Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak Grain-Free Natural Wetlands

We’re excited to be doing a 30 day review of Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak Grain-Free Natural Wetlands, requested by Chewy.com.  We started feeding on April 1st, no fooling 😉

Disheartened about Ingredients…

According to Dog Food Advisor, they rank Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak at a 4.5 Star food.  That ranking is based on the two other flavors offered and not specifially the Wetlands variety which is labelled ‘New’ in the line.  The recipe is labelled as “Chicken, Duck  & Pheasant” but I’m seeing Turkey [meal] listed long before it gets to Duck or Pheasant, see below:

Viewing the ingredient list:

Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Dried Peas, Pea Flour, Pea Protein, Whole Dried Potatoes, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Whole Flaxseed, Cranberries, Duck, Pheasant, Pork Flavor, Menhaden Fish Meal, Natural Flavor, Salt, Tapioca, Sweet Potatoes, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Niacin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

When reading ingrediants on a dog food bag, they are labelled in the order of abundance.  Usually the first 6 ingredents are the highest percentage within the food.  I also see Pork [flavor] & Fish meal being shown down the list.  Overall a bit dissapointed in the ingredients claimed to be in the food but so far down the list it may as well not be there, the bulk of this food is Chicken & Turkey, Turkey is’t even listed in the title of the food.

Some people have found that foods containing Peas and/or Flaxseed may have an affect on reproduction, breeders tend to try to avoid them or at least have them futher down the ingredient list (meaning less in food).  Starchy Peas can also be considered as a filler option (takes up 3 spaces in first 6 ingredients), along with Beet Pulp (#8).   A good thing is I see no mention of any extra dyes.

The Kibble

The kibble itself is a medium size, dark brown, round bite.  The food is an ‘all life stages’ and ‘all breed’ formula, the kibble is pretty standard size for other foods labelled as such.  All the kibble is a consistant color so the claim of ‘no dyes’ should hold true unlike some of the multi-colored kibbles on the market.

Price Point

At $41.98 for just 23lbs (that’s $1.83 a pound, so you don’t have to do the math), I find this price pretty pricey for our clan.  But even if we weren’t feeding a pack of dogs I doubt I’d look twice at this food at this price considering the ingredient findings, or lack there of. 

The Dog

We’re feeding one of our Berger Picards this food for 30days.  She’s a small dog for the breed and tends to run her weight off easily. She’s taken to this food well so far, we’ll see how she does as the month progresses.