Wagg Wheat Free review

In our scoring this comes out Average, under the Good reading the typical adult dry food earns, and while protein and processing and transparency each read Average, nutritional balance lands at Poor. The reasons sit in plain sight on the ingredient list. Cereal carries most of the recipe, protein converts to 21.7% of dry matter, and only a minimum of the animal content is named. Taking wheat out does not change that arithmetic, which is worth understanding so you read the bag as a swap rather than a step up. For a dog whose trouble is wheat and nothing else, this still delivers a complete and fortified everyday meal.

Ingredients, as declared: 26%, Meat Meal & Gravy* (with min 4% Chicken*), Maize, Whole Grain Barley, Whole Grain Rice 14%, 2.8% Chicken Fat* (source of Omega 6), Beet, Dried Whole Green Peas, Whole Linseeds (source of omega 3), Minerals & Vitamins, Chicory Root (1000 mg/kg), Yucca (150 mg/kg). 28% Meat Ingredients, with Chicken equivalent per 100g to: *min 40g hydrated animal ingredients with

Meat meal and gravy at 26% opens the label, with a 4% chicken minimum named inside it. A footnote puts the 28% meat ingredients at 40g of hydrated animal ingredients or more per 100g of kibble. Meat meal is dried, rendered animal protein, concentrated and useful in its own right. The naming stops at that 4%, and no species is attributed to what remains.

Maize takes the place wheat usually holds, with whole grain barley behind it and whole grain rice declared at 14%. Of the three, rice sits easiest on a delicate gut, and it is the usual pick for a dog recovering from an upset stomach. Barley is easy enough once cooked, though it carries gluten, so wheat free and gluten free are not the same promise.

Chicken fat at 2.8% is the fat source and supplies omega 6, with whole linseeds bringing the plant form of omega 3. That takes declared fat to 9.0%, a touch richer than the leanest kibbles, which usually shows up as better palatability in a fussy dog.

Beet and dried whole green peas cover the vegetable side. Beet in this form is a fibre ingredient and not a source of sugar, since the sugar has already been extracted from it before the pulp reaches the recipe. Chicory root at 1000 mg/kg is the prebiotic and yucca at 150 mg/kg the stool odour entry.

The additive panel is printed with its doses: zinc at 50 mg, iron at 50 mg, manganese at 30 mg, copper at 5 mg, iodine at 0.5 mg and selenium at 0.1 mg per kilogram. Vitamins A, D3 and E sit alongside. The antioxidant and preservative at the end are not named individually, the one gap in a label that is otherwise readable.

Sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

For a sense of how far a bag goes, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs roughly 254 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The bag's own guide asks 75 grams for a 3kg dog, and 525 grams for one of 40kg.