Disclosure: When you buy through links on this site, we may earn a commission.
Disclosure: Watchdog Labs is free to use. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn a commission.
Please be aware that Hill’s is voluntarily recalling some canned dog food due to potentially elevated levels of Vitamin D. More information here.
Halo Holistic Chicken & Chicken Liver Adult is an overall great quality dry dog food at a mid-priced. This product has 0 controversial ingredients, which also means no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. The food has a high amount of carbs, compared to its protein and fat but and excellent meat and fat quality. Halo also has a below-average number of recalls. Additionally, the company was very transparent when answering our questions. Watchdog Labs recommends this product.
Read the Full Review Below
Learn what makes a great dog food and get expert advice on how to choose the best food for your dog.
Learn More
This dog food review was created by experts who love dogs. Find out more about our team and mission.
About Watchdog Labs
The food has high carbs and somewhat low protein and fats, making it less nutritionally balanced compared to other dog foods we evaluated. Carbohydrates are cheap so they keep the food’s cost low and they are nutritionally useful to dogs in the right amounts. However, high amounts of carbs can reduce the much-needed meat-based protein and fat content.
To evaluate dog foods, we first calculate out the moisture. This is called the “dry matter basis” and shows you only the solid ingredients in the food. These estimated “dry matter” numbers are different from the food label, but a better way to understand the real nutritional value of the food. We also calculate the carbs. Find out more
Min. Protein 27.78%
Min. Fat 16.67%
Min. Carbs 47.78%
Max. Fiber 5.56%
Max. Ash 7.78%
Max. Moisture 0.00%
Min. Protein: 25.0%
Min Fat: 15.0%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 5.0%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 10.0%
403 Calories per Cup
This product has a relatively high amount of calories. It’s important to understand how many calories you are feeding to prevent under or overfeeding. If your dog has fair to low activity levels, you may want to feed less than the labels recommend amount, since high-calorie foods like this are often feed to more active dogs who require a higher amount of daily calories. It's helpful to know that weight loss foods often have fewer than 340 calories per cup, weight maintenance foods typically range from 340-380 calories, and high-activity dog foods are usually over 400 calories.
Share Watchdog With Your Friends
Grain-Free Dog Foods
This is a grain-free dog food. The FDA is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and canine heart disease. There is not enough evidence yet to affect our ratings but we've created an article for you explaining the topic.
Learn More
Chicken, Chicken Liver, Dried Egg Product, Oatmeal, Pearled Barley, Dried Peas, Dried Chickpeas, Soy Protein Concentrate, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), flaxseed, Pea fiber, Natural flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Dried Bacillus Coagulans Fermentation Product, Dried Blueberries, Dried Cranberries, Dried Carrots, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Dried Golden Algae, Inulin, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin), Potassium Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Methionine Complex, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide), Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (Preservative).
The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This product does not have any controversial ingredients, which is great to see.
Top 5 Ingredients
Dog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. So when looking at a dog food label, take a close look at the first 5 ingredients. They make up about 80% of the total weight.
Controversial Ingredients
Halo has not included any controversial ingredients in this food.
Country of Origin
United States
Meat & Fat Quality
Halo clearly names the meat and protein sources like chicken, chicken liver, and dried egg product. This is great because it shows you the species the ingredient comes from. They are just as clear with the two fat sources chicken fat and flaxseed - both identify the source they come from.
Artificial Preservatives
This Halo product does not contain any controversial preservatives. It’s good to know that not all artificial preservatives are bad. That’s because they serve an important purpose, which is to prevent food from spoiling. However, we consider 11 artificial preservatives controversial because of their potential link to cancer and other serious health conditions.
Artificial Colors
No artificial colors are in this product.
Artificial Flavors
No artificial flavors are in this product.
We did not find any dog food recalls for Halo products, that’s great!
We love dog food brands that are committed to transparent business practices. If you make quality dog food you should be willing to openly talk about how it’s sourced and produced. That’s why we reached out to pet food companies, asking questions about all their brands and products. Each company had three weeks to reply to our messages.
How Easy Was it to Reach the Company?
Halo was pretty responsive, taking only 2 days to respond. After a follow-up email, they have openly responded to all but one question.
Does Halo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?
Our formulator for our meat-based diets has a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Wisconsin and an MS in Biology from Wright University. He also has 30 years’ experience in Pet nutrition and nutritional research working for some of the major pet companies in America. For our Vegan products we work with Dr. Sarah Dodd who is a certified Veterinarian with a Masters in Pet Nutrition and is working on her Ph.D. in pet nutrition. Both her Masters and Ph.D. are focused on plant-based nutrition for dogs.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?
See the previous answer.
(2nd email response)
Unfortunately, the information cannot be given for the formulator.
Do you test your products using the AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?
The only animal testing that Halo conducts is to ensure the palatability and digestibility of our recipes. Both tests are non-invasive and are done at an AAFCO recommended facility, which has been visited by our team to ensure animals are treated well.
What country are your products manufactured?
US
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?
No.
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?
All the manufacturing facilities are located in the US, regulated by the FDA and are regularly inspected by the US government. All the production is done under our supervision and only ingredients specified by us and recipes developed by us are used. We have very strict quality guidelines. All our ingredients are received with certificates of analysis and undergo raw materials testing independent lab analysis and in-depth safety review prior to use. All lots are fully traceable and once they are produced, the finished product is re-tested and is not released for sale until new testing is completed.
Does Halo own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?
We do not own the manufacturing facilities. We do have confidentiality agreements with all our manufacturing facilities and cannot divulge who or where they are. But let me reassure you that all the production is done under our supervision and only ingredients specified by us and recipes developed by us are used. We have very strict quality guidelines. All our ingredients are received with certificates of analysis and undergo raw materials testing independent lab analysis and in-depth safety review prior to use. All lots are fully traceable. The reason why we do not divulge the information is simply to keep the information away from our competitors. It is our trade secret. Our product development team has and is arduously working to find the best ingredients and working with the best manufacturing facility for our recipes. This is the reason why Halo does not have the recalls all these big companies have.
This is a reasonable response, but unfortunately, from a consumer perspective, it is troubling to not know who is making the product.
Do any parts of your product come from China?
None of our ingredients (including vitamins and minerals) come from China.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242073/
https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
https://petfood.aafco.org/Nutritional-Labeling
https://petfood.aafco.org/Labeling-Labeling-Requirements
https://petfood.aafco.org/Calorie-Content
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047120.htm
http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/banr/miscellaneous/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf
http://www.acvn.org/nutrition-resources/
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/PetFood/ucm2006475.htm
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2011-N-0922-0489
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/safety-loophole-for-chemicals-in-food-report.pdf
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/pubhealth/roc/index-1.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8493816
Linda P Case, MS; Daniel P Carey, DVM; and Diane A Hirakawa, PhD, Canine and Feline Nutrition A Resource for Companion Animal Professionals, Mosby-Year Book, Inc.
.svg)
