Review Summary

Halo is a health-conscious dog food brand marketed toward those who love their pets and the planet. All of the recipes we reviewed feature a well-balanced blend of vitamins, minerals, and probiotics to fortify your dog’s gut. The Elevate Dog Healthy Grains Salmon Recipe is our favorite choice because it’s grain-inclusive but doesn’t contain any common meat allergens such as chicken or beef. Halo Holistic Dog Food Cage Free Chicken & Brown Rice Formula is one of Halo’s most popular recipes on Chewy, and we like it because it’s a good source of whole-meat chicken, grains, and vitamins. Our first two choices are adult-only, so we selected Elevate Healthy Grains Puppy Chicken Recipe as our third-best option because it’s formulated for puppies.

At a Glance: The Best Halo Dog Food Recipes

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Our Favorite		Halo Holistic Wild Salmon & Whitefish	Good sources of Omega 3 fatty acids Healthy grains Vitamins, minerals, taurine, & probiotics	Check Price
		Halo Holistic Dog Food Cage Free Chicken & Brown Rice Formula	Real chicken is the first ingredient Prebiotics and probiotics for gut support Designed for dogs with digestive sensitivities	Check Price
		Halo Puppy Formula Holistic Chicken	Chicken is the sole animal protein Vitamins, minerals, taurine, & probiotics Contains oatmeal and flaxseed	Check Price

Halo Dog Food Reviewed

Who Makes Halo Dog Food and Where Is It Produced?

Halo dog food is owned by Better Choice Company and is made in the USA from globally sourced ingredients. This company prides itself on providing high-quality dog food recipes to dog moms everywhere. There’s even a vegan recipe, although most vets don’t recommend putting your dog on a vegan diet unless medically necessary.

Is This Food Formulated for All Life Stages?

All of the recipes specify whether the food is intended for puppies or adults. To the best of our knowledge, Halo doesn’t make dog food inclusive of all life stages. Adult-only foods are formulated for maintenance needs, not growth. Puppies need extra nutrients as they mature, so while it probably wouldn’t hurt them to eat adult food, it’s not the best choice.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients (Good and Bad)

We love how all of the Halo products we reviewed include probiotics in the food. These beneficial bacteria are found naturally in your dog’s gut, but a highly processed diet can cause them to decline. Probiotics indirectly reduce inflammation by fighting off the bad bacteria that cause infections in your pet. Because inflammation is linked to almost every chronic disease, including cancer, probiotics may indirectly reduce the risk of your dog getting sick. This is why it’s such an important part of your dog’s diet!

Salmon, as the main ingredient, is a great protein in our overall choice because it’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids and isn’t widely known to cause allergies in dogs. Although chicken is the main ingredient in our other top picks, some dogs are able to tolerate the protein well, and it’s still one of the most popular proteins in dog food.

Although none of the recipes listed here are grain-free diets (Halo offers them; we just didn’t include them in this review), the Holistic Chicken formula includes chickpeas, which is a common ingredient in grain-free foods. A 2018 study by the FDA found a correlation between a grain-free diet—including substitutes for grain such as pea ingredients—and canine cardiomyopathy, a type of heart disease in dogs. This leads us to be wary about too many lentil, pea, and potato ingredients in our dog’s food, but there needs to be more studies before we can actually say what caused the link.

Is Halo Actually Holistic?

On Chewy, the product description for the Holistic Chicken recipe states that there are no meat meal products in their food because “whole meat is more easily digested than rendered, processed meat meal containing higher levels of ash.” They claim that they never use meat meals in their food, just “whole chicken.” While it’s true that the Holistic recipe avoids meat meals, we don’t see this promise reiterated in the other two recipes. In fact, the Elevate Dog Healthy Grains Salmon Recipe contains three different kinds of meat meal! We wonder what made Halo change its tune.

Also, Halo claims that their ingredients are high-quality, but unless their food is human-grade (it’s not), then legally, it’s held to animal feed standards. These regulations have low accountability and can even contain 3D and 4D meats, which include animals found dead, dying, diseased, or destroyed. We’re uncertain about the stance Halo takes on these meats since they seem inconsistent with their beliefs on meat meal—which is a common source of these lower-quality proteins.

