Millies Wolfheart Dog Food Review (Dry)

Mike Sagman

By

Mike Sagman
Mike Sagman

Mike Sagman

Founder

Dr Mike Sagman is the creator of the Dog Food Advisor. He founded the website in 2008, after his unquestioning trust in commercial dog food led to the tragic death of his dog Penny.

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Updated: October 6, 2023

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Product May Be Discontinued in North America
Unable to Locate Complete Label Info
On a Domestic Website1

Millies Wolfheart Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4.5 stars.

The Millies Wolfheart product line includes 2 dry dog foods.

Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

  • Millies Wolfheart Red River Mix (4 stars) [A]
  • Millies Wolfheart Texas Turkey Mix (5 stars) [A]

Millies Wolfheart Red River Mix was selected to represent both products in the line for this review.

Millies Wolfheart Red River Mix

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

28.3%

Protein

15.8%

Fat

47.9%

CarbsCarbohydrates

Trout, sweet potato, potato, lamb meal, menhaden fish meal, chickpea flour, tapioca, salmon oil, tomato pomace, vitamins & minerals (vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamin B12, riboflavin, d-pantothenic acid, niacin, folic acid, vitamin B6, thiamine, biotin, calcium carbonate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate), Yucca, dried cranberry, fennel seed powder, carrot flakes, dried apple, chamomile powder, seaweed meal, peppermint, dandelion herb, thyme, oregano, parsley, sage


Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 2.5%

Red denotes any controversial items

Estimated Nutrient Content
Method Protein Fat Carbs
Guaranteed Analysis 26% 15% NA
Dry Matter Basis 28% 16% 48%
Calorie Weighted Basis 25% 34% 42%

The first ingredient in this dog food is trout, a freshwater species closely related to salmon. Trout is rich rich in omega-3 fatty acids but also contains about 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

The second ingredient is sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a gluten-free source of complex carbohydrates in dog food. They are naturally rich in dietary fiber and beta carotene.

The third ingredient is potato, another gluten-free source of digestible carbohydrates. Yet with the exception of perhaps their caloric content, potatoes are of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The fourth ingredient is lamb meal. Lamb meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh lamb.

The fifth ingredient is menhaden fish meal, another protein-rich meat concentrate.

Fish meal is typically obtained from the “clean, dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish and fish cuttings” of commercial fish operations.2

The sixth ingredient is chickpea flour, a powder made from roasted chickpeas. Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are a good source of carbohydrates.

Plus they’re naturally rich in dietary fiber.

However, dried chickpeas contain about 26% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.

The seventh ingredient is tapioca, a gluten-free, starchy carbohydrate extract made from the root of the cassava plant.

The eighth ingredient is salmon oil. Salmon oil is naturally rich in the prized EPA and DHA type of omega-3 fatty acids. These two high quality fats boast the highest bio-availability to dogs and humans.

Depending on its level of freshness and purity, salmon oil should be considered a commendable addition.

The ninth ingredient is tomato pomace. Tomato pomace is a controversial ingredient, a by-product remaining after processing tomatoes into juice, soup and ketchup.

Many praise tomato pomace for its high fiber and nutrient content, while others scorn it as an inexpensive pet food filler.

Just the same, there’s probably not enough tomato pomace here to make much of a difference.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With 2 notable exceptions

First, we find no mention of probiotics, friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing to help with digestion.

And lastly, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

Millies Wolfheart Dog Food Review

Judging by its ingredients alone, Millies Wolfheart dog food looks like an above-average dry product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 28%, a fat level of 16% and estimated carbohydrates of about 48%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 33% and a mean fat level of 15%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 44% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 44%.

Above-average protein. Near-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the chickpea flour, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a notable amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Millies Wolfheart is a dry dog food using a notable amount of named meat meals as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4.5 stars.

Highly recommended.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

Millies Wolfheart Dog Food
Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

Notes and Updates

Sources

1: As of 07/18/2018

2: Association of American Feed Control Officials

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