Precise Chicken Meal & Rice (canine)
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FOOD COMPARISON: PRECISE CHICKEN MEAL & RICE AND WELLNESS SUPER5MIX CHICKEN
(CANINE)
So many of our clients feed Iams, Purina, Purina One, Purina Beneful, Science Diet, and other foods that
are recommended to them, and which have slick advertising campaigns telling everyone how incredible
these foods are. This image gets in your mind, and makes it look like a great food choice… until you read
the label! We encourage you to read the front page of our food handout, which tells you how to
understand your pet’s food label. Once you learn what sounds good in an ingredient list, and what
actually is good, you’re better able to choose the right food for your pet.
Below, we compare Precise Chicken Meal & Rice and Wellness Super5Mix Chicken Formula, a higher-
quality chicken-based food. Questionable ingredients are in bold type, with explanation below.
PRECISE CHICKEN MEAL & RICE INGREDIENTS (Top 18 ingredients):
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Ground Oats, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed, Chicken Cartilage,
Beet Pulp, Lecithin, Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Kelp, Fish Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium
Chloride, Salt, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate
Interpretation: “Rice Bran” is the outer covering of the rice kernel, after the rest of the grain is used for
other purposes. It is a cheap filler ingredient, essentially devoid of nutrition. “Chicken Cartilage” is
labeled on the bag as a source of glucosamine and chondroitin. In and of itself, that isn’t a bad thing, but
the amount in this pet food would be minimal (guess what… it’s cheap, and they get to use the buzz
words “glucosamine and chondroitin”), and it would be better to simply feed raw bones and focus on
nutrition in your pet food. “Beet Pulp” is a source of fiber, but also of sugar, which is unnecessary and
undesirable. What, exactly, is "Natural Chicken Flavor?” It’s the 10th ingredient, so there must be
rather a lot of it. Manufacturers don’t want to tell you, if you care to ask, but in reality it is usually some
blood product or condensed organ broth. Maybe natural, but necessary? As for “Calcium Carbonate,” it
is a source of calcium, but that is what raw bones are for! Calcium Carbonate is also an ingredient in
many antacids. “Potassium Chloride” is used as a salt substitute and to replenish electrolytes, but it is
also used in fertilizer and in massive doses for lethal injections! “Salt” is not something we should be
adding to our pets’ food.
Overall, this is not the worst food we have analyzed, and is more “mediocre” than truly horrible. Still, a
small amount invested in a better quality food will save you much more in the long run.
WELLNESS SUPER5MIX CHICKEN FORMULA (Top 18 ingredients):
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Bran (from brown rice),
Rye Flour, Canola Oil, Whitefish, Tomatoes, Natural Chicken Flavor, Flaxseed, Ground Millet, Carrots,
Apples, Spinach, Blueberries, Sweet Potatoes
Interpretation: There are essentially no objectionable ingredients in the top 18 in this food. The only
somewhat questionable ingredient is Natural Chicken Flavor, for the reasons listed above. Oatmeal is a
good carbohydrate source, rich in B vitamins, a high quality protein, and easy on the stomach. Brown Rice
is a superior carbohydrate source, much better than processed white rice (which loses key nutrients
during processing). Brown Rice is rich in B vitamins. By using Brown Rice, Barley, and Oatmeal, this food
avoids the wheat, corn, white rice (often just fragments) and soy commonly used, which are difficult to
digest and are leading allergens in pet food. Flaxseed is the whole ground seed, not a “meal” or
fragment of the seed. Flax Seed is rich in essential fatty acids and B vitamins. Whitefish is a specific high-
quality fish protein, high in essential fatty acids. As for the remaining ingredients on the list, they are
whole, natural foods, minimally processed. These help round out the variety of nutrition in the food.
Wellness also makes a Fish & Sweet Potato variety that is a good choice if you suspect your pet may
have allergies to ingredients in other foods.
(CANINE)
So many of our clients feed Iams, Purina, Purina One, Purina Beneful, Science Diet, and other foods that
are recommended to them, and which have slick advertising campaigns telling everyone how incredible
these foods are. This image gets in your mind, and makes it look like a great food choice… until you read
the label! We encourage you to read the front page of our food handout, which tells you how to
understand your pet’s food label. Once you learn what sounds good in an ingredient list, and what
actually is good, you’re better able to choose the right food for your pet.
Below, we compare Precise Chicken Meal & Rice and Wellness Super5Mix Chicken Formula, a higher-
quality chicken-based food. Questionable ingredients are in bold type, with explanation below.
PRECISE CHICKEN MEAL & RICE INGREDIENTS (Top 18 ingredients):
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Ground Oats, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed, Chicken Cartilage,
Beet Pulp, Lecithin, Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Kelp, Fish Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium
Chloride, Salt, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate
Interpretation: “Rice Bran” is the outer covering of the rice kernel, after the rest of the grain is used for
other purposes. It is a cheap filler ingredient, essentially devoid of nutrition. “Chicken Cartilage” is
labeled on the bag as a source of glucosamine and chondroitin. In and of itself, that isn’t a bad thing, but
the amount in this pet food would be minimal (guess what… it’s cheap, and they get to use the buzz
words “glucosamine and chondroitin”), and it would be better to simply feed raw bones and focus on
nutrition in your pet food. “Beet Pulp” is a source of fiber, but also of sugar, which is unnecessary and
undesirable. What, exactly, is "Natural Chicken Flavor?” It’s the 10th ingredient, so there must be
rather a lot of it. Manufacturers don’t want to tell you, if you care to ask, but in reality it is usually some
blood product or condensed organ broth. Maybe natural, but necessary? As for “Calcium Carbonate,” it
is a source of calcium, but that is what raw bones are for! Calcium Carbonate is also an ingredient in
many antacids. “Potassium Chloride” is used as a salt substitute and to replenish electrolytes, but it is
also used in fertilizer and in massive doses for lethal injections! “Salt” is not something we should be
adding to our pets’ food.
Overall, this is not the worst food we have analyzed, and is more “mediocre” than truly horrible. Still, a
small amount invested in a better quality food will save you much more in the long run.
WELLNESS SUPER5MIX CHICKEN FORMULA (Top 18 ingredients):
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Bran (from brown rice),
Rye Flour, Canola Oil, Whitefish, Tomatoes, Natural Chicken Flavor, Flaxseed, Ground Millet, Carrots,
Apples, Spinach, Blueberries, Sweet Potatoes
Interpretation: There are essentially no objectionable ingredients in the top 18 in this food. The only
somewhat questionable ingredient is Natural Chicken Flavor, for the reasons listed above. Oatmeal is a
good carbohydrate source, rich in B vitamins, a high quality protein, and easy on the stomach. Brown Rice
is a superior carbohydrate source, much better than processed white rice (which loses key nutrients
during processing). Brown Rice is rich in B vitamins. By using Brown Rice, Barley, and Oatmeal, this food
avoids the wheat, corn, white rice (often just fragments) and soy commonly used, which are difficult to
digest and are leading allergens in pet food. Flaxseed is the whole ground seed, not a “meal” or
fragment of the seed. Flax Seed is rich in essential fatty acids and B vitamins. Whitefish is a specific high-
quality fish protein, high in essential fatty acids. As for the remaining ingredients on the list, they are
whole, natural foods, minimally processed. These help round out the variety of nutrition in the food.
Wellness also makes a Fish & Sweet Potato variety that is a good choice if you suspect your pet may
have allergies to ingredients in other foods.