Food Friday: WellyChef Dehydrated Raw Dog Food

I got to meet the WellyChef folks at SuperZoo, and experience their dehydrated raw dog food in person. They had bowls of rehydrated WellyChef food out on tables where the curious could poke it with a spoon and examine the aroma and texture. Obviously this was effective, as here I am writing about it.

Honest Kitchen was the first company to bring us dehydrated raw dog food that we could rehydrate at home for a tempting meal. A lot of dogs love their food, but to me it seems very green and plant-filled. My picky eaters won't touch it. Spot Farms was the next dehydrated dog food that I encountered, and it seemed much more meaty. Spot Farms looks like canned dog food when rehydrated.

I'm not sure how long WellyTails has been making their WellyChef dehydrated dog food, but it's new to me. This food looks like something I might eat myself. It's meaty, is smells pretty tasty, and I can see the vegetables in it.

The Company

WellyTails has been making dietary supplements for pets since 2009. This is a Canadian company, but they opened a United States production facility in 2012. Their primary focus is on supplements and vitamins intended to improve skin, coat, joint pain, or longevity. I like their view on ingredient sourcing. The website says they use human-grade stuff whenever possible, but sometimes feed-grade ingredients are the only option, and sometimes feed-grade ingredients just make more sense. They do not use anything labeled as pet food grade.

The Food

This is some of the best-smelling dog food out there. It's just really appetizing, there's gotta be some spices and stuff in there to make it smell that good. The vegetables come in a very specific size, big enough to see but small enough to actually be digested. It uses the same food-water ratio as Honest Kitchen and Spot Farms, two parts food to three parts water. Like Honest Kitchen, it seems pretty watery for a few minutes before it really sets. WellyChef offers two food recipes, beef and turkey. With sweet potatoes and eggs included in both options, I would not consider either of these to be a limited ingredient food.

The Verdict

Sisci love the WellyChef beef food sample I brought home from SuperZoo. Ru was mildly interested, but not enough to eat a whole bowl. However, I am officially calling bullshit on their claim of vegetable chunks small enough to be digested. I can assure you, they came out looking the same as they went in.