Stella & Chewy's Lil' Bites Savory Stews Beef & Chicken Dinner in Broth Wet Dog Food

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Stella & Chewy's Lil' Bites Savory Stews, Beef & Chicken Dinner in Broth

Shredded beef and chicken in broth, in a small-breed cup. Beef and chicken lead the list, which is good... and there's a third species in it that the name doesn't mention.

There is salmon oil in it

At position fourteen. And it isn't just this recipe... every single Lil' Bites Savory Stews recipe contains salmon oil, including the Chicken, Chicken & Duck and Chicken & Turkey versions.

So a cup labelled Beef & Chicken contains three animal species, and nothing on the front says so.

If you're avoiding fish, buy from Stella's Shredrs line instead. Their Shredrs Beef & Chicken is the same base recipe with no salmon oil in it at all. We stock it.

For a dog that's fine with fish, this is a non-issue. Just buy it knowing.

Lil' Bites is Shredrs plus two ingredients

We put the two ingredient lists side by side. They match item for item, in the same order, with exactly two additions here: turmeric and salmon oil, inserted after the taurine.

Stella does not state anywhere that the pieces are smaller in Lil' Bites, despite the name... we looked. If piece size is the reason you're buying it, ask us and we'll open one.

One oddity in Stella's printed list

The published ingredient list for this recipe names five minerals individually and then lists the same five again inside a collective "Minerals (...)" parenthetical near the end. Zinc oxide, reduced iron, sodium selenite, manganese sulfate and copper amino acid complex all appear twice.

It's a formatting error on their page rather than anything in the food, and no other recipe in either line has it. We've reproduced the list exactly as published rather than tidying it up, so you can see what we saw.

10% protein is not what it looks like

Wet food analysis reads low next to kibble, and the two aren't comparable.

This is 83% moisture. Take the water out and the 10% protein becomes roughly 59% on a dry-matter basis, higher than any Stella kibble. The arithmetic is 10 divided by 17.

What it costs to actually feed this

Stella's chart says a 16-20 lb dog needs 6½ to 7½ cups a day as a complete meal. At 71 calories a cup that's about right for that dog... but it means a 12-cup pack lasts under two days.

For most people that makes this a topper rather than a diet. Worth noting that Stella's page for this product offers no topper guidance at all, where their Shredrs pages explicitly say "meal or topper." If you want to use it as a topper, use a fraction of the chart amount and take those calories off the food underneath. Ask us and we'll work it out for your dog.

What's in it

Beef, cage-free chicken, beef broth, chicken broth, tapioca, sunflower oil, then salt, taurine, turmeric, salmon oil and the vitamin and mineral package.

Free from grains, legumes, potatoes, carrageenan, wheat, meat by-products, soy, and artificial colors, preservatives and flavors. Carrageenan is worth noting... it's a thickener used widely in wet pet food that many owners now avoid, and this line leaves it out.

Full ingredient list

Beef, Cage-Free Chicken, Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, Tapioca, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Magnesium Sulfate, Taurine, Turmeric, Salmon Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, D-calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide), Beta-Carotene, Folic Acid.

Reproduced exactly as Stella & Chewy's publishes it, duplicated mineral block and all. See the note above.

Guaranteed analysis

• Crude Protein (min) ... 10%
• Crude Fat (min) ... 2%
• Crude Fiber (max) ... 2%
• Moisture (max) ... 83%

Stella prints these identical four numbers on all twelve of their wet dog recipes, across both lines. The guaranteed analysis won't help you tell them apart. The calories will.

Calorie content

71 kcal per cup ... 922 kcal/kg

Across the Lil' Bites line: Chicken & Turkey is lightest at 62 kcal a cup, Chicken & Chicken Liver richest at 75.

Feeding guidelines

Stella's instruction is to feed adult dogs 3 to 4 cups per 6 lbs of body weight per day. Cups per day:

Stella adds that puppies may need up to twice the adult amount. Adjust to your dog's individual needs, keep fresh water available, and refrigerate what you don't use.

Size

2.7 oz cup, sold as 12 individual cups. Stella notes the cups are recyclable.

On the label statement

Stella describes this as complete and balanced and formulated for small breed dogs, but publishes no AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement and names no life stage on their page. We checked twice. Ask us and we'll read it off the cup, particularly if this is going to be your dog's only food.

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