Wellness no longer lists six older dry dog foods in its current range

What changed

In our September 28 check of Wellness's current range, we found six dry dog foods we have reviewed that were no longer listed under their older names. Five have no identified replacement in that range: Complete Health Grain-Free Whitefish & Menhaden Fish Meal, CORE Six Cage-Free Duck, CORE Six Free-Range Lamb, CORE Six Sustainably-Sourced Salmon, and CORE Wholesome Grains Puppy. The sixth, CORE Wholesome Grains Original Small Breed, has a newer CORE+ Small Breed Original Turkey & Chicken recipe.

That is a finding about Wellness's listed range, not a confirmation that every bag has disappeared from stores. Wellness has not provided a discontinuation date for the five foods in the pages we checked. An older CORE Six salmon product page remains on one retailer's site, so local availability may vary.

What is different about the small breed food

Wellness lists CORE+ Small Breed Original Turkey & Chicken as a dry food with kibble and freeze-dried turkey pieces. Its wholesome grains version lists deboned turkey, turkey meal and chicken meal first, followed by oatmeal and barley. The older CORE Wholesome Grains Original Small Breed listing at Chewy begins with the same three animal ingredients, then barley and oatmeal. The remaining ingredients differ, and Chewy marks that older listing discontinued.

The CORE+ name alone does not identify the right bag. Wellness also has a grain-free CORE+ small breed recipe with a similar name. Owners who fed the older wholesome grains food should check the full product name and ingredient panel before treating either CORE+ bag as the same recipe.

What this means for owners

Owners feeding one of the five foods absent from the current range may still see old stock at a retailer. A retailer listing does not show whether Wellness is still making the food, and we could not establish a final production date. For the CORE Six duck, lamb and salmon foods, do not assume another CORE recipe keeps the same limited ingredient approach or animal protein.

Our review pages for all six foods list alternatives. Search our reviews using the exact recipe names above, then compare any alternative's ingredient list and life stage with the food your dog has been eating. A puppy food and an adult food serve different life stages, even when their names sound similar.

Check the bag before switching

On a new bag, read the full recipe name, the life stage statement, the first ingredients, the guaranteed analysis and the calories per cup. Check the feeding directions too, since a similar name does not guarantee the same serving size. If your dog eats a specific recipe because of an ingredient restriction, compare the entire ingredient lists rather than relying on the main protein named on the front.

Keep the old bag or a photo of its label while comparing foods. If the exact recipe is unclear on a store page, use the label on the bag as the deciding reference.