James Wellbeloved Avis 

Change in ingredients means an increase in poultry fats across the range. Dog can no longer stomach the food and regularly vomits now.

JWB did not make customers aware of the change and as a result they’ve cheapened the product.

Think of it like what Sports Direct did to Karrimor.

Cheap, nasty product and yet another loss of customer.

It’s worthwhile the business finds out which team of idiots pushed this idea and sack them. It offered a short term saving but the building mass of poor reviews is now preparing them for future losses.

We should also consider the ethics of the message put out by the company. The supplier - Pets at Home put out a message regarding a change in the protein content. Neither Pets at Home nor JWB explicitly informed customers that poultry fat was the replacement ingredient, changing the ratios.

Having used JW for both our dogs over the years, I thought nothing of the fact that the chicken and rice kibble had changed shape. Within a couple of days our dog was having diarrhoea (to the point of squirty dirty watery faeces), vomiting, wouldn't eat, lethargic. This went on for a week and a half. We were late going on our UK holiday due to her being poorly, a vet visit needed for anti sickness injection, tablets, pain killers. I put her on a bland diet of chicken and white fish and she started improving. At no point have they informed us of a change, neither did PAH where our subscription comes from. We had sleepless nights and tears as well as ruined summer holiday as our dog has a soft tissue sarcoma and we wrongly assumed she had deteriorated. Shame on you. I will be taking this further.

I’ve been a loyal James Wellbeloved customer for years, specifically using their Fish & Rice Adult Dry Dog Food for my dog with a very sensitive stomach. We chose this brand because of its promise to avoid common allergens and offer a simple, safe formula.

However, without any clear notice or transparency, the company changed the ingredients — adding poultry fat — which caused my dog to become unwell and require a veterinary visit. The new packaging did not state “new recipe” or “updated ingredients,” nor was this change clearly communicated to subscribers like myself. Even the biscuit shape changed, yet nothing was marked to indicate a reformulation.

I still have two unopened bags and one partially used, which are now unusable for my dog. The stress of managing her sudden illness, coupled with having to urgently find a suitable replacement diet, was extremely upsetting and costly.

I’ve since contacted the company multiple times, received delayed and templated responses, and have only been partially refunded for the order. It’s even more concerning that I’ve found many other reviews online reporting similar issues, particularly around poultry fat being added without warning — affecting other dogs in the same way.

We’ve now switched to Harrington- just 6 Salmon, and it’s been fantastic. No reactions, much happier tummy, and great customer support. I’d definitely recommend giving them a try if you're in the same boat.

For a brand trusted by owners of dogs with allergies and sensitivities, this level of communication is unacceptable. I have escalated the matter to Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, and have made them aware of this as a potentially misleading business practice.

Pet owners deserve better transparency — especially when it concerns our pets' health.

They have changed the makeup of the food without making it public. This has caused our dog to have stomach problems. Will not be using again.

James Wellbeloved asked for my contact details, which I provided, you will be surprised to read that no contact has been made.

That’s fine, I will make sure as many people as possible are aware of the cavalier attitude to pet health that this company now adopt

My dog loves the food but their subscription 'service' leaves a lot to be desired. On a few occasions they have not delivered without explanation, which completely negates the point of setting up the subscription.

As I write, I am waiting again for a delivery, no explanation given, so again we are going to need to source it ourselves.

Recipe changed for dog food and the car food has suddenly jumped in price by £20 for 10KG bags so my subscription order was "out of stock" at the old price.

Avoid

New recipe on the adult fish and rice now contains poultry fat which has made my dog ill, due to her having an intolerance to chicken, hence why she was having fish dog food the old recipe was great no problems, new recipe no good. I am no longer a customer of James Wellbeloved. Changing recipe just so they get more profit, well they won’t get profit from me any more.

Don't usually review much but credit where it's due...our 4 month old working cocker spaniel hasn't had a solid poo since we picked him up at 8 weeks, vets found nothing wrong, changed to other brand but came across the chicken and rice for puppy/Junior..wow so impressed he's had his first solid poo after just days of being on this and he's seems calmer..so impressed I would definitely recommend for anyone to try this with their pup who has a dodgy tummy.

We’ve had our two labs on the lamb and rice for years as it’s the only food that Rosie can tolerate without bad gas 💨

Rosie has a degenerative brain condition and we know we have to make a tough decision sometime, but a couple of weeks ago she went into a sudden decline. We thought her time was up.

Then my husband had an idea as he had noticed a change in their food and that they didn’t seem as keen on it. After a little research he found out that the recipe had changed.

