Science Diet Canine Adult
Chicken & Rice
Chicken & Rice
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FOOD COMPARISON: SCIENCE DIET CANINE ADULT CHICKEN & RICE AND WELLNESS SUPER5MIX
CHICKEN FORMULA
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 Science Diet Canine Adult Chicken & Rice and Wellness Super5Mix Chicken Formula,
a higher-quality chicken-based food. Questionable ingredients are in bold type, with explanation below.
SCIENCE DIET ADULT CHICKEN & RICE INGREDIENTS (Top 18 ingredients):
Chicken, Brewer’s Rice, Rice Flour, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Soybean Meal, Ground Whole Grain
Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp,
Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium
Chloride
Interpretation: First of all, after “Chicken,” the next five ingredients in this food are grain/carbohydrate
sources, and poor quality ones at that. They likely far exceed the amount of chicken in the food, when all
added together! “Brewer’s Rice” is officially defined as “the dried extracted residue of rice resulting
from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer.” Brewer’s Rice is a low-quality rice
fragment that is missing many of the nutrients found in the whole rice kernels. “Rice Flour” is another
rice fragment which consists principally of the soft, finely ground bolted meal obtained from milling rice
(essentially the starch and gluten), together with fine particles of rice bran and the offal from the “tail of
the mill.” This is a highly pre-processed ingredient, nearly devoid of all the naturally occurring vitamins.
“Ground Whole Grain Corn” doesn’t have an official definition, but presumably is mainly ground whole
corn kernels, and most likely doesn’t contain the entire cob as “ground whole corn” does. Corn is a
carbohydrate that is extremely difficult for dogs to digest and use, and is a leading cause of allergies.
And what is corn doing as the fourth ingredient in a “chicken and RICE food???” “Soybean Meal” is the
product obtained by grinding the flakes which remain after removal of oil from soybeans. It is a poor-
quality protein filler, and some allege that soybeans are the leading food allergy of dogs. “Sorghum” is
another carbohydrate source. While it is a plus that they use whole grain sorghum rather than some
fragment, it is very low in digestibility. The official definition of “Chicken By-Product Meal” is as follows:
“Consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks,
feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur
unavoidable in good processing practice.” Note that this is an inconsistent ingredient, because of the
multiple organs used and their constantly changing proportions. They are cheaper and less digestible
than chicken or chicken meal. Anything called a “by-product” means it is not deemed fit for human
consumption, and may even contain diseased or chemically tainted tissue. “Animal Fat” is a generic
term. The official definition says it is “obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the
commercial process of rendering or extracting.” It is much better to have a specific source, such as
“chicken fat,” or “beef fat.” Animal Fat could contain anything from road-kill, diseased farm animals,
euthanized pets, and other animals not seen as fit for anything other than a rendering plant. “Soybean
Oil?” More soy? Why? “Chicken Liver Flavor?” The flavor of chicken liver, without any actual liver??? “
Dried Beet Pulp” is a source of sweetening and fiber. It would be preferable if they removed the
sugar. The official definition for “Dried Egg Product” is “USDA inspected whole eggs without the shell in
a dehydrated form.” These egg products are often those seen as unfit for human consumption.
“Iodized Salt” is not something we should be adding to our pets’ food. "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!
WELLNESS SUPER5MIX CHICKEN FORMULA (Top 18 ingredients):
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Ban (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, because it is not specific enough.
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.
CHICKEN FORMULA
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 Science Diet Canine Adult Chicken & Rice and Wellness Super5Mix Chicken Formula,
a higher-quality chicken-based food. Questionable ingredients are in bold type, with explanation below.
SCIENCE DIET ADULT CHICKEN & RICE INGREDIENTS (Top 18 ingredients):
Chicken, Brewer’s Rice, Rice Flour, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Soybean Meal, Ground Whole Grain
Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp,
Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium
Chloride
Interpretation: First of all, after “Chicken,” the next five ingredients in this food are grain/carbohydrate
sources, and poor quality ones at that. They likely far exceed the amount of chicken in the food, when all
added together! “Brewer’s Rice” is officially defined as “the dried extracted residue of rice resulting
from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer.” Brewer’s Rice is a low-quality rice
fragment that is missing many of the nutrients found in the whole rice kernels. “Rice Flour” is another
rice fragment which consists principally of the soft, finely ground bolted meal obtained from milling rice
(essentially the starch and gluten), together with fine particles of rice bran and the offal from the “tail of
the mill.” This is a highly pre-processed ingredient, nearly devoid of all the naturally occurring vitamins.
“Ground Whole Grain Corn” doesn’t have an official definition, but presumably is mainly ground whole
corn kernels, and most likely doesn’t contain the entire cob as “ground whole corn” does. Corn is a
carbohydrate that is extremely difficult for dogs to digest and use, and is a leading cause of allergies.
And what is corn doing as the fourth ingredient in a “chicken and RICE food???” “Soybean Meal” is the
product obtained by grinding the flakes which remain after removal of oil from soybeans. It is a poor-
quality protein filler, and some allege that soybeans are the leading food allergy of dogs. “Sorghum” is
another carbohydrate source. While it is a plus that they use whole grain sorghum rather than some
fragment, it is very low in digestibility. The official definition of “Chicken By-Product Meal” is as follows:
“Consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks,
feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur
unavoidable in good processing practice.” Note that this is an inconsistent ingredient, because of the
multiple organs used and their constantly changing proportions. They are cheaper and less digestible
than chicken or chicken meal. Anything called a “by-product” means it is not deemed fit for human
consumption, and may even contain diseased or chemically tainted tissue. “Animal Fat” is a generic
term. The official definition says it is “obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the
commercial process of rendering or extracting.” It is much better to have a specific source, such as
“chicken fat,” or “beef fat.” Animal Fat could contain anything from road-kill, diseased farm animals,
euthanized pets, and other animals not seen as fit for anything other than a rendering plant. “Soybean
Oil?” More soy? Why? “Chicken Liver Flavor?” The flavor of chicken liver, without any actual liver??? “
Dried Beet Pulp” is a source of sweetening and fiber. It would be preferable if they removed the
sugar. The official definition for “Dried Egg Product” is “USDA inspected whole eggs without the shell in
a dehydrated form.” These egg products are often those seen as unfit for human consumption.
“Iodized Salt” is not something we should be adding to our pets’ food. "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!
WELLNESS SUPER5MIX CHICKEN FORMULA (Top 18 ingredients):
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Ban (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, because it is not specific enough.
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.