Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4 stars.

The Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh product line includes 4 dehydrated 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.

Click the links below to compare prices at an online retailer.

• TruFood Make it Fresh Beef [M]
• TruFood Make it Fresh Turkey [M]
• TruFood Make it Fresh Salmon [M]
• TruFood Make it Fresh Lamb (3.5 stars) [M]

Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh Beef recipe was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

The first ingredient in this dog food is freeze-dried beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.²

Beef is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

It should be noted the meat used here has been freeze-dried prior to use in this recipe. Because of the gentleness of the process used to create this item, freeze-dried ingredients can be considered nutritionally superior to meat meals.

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

The third ingredient includes whole eggs. Eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

The fourth ingredient is flaxseed, one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Provided they’ve first been ground into a meal, flax seeds are also rich in soluble fiber.

However, flaxseed contains about 19% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fifth ingredient lists carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The sixth ingredient includes cranberries, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.

The seventh ingredient is potato. Potatoes can be considered a 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 eighth 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 ninth ingredient is apple, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.

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 two notable exceptions…

First, we find coconut. Depending upon the quality of the raw material, coconut is rich in medium chain fatty acids.

Medium-chain triglycerides have been shown to improve cognitive function in older dogs.³

Because of its proven safety⁴ as well as its potential to help in the treatment of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) and chronic skin disorders, MCT can be considered a positive addition to this recipe.

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

Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh 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 26%, a fat level of 15% and estimated carbohydrates of about 51%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 26% and a mean fat level of 13%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 53% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 49%.

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

When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the flaxseed and chickpea flour, this looks like the profile of a dry product containing a moderate amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Wellness TruFood Make it Fresh is a plant-based dehydrated dog food using a moderate amount of raw named meats as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4 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.

Wellness 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.

• Wellness Dog Food Recall of March 2017 (3/18/2017)
• Wellness Dog Food Recall October 2012 (10/30/2012)
• Wellness Dog Food Recall May 2012 (5/5/2012)

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.

To learn why our ratings have nothing to do with a product’s recall history, please visit our Dog Food Recalls FAQ page.

Get free dog food recall alerts sent to you by email. Subscribe to The Advisor’s recall notification list.

Dog Food Coupons and Discounts

Readers are invited to check for coupons and discounts shared by others in our Dog Food Coupons Forum.

Or click the buying tip below. Please be advised we receive a fee for referrals made to the following online store.

Notes and Updates