Now we have them both on a far better food made by a company local to us, and Rosie is a different dog. Far happier and lively again!

Well done JW, you nearly caused us to put down a dog that still has plenty of life left in her! Just because you want to save some money with a change to lower quality ingredients! And to not inform us of the recipe change is disgraceful!

James Wellbelove needs to sort PETS AT HOME out, I ordered a 15kg bag of Dog food 2 weeks later I've still not had it delivered. I've had to transition him over to another brand. How many more customers will you lose before you see how bad pets at home delivery service is?

James Wellbeloved have taken the decision to include poultry fat in all their products. No communication on the packaging - along with many others (google it) i now have 2 dogs with very poorly tummies and who are losing weight while i now have to quickly move them to a new food, a process that should be done slowly and properly.

Extremely disappointed with a brand i have used for 7 years+. Complete lack of concern for welfare and i now have an unusable £50+ bag of food.

Change of recipe (with NO communication) has severely affected by boy's tummy. He has been in and out of hospital with unrelated health issues so this is the last thing he needed and meant that after just a few meals with the new turkey kibble (he has been on James Wellbeloved since a puppy) he was back to the vets. Not only have I had to throw away a 10kg bag I have had several trips to the vet as any changes need to be closely monitored.

We are very concerned that our new bag of lamb and rice kibble is darker than previously. Have you changed the recipe? We need to ensure we don't change our dog's diet to include anything that could be a trigger for epilepsy. We had to stop using your wet food pouches for that very reason as the lamb and rice one now has chicken to which our dog is allergic. Why would you make changes to things we rely on for the health and safety of our animals. We have used your dog food for many years.

My elderly cat will only eat dry kibble but last year he needed six teeth extracting. The James Wellbeloved Adult Fish was excellent for him, perfect because the kibble was very small & easy for him to eat despite the dental extractions.
I’m now very upset as James Wellbeloved have changed the kibble size on this product to a larger one that my poor cat is really struggling with. I’ve spoken to the customer service team about my disappointment & told my complaint will be logged. I urge other customers to call them too to complain if they are also unhappy with the product changes. I’m now desperately phoning & emailing any shops to see if I can obtain some bags of the “old” product.

We fed our lovely chocolate labrador on James Wellbeloved, he thrived on it and lived a full and healthy life for nearly 16 years. That's why we used the same (but grain free) for our black lab who's now 8 years old. Then the recipe and kibble size changed, he's gone from 3-4 healthy poos a day to 6-7 soft poos. It doesn't agree with him, we'll be changing to another brand. What a shame they had to change a tried and tested trusted product!

New recipe is terrible! I’ve been buying James Wellbeloved cat dry food for years, but sadly they’ve recently changed both the recipe and the shape of the kibble. The new formula is terrible - why compromise on quality to cut costs when it means losing loyal customers? My cat won’t touch it now, and I won’t be buying it again.

They have changed the recipe of the kibble. My dog has a fish only diet. There was no warning. We now have a 15kg bag that the dog cannot eat as it has really upset her stomach. She is windy, being sick, eating grass and has unpleasant poos. Quickly trying to move to a different brand, but should been advised of such a major change.

After 7 years of happily feeding our dog with your Turkey and rice product, since you have bizarrely changed from easy to handle, easy to reseal and importantly, recyclable paper sacks to slippery, unsealable plastic ones we will be turning to another supplier. I expect many will follow suit. Your justification that you are using 34% less packaging when at the same time you are moving from paper to plastic makes no sense.

Some days later .... See below the standard cut and paste reply which makes virtually no reference to the points I raised and even repeats the nonsensical point about using less packaging on larger bags

With move to new website, everything is in a state. No longer take Debit card, only Credit Card. Took payment from me, but no email to confirm what is being sent, order looks like it contains 1 x box of cat food, not the 4 I usually get (but still charged for 4). Email inbox for customer service just sends a bounce back and phone lines closed. Going to take business elsewhere now.

My PayPal account has been charged over £89 for two bags of dog food that I have still not received after several weeks. Wellbeloved recently changed their website, and seem to have screwed up their subscription service whilst doing so. I have messaged them twice through their website about this, and still received no reply.

For such a large company (James Wellbeloved is a brand owned by Mars Group), I find this astonishing. I am left feeling scammed out of £89.78, especially in the absence of a response from them.

We have now run out of their dog food, so have moved on to another brand. But I still want my money back for the products I never received!
Update: I have now heard back from the company to say they are “reviewing my case”. Not quite sure what needs reviewing, as it is clear that the products have not been supplied! Still no refund….