Halo Gives Your Dog Healthy Grains

While Halo does offer grain-free formulas, all the foods we picked to review feature heart-healthy grains such as oats, barley, and quinoa. Added fiber is a bonus to a grain-inclusive diet. And if the FDA found a link correlating grain-free dog foods to heart disease, then the inverse might also be true: grains may help prevent heart disease in dogs.

A Quick Look at Halo Dog Food

Recall History

No dog food recalls have tarnished Halo’s good reputation. The company as a whole has only had one recall, and that was for wet cat food in 2015.

Reviews of the 3 Best Halo Dog Food Recipes

1. Halo Holistic Wild Salmon & Whitefish – Our Favorite

We like this food best because wild salmon and whitefish are tasty meats that serve as excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Oatmeal and flaxseed are beneficial whole grains that provide your pet with fiber. Wild Salmon & Whitefish Recipe is also packed with vitamins, minerals, taurine, and probiotics, which are so helpful for your dog’s immune system and health overall.

Non-GMO fruits and vegetables such as dried blueberries, sweet potatoes, and carrots add some nutrition and flavor to the recipe, as well as chicken fat. Soy protein is also added, presumably as a source of extra protein. However, some people might be opposed to this since soy is a common allergen in dogs and humans, and is sometimes considered a filler. We don’t really like all of the pea products that are included in the mix, but this is a common problem in dog food.

2. Halo Holistic Dog Food Cage Free Chicken & Brown Rice Formula

This chicken and brown rice recipe is part of Halo’s Holistic line, specifically formulated to support dogs with sensitive stomachs. It features cage-free chicken as the first ingredient and is mixed with sweet potatoes, a digestible carbohydrate that’s easy on the stomach.

Halo Holistic Dog Food Cage Free Chicken & Brown Rice Formula is enriched with prebiotics and probiotics to support a balanced microbiome, and it avoids harsh additives or artificial preservatives. That makes it a great option for dogs prone to food sensitivities or occasional upset stomachs.

This formula also includes omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to promote a shiny coat and healthy skin. However, like other formulas in the line, this one also contains pea protein, chickpeas, and lentils, which some pet owners prefer to limit. If you’re ever in doubt of what ingredients to include or avoid in your dog’s diet, reach out to your vet for personalized nutrition advice.

3. Halo Holistic Chicken & Chicken Liver Puppy Food

This chicken-based recipe is the only Halo product on this list that’s formulated just for puppies. We’re happy to see that it’s similar to the adult Holistic Chicken recipe, which may ease the transition into adult food as your baby grows up.

Probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and taurine equip your puppy with the nutrients they need to grow healthy and strong. Prebiotics help their bodies naturally grow more probiotics on their own. Chicken is the sole animal protein, which is an added bonus if your dog is allergic to other meats, such as beef. Holistic Chicken & Chicken Liver also has dried egg product as an ingredient near the top of the list for extra protein, but just like the adult formulas, it also contains soy protein, which we’re not as crazy about.

Oatmeal and flaxseed are included as excellent grain-inclusive sources of fiber, but this food also contains several pea products that we could do without.

What Other Users Are Saying

Halo Adult Holistic Chicken is the most popular choice of Halo foods on Chewy, but the Elevate formulas are still fairly new. It may only be a matter of time before they’re the new favorite of Halo moms! Before making your decision on what Halo food is best for your pet, we recommend reading pet parent reviews from Amazon and Chewy.

Conclusion

Halo promises to give your pet holistic food that will help them stay healthy. While we’re not sure about some of their beliefs on the quality of meat, we think their food is a pretty good choice overall. We especially love how all of these formulas included a rich blend of probiotics, vitamins, and minerals.

The Halo Holistic Wild Salmon & Whitefish Recipe was our favorite choice because the fish is loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Halo Holistic Dog Food Cage Free Chicken & Brown Rice Formula is also an excellent choice. Finally, we were impressed with the nutrients in the Halo Holistic Chicken & Chicken Liver Puppy Food. It was a comparable recipe to the adult version and contained probiotics and healthy ingredients to help your new baby thrive for life.

Related Reads: 

• Can You Judge Dog Food Solely by Its First Ingredient? Facts & FAQ
• Evermore Dog Food Review: Pros, Cons & Verdict