Wellness / Simply Nourish / Natural Balance: what is in it, and what we would feed instead
Core, Complete Health, Grain-Free lines · PetSmart, Pet Valu
Our take
Better than the bottom shelf, and now owned by investment firms rather than the people who started it. Worth watching the label year to year.
What the label says
Wellness Core is mid-premium kibble with genuinely improved ingredient lists vs. mass-market brands. Wellness Pet Company has been owned by the private-equity firm Clearlake Capital since 2020; Natural Balance is owned by Nexus Capital, and Simply Nourish is PetSmart's house brand. The grain-free Core formulas use peas, pea protein, and pea fibre in the top 5 — the legume-heavy pattern the FDA described in its 2019 DCM report.
- Still heavily processed despite better ingredients
- Grain-free lines have FDA DCM association
- Pea protein artificially inflates protein percentage
- Single-protein format encouraged
- Nutrient loss through high-heat extrusion applies
- Whole, named protein
- Moisture in the food (raw is about 70% water; kibble about 10%)
- Protein rotation
- No starch binder
- Fresh fats and omega-3s
Private-equity ownership: When a pet food brand is owned by an investment firm rather than a family or a founder, watch for quiet reformulations — ingredient quality can drift after a change of ownership. Compare the current label to a photo of last year's bag.
The switch at Barks N Purrs
Adding Big Country Raw to replace 30% of the current food creates a meaningful nutritional leap. COEVO freeze-dried (BC-made) is a natural bridge from this category.
Website prices on 2026-09-26. Cost per day is a starting estimate at 2.5% of body weight for an adult dog; your plan uses your pet's real weight and age.
Turn this into a 30-day plan for your pet
Three minutes: who they are, what is going on, what they eat now. You get the food, the first two supplements, the amount to feed and the cost per day, emailed to you as a shopping list to bring in.
Build the plan