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

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

Shredded chicken in broth, in a small-breed cup. One thing to know before you buy it as a chicken-only food.

There is salmon oil in it

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

So a cup labelled Chicken Dinner contains two animal species, and nothing on the front says so.

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

For a dog that's fine with fish, this is a non-issue and the oil is there for a reason. 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 in the Lil' Bites version: turmeric and salmon oil, inserted after the taurine.

Everything else is identical, and the numbers bear it out... 890 kcal/kg here against 889 for the Shredrs twin, and the same guaranteed analysis.

So the real differences are the container, the two added ingredients, and who Stella says it's for. 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.

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.

If a wet food's analysis has ever looked thin to you, that's the water. Compare wet to wet.

What it costs to actually feed this

Stella's chart says a 16-20 lb dog needs 6½ to 8 cups a day as a complete meal. At 69 calories a cup that's right on the money for that dog... but it means a 12-cup pack lasts about a day and a half.

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

Cage-free chicken, chicken broth, tapioca, sunflower oil, then tricalcium phosphate, salt, taurine, turmeric, salmon oil, and the full 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

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

Reproduced exactly as Stella & Chewy's publishes it.

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

69 kcal per cup ... 890 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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