Acana Adult Large Breed Recipe review

Our scoring places this food in the Excellent band. The typical adult dry food reaches our Good band, so the gap is a genuine step up rather than a rounding difference. A named-animal list and a meat-led build do the earning here, with a modest carbohydrate load behind them. Transparency reads Outstanding, protein and processing Good, and nutritional balance and value Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (16%), chicken meal (15%), whole red lentils, whole green peas, turkey meal (7%), whole chickpeas, fresh chicken giblets (liver, heart) (4%), chicken fat (4%), fresh eggs (4%), raw hake (4%), fish oil (3%), herring meal (2.5%), whole green lentils, whole yellow peas, lentil fibre, pea starch, raw turkey livers (0.5%), salt, dried kelp, fresh whole pumpkin, fresh whole butternut squash, fresh whole carrots, fresh whole apples, fresh whole pears, fresh whole zucchini, dried chicory root, fresh kale, fresh spinach, fresh turnip greens, fresh beet greens, whole cranberries, whole blueberries, whole saskatoon berries, turmeric, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips.

Fresh chicken at 16% and chicken meal at 15% make a sensible pairing. The fresh share brings palatability, though the oven drives off much of its weight as water. The meal arrives already dried and keeps its weight, so between them the meat content holds up in the finished kibble. Turkey meal at 7% and fresh chicken giblets at 4% deepen the animal side, and protein converts to a healthy 35.2% of dry matter.

Legumes carry the starch on their own. Whole lentils in red and green, peas in green and yellow, chickpeas, and then pea starch and lentil fibre to bind. There is no grain of any kind, and the estimated carbohydrate converts to 33.0% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

Fish earns its keep in three forms. Raw hake at 4% and herring meal at 2.5% add protein variety, while fish oil at 3% supplies the omega 3s a big dog's joints and coat draw on.

Fresh eggs at 4% are a quality protein topper, and everything from the pumpkin to the rosehips sits at trace level. Fruit and greens read well on the bag alongside the botanicals, but they do little of the work. The meats and legumes are the recipe.

The additive panel is dosed in print, with zinc at 112.5 mg and copper at 11 mg per kilo alongside a full vitamin set, and a live probiotic strain is included at a declared count. What the label does not give is a calcium figure, the one omission worth noting on a food aimed at large and giant breeds.

£6.58 a kilo, sold in one bag size of 11.4kg.

For a 30 to 40kg dog getting an hour or less of exercise a day, the label's own table asks 270 to 330 grams daily. Our standard guide figure of 249 grams and £1.64 a day is calculated for a 15kg adult in moderate condition, using the usual maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75 kcal. For the dogs this food is actually for, the label table is the better fit.