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Please be aware that Hill’s is voluntarily recalling some canned dog food due to potentially elevated levels of Vitamin D. More information here.
Health Extension Lamb Entree is a high-priced wet dog food with overall exceptional quality. This product has no controversial ingredients, including zero artificial preservatives, colors and flavors. The food also has well-balanced amounts of protein, fat and carbs and excellent meat and fat quality. Health Extension has no recalls. The company was also overall quite transparent when answering our questions. Watchdog Labs highly recommends this product.
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Learn what makes a great dog food and get expert advice on how to choose the best food for your dog.
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This dog food review was created by experts who love dogs. Find out more about our team and mission.
About Watchdog Labs
This food has well-balanced amounts of protein, fat, and carbs. Diets that are high in protein and fat, with moderate to low carbs, are ideal for most dogs.
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 40.91%
Min. Fat 40.91%
Min. Carbs 9.09%
Max. Fiber 4.55%
Max. Ash 9.09%
Max. Moisture 0.00%
Min. Protein: 9%
Min Fat: 9%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 1%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 78%
618 Calories per Can
This product has an above average amount of calories for wet food. It’s important to understand how many calories you are feeding to prevent under or overfeeding. Based on your dog's current weight and activity level you may want to feed more or less than the recommended amount.
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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.
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Lamb, Water Sufficient For Processing, Lamb Liver, Carrots, Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Dried Egg Product, Guar Gum, Potassium Chloride, Sunflower Oil, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Salt, Agar-Agar, Natural Flavor, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), Magnesium Sulfate, Sodium Carbonate.
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
Health Extension has not included any controversial ingredients in this product.
Country of Origin
United States
Meat & Fat Quality
Health Extension clearly names the meat and protein sources like lamb, lamb 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 fat source sunflower oil. It's a great sign of quality when the meat and fat sources are clearly labeled.
Artificial Preservatives
This Health Extension food 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, either - that’s excellent.
This brand has not had any dog food recalls, great to see.
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?
Health Extension responded in only two days to the first email. This quick response was incomplete, and a follow-up email did not provide additional answers.
Does Health Extension have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?
We have a team of Veterinarians and nutritionists that work together with our product development team to formulate our recipes according to AAFCO standards.
While this is helpful, it would be very better to know exactly who the professionals are that work on the product.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?
See the previous answer.
Do you test your products using AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?
Health Extension products all meet AAFCO standards and we follow the strict regulations required to supersede them.
This does not clearly tell us if they are running the trials or formulating to meet or exceed the standard.
What country are your products manufactured?
United States
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?
It is not open to the public.
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?
There is a (3) stage quality check process that encompasses (140) checkpoints before the ingredient becomes a part of our recipe.
Does Health Extension own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?
We have a co-op agreement with our manufacturing facility where we own all of the equipment used to produce our products but not the actual building. This helps to ensure nothing is cross contaminated with our product line.
Do any parts of your product come from China?
No ingredients are sourced 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.
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