Dehner is a well-known company in the gardens and plants world. However, the company also has a side business under the same name that provides nutritious and high-quality food for dogs.
They have a large variety of wet food available in different flavors. For this test, we concentrated on the flavor “Unterholz” (translated into English as ‘Undergrowth’).
By the end of this post, you will be able to decide if this wet food is suitable for your pet dogs or not.
Wild Nature Brand
As Dehner is basically a plant’s brand, they claim that their brand’s wild nature is visible in their dog food too. Also, the manufacturers say that they mimicked wolves’ diet in their Unterholz wet food – the recipe for this wet food is based on what a wolf would eat in the wild. That is why they avoided the use of grain and instead, focused on a high proportion of this meat in this wet food.
Moreover, the company goes by the slogan of a“sustainable, responsible company that values high ecological standards.”
The brand assures that they have chosen all the suppliers and ingredients included in their wet food production attentively to provide a careful treatment for animals. We can agree that their food meets all the legal standards; however, we are still unaware of a few ingredients and from where they get their meat.
Grain Free Food
According to the manufacturers, Unterholz is an all-natural wet food that includes 70% of natural animal proteins, 30% of vegetables, and absolutely no grain.
That is why this wet food is suitable and perfect for dogs with a sensitive digestive system or allergy sufferers. In addition, this food is ideal for nutrition-sensitive dogs who can not consume all types of food.
Moreover, the food contains natural and high-quality ingredients that will provide your dog with all the essential nutrients to live a healthy and flourishing life. However, the brand has not mentioned the source of where they get their raw materials from, and the nutritional development of the recipe remains unknown as well. The quality standards of the ingredients are also unrevealed.
Still, the thing we are utterly sure about is that the product contains 100% natural ingredients and does not contain any artificial flavors, colours, preservatives, chemical, or toxic substances. Also, the Unterholz wet food by Dehner does not contain harmful ingredients like soy, sugar, and any type of genetic engineering.
The "Undergrowth" of Dehner Wild Nature
As we have briefly mentioned above, the Unterholz wet food by Dehner contains 70% of real animal protein, which includes 40% of beef (liver, lungs, muscle meats, and kidneys), 15% of lamb (kidneys, liver, heart, and lungs), and 15% of wild boar.
Moreover, the best part is that the declaration of each ingredient and formula mentioned is written clearly without any brackets. If the percentages were in a bracket, they would only represent the ingredients instead of the actual meat content. Thus, we are giving them full points for the meat declaration.
However, Dehner has not mentioned what parts of “wild boar” they have used. This 15% of wild boar can mean bristles, horns, or other extras. Just mentioning “15% of wild boar” is not enough. We do believe they should have been a little more specific about the contents.
The product also says that there is 24% of meat broth, but did not specify from what animal or animals that broth came from. Further, 24% of broth brings the food to 79% of moisture, which is a little too high as compared to other wet food available in the market. Other types of wet food contain 75% moisture, which is ideal. Therefore, with this in mind, we found this as a drawback for Dehner’s Unterholz.
Other Ingredients
The recipe of the Unterholz by Dehner also contains some nutritional, healthy additives and ingredients, which are all-natural and will be beneficial for your four-legged friend’s health.
The formula includes a small number of vegetables like carrot and peas to provide your dog with essential carbohydrates and fiber for an improved digestive system.
The product also contains 6% of eggshell powder to provide your dog with calcium and preventing uncomfortable conditions like allergies and kidney problems. Furthermore, it contains essential vitamins, omega-6 fatty acids, and safflower oil to provide your dog with healthy skin and complete nutrition.
Wild Herbs in the Product
Apart from animal protein, vegetables, and nutritional additives, Unterholz also contains a mixture of different, beneficial herbs like chamomile, fennel, nettle leaves, blackberry leaves, yarrow leaves, and caraway.
All these herbs are present in a small amount and will be extremely beneficial for your four-legged friend’s digestive system and will strengthen his immune system. Additionally, these herbs will help a lot in detoxifying the digestive tract of your dog.
Though these herbs are beneficial, we should always pay attention to the dosage. A little too high dosage can cause overdose, which can lead to harmful health conditions. In this case, we give full points to Unterholz, as it contains 0.2% of herbs, which is entirely harmless.
The product also contains one more additive called “Inulin from Chicory.” This additive is a natural fiber that comes from the chicory plant and can be extremely beneficial in preventing intestinal flora and intestinal bacteria. Also, it has a sweet and delightful taste that your dogs will love and will keep asking for more. However, make sure if your dog can tolerate inulin. They may have an allergy to this ingredient and it’s always best to check and try beforehand.
Too Much Vitamin E
Our test and research noticed that the wet food contains 50 mg of Vitamin E, which is too much for a dog.
An adult human should consume 12 mg of Vitamin E in a day, but with Unterholz, a dog will consume over three times more. We are still unsure why this much amount of Vitamin E is present, so we believe that Dehner should specify this too.
Conclusion on Dehner Wild Nature
The Dehner Wild Nature – Unterholz is undoubtedly one of the best, healthy, and foraging wet good food available in the market right now.
Its declaration reveals a lot of information, the estimated meat content is 55%, and it is an affordable alternative to many expensive and high-end wet dog food.
Still, like every other thing, it also has a few drawbacks. The meat stock is unspecified, the wild boar contents are unknown, and the high proportion of preservatives is questionable if it is safe or not.
However, one thing is for sure: most of its ingredients are natural, high-quality and non-toxic.
