Wellness CORE Puppy Chicken & Turkey Recipe review

Wellness · CORE Puppy Chicken & Turkey Recipe · Dry food · Growth (puppy)

89 / 100Our label score

★★★★½4.5 of 5 stars, from the score

36%Crude protein (min)

491kcal per cup

2FDA recall events for the brand

On the facts printed on its own label, Wellness CORE Puppy Chicken & Turkey Recipe scores 89 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Deboned Chicken, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 36% crude protein it ranks 1 of the 5 Wellness recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 17%.

At 491 kcal a cup it is calorie dense: small measuring errors become extra meals over a month, so this is a food to weigh rather than eyeball. The brand carries 2 FDA posted recall events in our check, set out below with their dates; weigh their age as well as their count.

The panel runs to 55 ingredient lines. 5 of them are animal source lines and 13 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 6, so 5 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 12 of 55: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 15; the 41 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is CORE Original, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, where its relative has Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal (source of Glucosamine), Chicken Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate). The full comparison is on the relative's own review page.

The label facts

Maker	WellPet
Format	Dry food
Life stage	Growth (puppy)
Full ingredient list, in label order	Deboned Chicken Chicken Meal Turkey Meal Lentils Peas Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols) Tomato Pomace Ground Flaxseed Dried Ground Potatoes Natural Chicken Flavor Salmon Oil Salt Potassium Chloride Taurine Vitamin E Supplement Choline Chloride Spinach Broccoli Carrots Parsley Apples Blueberries Kale Zinc Proteinate Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness Zinc Sulfate Calcium Carbonate Niacin Iron Proteinate Ferrous Sulfate Vitamin A Supplement Copper Sulfate Thiamine Mononitrate Copper Proteinate Manganese Proteinate Manganese Sulfate d-Calcium Pantothenate Sodium Selenite Pyridoxine Hydrochloride Riboflavin Biotin Vitamin D3 Supplement Chicory Root Extract Yucca Schidigera Extract Calcium Iodate Vitamin B12 Supplement Folic Acid Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) Dried Lactobacillus plantarum Fermentation Product Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product Rosemary Extract Green Tea Extract Spearmint Extract
Guaranteed analysis	Crude protein (min) 36% · crude fat (min) 17% · crude fibre (max) 5% · moisture (max) 10%
Dry matter reading	With the water taken out, the same analysis reads 40% protein and 18.9% fat. Dry matter is how wet and dry foods can be compared fairly.
Calories	3,867 kcal/kg, 491 kcal/cup, as labelled
AAFCO adequacy	Not stated on the product page we read. The life stage above follows the maker's own description of the recipe.
Price	Not listed. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing, and we had not for this recipe when the label was read.

How the score breaks down

Signal	Points	What the label shows
First ingredient	20 / 20	Deboned Chicken, a named whole animal protein, opens the panel.
Animal protein depth, first 10 ingredients	12 / 15	4 of the first ten ingredients are named animal ingredients.
Protein level for the life stage	15 / 15	Crude protein reads 36% as labelled, read against the growth (puppy) stage the label claims.
Fat level fit	10 / 10	Crude fat reads 17% as labelled.
Whole foods versus filler-flagged ingredients	10 / 10	None of the rubric's flagged ingredients appears in the first ten.
Artificial colours and preservatives	10 / 10	No artificial colours, colour-retention chemicals or artificial preservatives appear in the panel.
AAFCO adequacy basis	Not scored	No AAFCO adequacy basis was stated in the data we could verify, so this signal is not scored.
FDA recall history	3 / 10	2 FDA posted dog food recall events found for the brand in our November 2026 check.
Price tier	Not scored	Not scored in this round. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing.
Total	89 / 100	Scaled from 80 of 90 available points. Stars are the score divided by 20, rounded to the nearest half. The method is published in full on the dog food hub.

Ingredient notes: the first ten, one by one

Definitions below are written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words. They describe what an ingredient is, never what a brand claims about it.

Deboned Chicken. Deboned Chicken is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
Chicken Meal. Chicken Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
Turkey Meal. Turkey Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
Lentils. Lentils is a legume: starch, fibre and roughly a quarter protein by weight. A block of legumes in a panel is doing protein work as well as energy work.
Peas. Peas is a legume bringing starch, fibre and plant protein together. Legumes help a panel reach its protein figure without meat, which is worth knowing when you read the protein line.
Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols). Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols) is rendered fat from the named source. Fat is the densest energy in the recipe and carries much of its flavour.
Tomato Pomace. Tomato Pomace is the skins, pulp and seeds left from tomato processing, used as a fibre source.
Ground Flaxseed. Ground Flaxseed is a plant seed bringing fibre and ALA, a plant omega 3. Dogs convert ALA to the active forms poorly, so it does not do the job fish oil does.
Dried Ground Potatoes. Dried Ground Potatoes is a starch binder. In grain free recipes it is usually what holds the kibble together in place of grain.
Natural Chicken Flavor. Natural Chicken Flavor is a flavouring: a spray or powder added so the food tastes stronger to the dog. It is not a protein source and our rubric does not count it as one.

Who it suits

Active, lean dogs that burn through protein and hold weight easily
Puppies: the label is written for growth, which adult maintenance foods are not
Owners who want a named whole meat, not a meal or a plant, at the top of the panel

Who should skip it

Dogs that gain weight easily, unless every portion is weighed

The brand's recall record

2012: Wellness Complete Health Super5Mix Large Breed Puppy food was recalled in May 2012 as a precaution over possible Salmonella contamination at the Diamond Pet Foods plant that made it. No Wellness lot tested positive.

2017: WellPet recalled a limited amount of Wellness 95% Beef Topper for Dogs in March 2017 over potentially elevated levels of naturally occurring beef thyroid hormone.

One event was a puppy food made for the brand at a contract plant in 2012; the other was a canned topper in 2017. Neither covered this recipe, and both are labelled so readers can weigh them.

See the full dog food recall tracker for recent events across all brands.

Other Wellness recipes we scored

Recipe	Score / 100	Protein	Format
CORE Wholesome Grains Original Turkey Recipe	92	35%	Dry food
CORE Original	87	34%	Dry food
Complete Health Chicken & Oatmeal Recipe, Wholesome Grains	76	24%	Dry food
SIMPLE Limited Ingredient Diet Salmon & Potato Recipe	74	25%	Dry food

Feeding it

Switch foods gradually over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. Portion by calories, not by the look of the bowl: our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight, and this recipe's calorie line above is the number it needs.

What that means at the bowl, for a typical neutered adult (resting energy 70 times body weight to the power 0.75, times 1.6; treats come out of the same budget):

Dog's weight	Daily energy	Of this recipe, at 491 kcal a cup
3 kg	about 255 kcal	about 0.5 cups
10 kg	about 630 kcal	about 1.3 cups
20 kg	about 1,059 kcal	about 2.2 cups
30 kg	about 1,436 kcal	about 2.9 cups

Puppies, pregnant dogs and very active dogs need more; older and weight watching dogs need less. The calculator linked above adjusts for those cases.

Wellness CORE Puppy Chicken & Turkey Recipe: our recipe review