wild rice
Wild rice is a water-grass seed wearing rice's name — darker, more protein, more fiber, and priced for the wilderness aesthetic it lends a label.
What it is
Seeds of Zizania, a North American aquatic grass — a different genus from true rice despite the name. Nuttier, higher in protein and fiber than white rice, with antioxidant pigments in the dark bran.
Why it's in pet food
Premium-wilderness positioning with modestly better-than-rice nutrition. Inclusions are usually decorative-scale; the canoe-country imagery is doing the heavier lifting.
How Bowlmark scores it
Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.
No bonus seat, no deduction, no flag of its own. A fine example of the label-romance economy: wild rice fifth on a list changes the picture on the bag more than the nutrition in the bowl, and the engine's zero is the right price for that difference.
Foods that list wild rice
Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Beef and Chicken76
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Rice & Lamb Stew76
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Roasted Turkey76
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Simmered Beef76
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Simmered Chicken76
- Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Chicken, Tuna & Wild Rice Entrée In Sauce73
- Friskies Fully Load’d Salmon, Wild Rice, Carrots & Spinach in Sauce
Compare foods that list wild rice
Same species, same form, both scored — closest scores first, so the comparison is a real one.
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Beef and Chicken vs Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Rice & Lamb Stew
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Beef and Chicken vs Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Roasted Turkey
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Beef and Chicken vs Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Simmered Beef
- Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Beef and Chicken vs Beneful Freshly Prepared Meals Simmered Chicken
Sources
Related ingredients
Further reading
Cite this page
Bowlmark. "Wild rice in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/wild-rice
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- Last verified August 12, 2026
No stored score to stamp yet — the engine and config above are the ones a scan runs today.