Dog Community

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about Healthwise?

Posted : 4/28/2006 10:20:53 AM

HealthWise Chicken & Oatmeal Adult Dry Dog Food Ingredients:
Chicken Meal, Oatmeal/Rolled Oats, Ground Brown Rice, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed Meal, Natural Flavors, Herring Oil, Avocado Oil, Garlic, Dried Kelp, Vitamins/Minerals
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]HealthWise Lamb Meal & Oatmeal Adult Dry Dog Food Ingredients:
Lamb Meal, Oatmeal/Rolled Oats, Pearled Barley, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed Meal, Taurine, Natural Flavors, Herring Oil, Avocado Oil, Garlic, Dried Kelp, Vitamins/Minerals [/color]

[linkhttp://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=hea-home]http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=hea-home[/link]

glenmar

Posted : 4/28/2006 10:23:30 AM

Ya know, Kelly, I've looked at this food, but I wasn't crazy about so many grains as I recall and the kcals were on the lowish side compared to Innova and if I've gotta feed MORE I'm not saving anything. As I understand it, and I could be wrong, Healthwise is the Natura "bargain" product. Certainly better than a lot of stuff out there tho.

sooner

Posted : 4/28/2006 10:31:02 AM

It is lowish on the kcals ~ 400/cup for the chicken formula. And it is the bargain line ~ $30/35 lbs. But I was thinking of trying it for my sensitive stomach boy. When I was looking into it it dawned on me that I never see it mentioned, so just wanted to get some opinions. I think the ingredients look pretty decent, not near as grain heavy as a lot of others, and the protein and fat levels are okay for my purposes.

Although I don't understand making a lamb formula and then putting chicken in it.

willowchow

Posted : 4/28/2006 6:50:08 PM

Honestly, with all the places around here that sell the Natura products, I've NEVER seen Healthwise anywhere.

sooner

Posted : 4/28/2006 7:09:46 PM

That's funny... at the feed store I use, you trip over a huge pile of the stuff when you walk in the door.

brookcove

Posted : 4/29/2006 7:26:24 AM

We used Healthwise for a while. It was our last stop on the way to BARF several years ago. It IS grain heavy but it's a better product than many out there, certainly. From Cal Natural I thought the dogs took a litle step back in terms of clean teeth and shiny coats. And my allergy dog Ben crashed (which is how I figured out ANY grains were bad for him). I think it's hard for most people to get - we got our Natura products through a distributor and were able to get anything Natura sold.

Edie

Posted : 4/29/2006 8:32:44 PM

If a store carries healthwise than it probably also carries innova,california natural and EVO,compared to these, healthwise doesnt quite stack up.The reason i have never tried it is because of the lack of meat,if it had 3-4 meat meals before all the grains i may have considered it.... My dogs need meat and arent very interested in foods that contain minimal amounts compared to grains.

sooner

Posted : 4/29/2006 10:46:13 PM

Guess I'm dense. I'm not seeing how it's all that grain heavy.

California Natural is one meal followed by brown rice and white rice.

Innova has 1 meal and 2 meats, but also has barley, brown rice, potato (not a grain I know), and white rice.

So why is it that bad that this one has 1 or 2 meals and 2 grains? or 3 with the flaxseed (but I was just looking at the main ingredients before the fat).

schlep

Posted : 4/30/2006 3:10:40 AM

Seems a bit overpriced to me, considering there's only 1 meal in their adult formula. Prism (Eagle Pack's bargain brand) has 3 and goes for $25-27 for 40 pounds. If it's local and in your price range and you want to try it, I don't see anything wrong with it. Just doesn't seem like much of a bargain.

jessies_mom

Posted : 4/30/2006 11:42:27 AM

Kelly, You can contact the company to find out how "grain heavy" the product is. I asked Eagle Pack what percentage of their Holistic formulas were meat meal and found that they are 40% meat meal. You can't always tell by looking at the list of ingredients.