Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula

Experts say Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula ranks among the best dry cat foods you can buy, but you can pay more than for other well-regarded choices.

Ingredient quality

Grain-free and meat-rich. Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula earns a perfect rating from one top expert. Its ingredients are all human-grade, this expert points out -- and its top ingredients are all quality meat proteins (deboned turkey and chicken, followed by chicken, whitefish and herring meals). Wellness's meat meals contain no byproducts, and its fish meals use only natural preservatives. Wellness includes proteinated minerals (for better absorption) and probiotics (friendly bacteria) to promote good digestion and immunity.

Wellness Core is grain-free. Experts say that's good for cats, which are strict carnivores that haven't evolved to digest much grain. It does contain quite a few vegetables and fruits, which some critics -- including veterinarian Lisa Pierson -- say are unnecessary for strict carnivores.

Some vets -- again, Pierson included -- say cats shouldn't eat dry food at all. They say cats evolved to get their moisture from food, and their thirst drive is so low that they won't make up the difference by drinking water. Too little moisture can lead to painful, potentially life-threatening urinary problems.

Franny Syufy, About.com's guide to cats, ranks Wellness Core and Evo, a similar and similarly well-regarded dry cat food, at the top of her list of the best dry cat foods. "In my opinion, Wellness Core is neck-and-neck with Innova Evo in providing a dry food closely aligned to a raw diet, and my cats enjoyed both equally," she writes. Still, she switched her cats to an all-canned diet to avoid dry-food-related health problems.

Product safety

No recalls for Wellness dry cat food. Wellness dry cat food hasn't been recalled, a search of the Food and Drug Administration's online pet food recall database shows (it goes back to 2007).

But Wellness did recall some canned cat food in 2011 for containing too little vitamin B1. This year, Wellness recalled one variety of dry dog food after a salmonella outbreak in the Diamond Pet Foods plant where it was made. The food tested negative for salmonella, but Wellness pulled it anyway, as a precaution -- and the company cut its ties with Diamond.

Wellness makes its dry cat food in its own Indiana factory, with 99 percent of ingredients from the U.S., Canada or New Zealand and less than 2 percent from other countries, an expert review source says.

Value

Some other quality choices cost less. Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula and Evo Turkey and Chicken Formula (*Est. $22 for a 6.6-lb. bag) have ingredient lists that are very similar -- but pound for pound, Evo costs less.

Most other dry cat foods add grain, which makes them cheaper -- but experts say it also makes them less nutritious for cats. Natural Balance Original Ultra (*Est. $16 for a 6-lb. bag) contains grain, but experts say its high-quality ingredients make a good pick for cat owners on a budget.

The bottom line

Experts say Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula is one of the best dry foods on the market -- but it costs more than some other very good and very similar foods, such as Evo Turkey and Chicken Formula.