The scores
Wellness CORE Original Grain-Free Chicken, Turkey & Chicken Meal: A (90/100) — Excellent. Three named animal proteins in the top three slots, three live-strain probiotics, salmon oil for omega-3s, and a botanical antioxidant blend. One of only five A-tier dog foods in our database.
Acana Red Meat Recipe: B (88/100) — Very Good. Three fresh red meats followed immediately by three meat meals before any carbohydrate, organ meats in the top fifteen, herring oil, and Champion Petfoods’ signature WholePrey philosophy. The second-highest score in our database, just behind Orijen.
How the ingredients compare
The top five ingredients:
Wellness CORE: Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Peas, Potatoes
Acana Red Meat: Fresh Angus Beef, Fresh Yorkshire Pork, Fresh Grass-Fed Lamb, Beef Meal, Pork Meal
The two formulas come at premium grain-free from opposite directions. Wellness CORE leads with one fresh poultry source (deboned chicken), then immediately doubles down with two concentrated meals (chicken meal + turkey meal) for protein density. Peas and potatoes form the carbohydrate base. Acana opens with three distinct fresh red meats — Angus beef, Yorkshire pork, grass-fed lamb — each named with sourcing specificity, then layers their meal forms on top. By the time Acana hits its first carbohydrate (whole green peas at position seven), six of the first six ingredients are animal-sourced.
Where Wellness CORE pulls ahead is what comes after. Tomato pomace, flaxseed, salmon oil, and a botanical blend of spinach, broccoli, carrots, parsley, apples, blueberries, kale, and sweet potatoes precede the live-culture probiotic mix — Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus licheniformis, and Bacillus subtilis. That triple-strain probiotic stack is the two-point story versus Acana, which carries no probiotics.
Acana’s deeper-list strength is its organ-meat density: fresh beef liver, fresh pork liver, fresh beef tripe, fresh beef kidney, and fresh pork kidney appear in the top fifteen. Organ meats are the single most nutrient-dense animal ingredient class — concentrated taurine, B vitamins, iron, CoQ10. Most kibbles use organ meats sparingly if at all. Acana’s legume load (whole green peas, whole red lentils, whole chickpeas, whole green lentils, whole pinto beans, whole yellow peas) is also heavier than Wellness CORE’s simpler peas-plus-potatoes carb base — relevant given the FDA’s ongoing investigation of grain-free legume-heavy diets and dilated cardiomyopathy.
Where Wellness CORE pulls ahead
Three-strain probiotic blend. Wellness CORE is one of only a handful of dry-kibble formulas at any price point that ships with three live-culture probiotic strains. Probiotics support gut barrier function, modulate the inflammatory response, and improve stool quality — the rubric rewards their presence directly, and the practical benefit is real for dogs with sensitive digestion.
Lower legume load. Wellness CORE uses peas and potatoes for the carbohydrate base, not the seven-legume stack Acana relies on. Given the FDA’s ongoing investigation into grain-free legume-heavy diets and dilated cardiomyopathy in genetically predisposed breeds (Goldens, Dobermans, Boxers, Cocker Spaniels), the simpler carb architecture is a meaningful safety hedge for at-risk dogs.
Cleaner, shorter ingredient list. Wellness CORE’s ingredient list is tight — under thirty named ingredients before the vitamin-mineral premix. Acana runs deeper with sixty-plus ingredients including the botanical and probiotic-style additions. Both can be virtues, but the shorter list with everything in meaningful position is what the rubric rewards. Shop on Amazon →
Where Acana holds its own
Three named fresh meats up front. Acana Red Meat’s opening is extraordinary: Angus beef, Yorkshire pork, and grass-fed lamb each named with sourcing specificity, all fresh and water-in. That level of multi-protein diversity in the top three positions is rare even at premium prices — Wellness CORE leads with one fresh meat (chicken) and two meals.
Organ-meat density. Fresh beef liver, fresh pork liver, fresh beef tripe, fresh beef kidney, and fresh pork kidney in the top fifteen put Acana well ahead of almost any other dry kibble for naturally occurring taurine, B vitamins, iron, and CoQ10. For owners drawn to whole-prey nutritional philosophy, Acana’s organ-meat profile is unmatched in this comparison.
Champion Petfoods provenance and red-meat protein diversity. Acana is made by the same Canadian company that makes Orijen, with the same biologically-appropriate WholePrey philosophy at a more accessible price point. For dogs with poultry sensitivities, Acana Red Meat offers a multi-protein red-meat formula that Wellness CORE’s chicken-and-turkey blend cannot match. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
If you want the highest-rubric-score grain-free formula with built-in probiotic support, Wellness CORE is the pick — A/90, three live-strain probiotics, simpler carb base. If your dog has poultry sensitivity, you value organ-meat density, or you want the multi-fresh-meat WholePrey architecture, Acana Red Meat at B/88 is two points back but architecturally distinct and a strong choice for the right dog. Both are A-tier-adjacent picks; the choice depends on whether probiotic support or red-meat protein diversity matters more for your dog. For more premium grain-free options, see our best grain-free dog food guide.