the combination of Eagle Pack Pet Foods and Old Mother Hubbard, after both had been purchased by the investment firm Berwind Corporation. In October 2007, Eagle Pack was sold to Berwind Corporation for an undisclosed amount. Between 2008 and 2009, Eagle and OMH were merged into a single entity called Wellpet LLC.
Wellness has a fairly good reputation and the only recent recall was in October of 2012. That recall was not serious and no illnesses or deaths were reported. They focus on high meat-based products and offer a number of grain-free products. Since grain free pet foods are becoming more popular, so is this brand.
In the article below, you will see a full list of ingredients for this product and a full breakdown of the top 10 ingredients in this food. Please let us know what you think by rating this cat food and also posting your thoughts about this product below in the commenting section.
List Of Ingredients In This Cat Food
Chicken Broth, Chicken, Duck, Chicken Liver, Shrimp, Egg Whites, Oat Fiber, Tapioca Starch, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Natural Flavor, Rice Flour, Guar Gum, Squash, Blueberries, Cranberries, Zucchini, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Carbonate, Taurine, Tricalcium Phosphate, Iron Proteinate (A Source Of Chelated Iron), Beta Carotene, Zinc Proteinate (A Source Of Chelated Zinc), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Proteinate (A Source Of Chelated Cobalt), Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate (A Source Of Chelated Copper), Folic Acid, Manganese Proteinate (A Source Of Chelated Manganese), Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Biotin.
Top 5 Ingredients Analysis
Chicken Broth
While chicken broth does not add much nutritional value to the food, it does add flavor and is considered to be a better alternative to water. The main reason for adding this ingredient is simply to add moisture.
Chicken
Chicken is a very popular ingredient for pet food and in this case, they are referring to whole chicken. This is a very high quality meat source and we are pleased to see it listed. However, whole chicken loses about 80% of its content during the cooking process since the majority of whole chicken is water. After the cooking process is complete, the amount of whole chicken remaining is substantially reduced. Therefor, while whole chicken is a great source of meat protein, this ingredient alone is not enough to provide sufficient levels of meat protein in a cats diet.
Duck
Duck is an excellent alternative meat source and provides very high quality meat proteins for your cat. As a whole meat product, much of this ingredient is lost during the cooking process, but it is less water heavy than other whole meat ingredients like chicken or beef. So, while much of this ingredient is lost during the cooking process, it is still a very high quality ingredient and we are quite pleased to see it listed here.
Chicken Liver
Here is another ingredient you probably wouldn’t want to see on your own dinner plate, but most cats seem to enjoy the taste of liver. Uncooked liver, or liver in very high quantities, can actually be toxic to cats. However, in this food, it is clearly provided well within safe limits. In fact, this ingredient is a pretty high quality ingredient overall. It provides a good source of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients your cat can benefit from.
Shrimp
This ingredient is becoming more popular in cat food as more and more cat owners are including sea food ingredients into their cats meals. This is generally considered a quality ingredient, but it does contain quite a bit of fat. This usually isn’t a problem unless the ingredient is included in high amounts. It also isn’t considered to be a part of a cats natural diet since they rarely, if ever, eat shrimp in the wild. Nonetheless, it is an ingredient with some great nutritional value (in proper portions) and there is little evidence to suggest it could cause much harm to your cat.
Additional Ingredients Of Interest
Egg Whites
Egg whites are eggs that have been separated from the yolk. They provide a high amount of protein while at the same time, contain low amounts of cholesterol. Egg whites also contain a number of other nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and iron. Overall this is a nutritious ingredient without much of a health risk.
Oat Fiber
Oat fiber is produced from food-grade oat hulls and is mostly added for texture and binding purposes. It is sometimes used to help give food a lighter and browner color as well. Cats and dogs have no absolute physiologic need for this ingredient, although animals eating processed commercial foods appear to benefit from the addition of fiber.
Tapioca Starch
Tapioca flour, also known as tapioca starch, is a starchy white flour that has a slight sweet flavor to it. Tapioca flour is an alternative to traditional wheat flours and has a variety of uses in baking. Tapioca is a source of carbohydrate obtained from the roots of the cassava plant (Manihot esculenta), which is indigenous to Latin America. It is not a cereal grain like corn or wheat which have links to food allergies in cats. The benefit to using tapioca in a pet food as the primary carbohydrate source instead of typical grains is tapioca’s biochemical simplicity. Grains are complex in the sense that they contain proteins and other phytonutrients in addition to carbohydrates. Tapioca is just starch – a combination of amylase and amlylopectin. There are no known canine or feline allergies to tapioca, so this is becoming a more common ingredient in many pet foods.
Carrots
A good source of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, carrots are becoming more common in pet foods. This ingredient is also known to boost the immune system and help promote healthy eyes in cats as well as providing a good source of fiber.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes provide a great source of potassium, vitamin B, and beta-carotene. This ingredient also provides antioxidant agents that specifically help to fight against cancer causing agents. This is a higher quality ingredient with no known negative side-effects.
