Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe Review

Nutro Dry Dog Food Review


Quick Analysis

Ingredients:

Nutrition:

Potential Allergens: lamb

Est. Calories: 376 cal/100g

Price: n/a

Overall, Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe is a below average dog food, earning 5 out of a possible 10 paws based on its nutritional analysis and ingredient list.


Ingredient Analysis

When evaluating a dog food, the first five ingredients can tell you a lot about the quality of a product as they make up the bulk of the product. Ideally, you're looking for quality protein sources with a minimum of cheap starches, fillers or by-products. Continuing down the ingredient list, look for ingredients that resemble real food with a minimal number of unpronounceable chemicals - the same as you would for human food.

Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe includes the following:

Quality Ingredients

  • chicken
  • chicken meal
  • lamb meal

Questionable Ingredients

  • whole brown rice
  • brewers rice
  • rice bran

Potential Allergens

  • lamb meal

Note - a bolded ingredient in the above tables indicates it is one of the first five ingredients listed by the product manufacturer.

In this case, Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe's most plentiful ingredient listed is chicken, which is considered a quality protein source. It also contains chicken meal as additional quality protein sources.

Additionally, Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe also contains as top ingredients whole brown rice and brewers rice. These types of ingredients are typically used as bulk-adding fillers and are not required in your dog's diet. However, they are sometimes used to help maintain the kibble shape in dry foods.

Allergen alert: This product contains lamb meal which may be problematic for dogs who suffer from lamb food allergies.



Nutritional Analysis*

Compared to the other 1160 dog foods in our database, Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe has:

  • significantly less protein than average
  • significantly more carbohydrates than average
  • less fat than average
  • less fiber than average
In general, dogs have been shown to do better with a higher protein, medium fat, lower carb diet with sufficient moisture. However, specialty diets as recommended by your veterinarian may prioritize a different nutritional breakdown.

Calorie Breakdown

Using the calculations provided by the AAFCO, Nutro WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS Small Breed Farm-Raised Chicken, Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Recipe has approximately 376 calories per 100g (106 calories/ounce), which is a few more calories compared to the average of the other dry dog foods in the DogFoodDB.


All the product information on this page is based on data collected from the manufacturer's product website as retrieved on April 23, 2017.


Ingredients

Ingredients as published by the dog food manufacturer:

Chicken, Chicken Meal, Split Peas, Whole Brown Rice, Brewers Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Barley, Lamb Meal, Whole Grain Oatmeal, Rice Bran, Dried Sweet Potato, Natural Flavor, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Dried Apples, Dried Blueberries, Dried Carrots, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid (preservatives), Zinc Sulfate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Inositol, Biotin, Niacin Supplement, Marigold Extract, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Selenium Yeast, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract.


Guaranteed Analysis

Nutritional information as published by the dog food manufacturer.*

Protein: (min)
24.0%
Fat: (min)
15.0%
Fiber: (max)
4.0%
Carbs: (est)
47.0%
Ash: (est)
0.0%
Moisture: (max)
10.0%

Dry Matter Analysis

The manufacturer's published guaranteed analysis values normalized for moisture content.

Protein: (min)
27%
Fat: (min)
17%
Fiber: (max)
4%
Carbs: (est)
52%
Ash: (est)
0%
Calories: (est)
376/100g

*Note that some nutritional percentages reported are only estimated values, and are indicated as such as (est). Each dog food manufacturer is required by law to publish a Guaranteed Analysis, which defines each product's maximum values of fiber, moisture and ash in addition to the minimum values of protein and fat contained within. Exact nutritional percentages are not available and hence all calculated values (including carbohydrate percentages and calorie amounts) are determined using these minimum and maximum published values and therefore may differ from actual values.


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