Akela 80:20 Original review

This recipe sits well up in our Excellent band while the typical adult dry food settles into our Good band. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding at pillar level, with value Excellent and protein and processing Good, and the gap over the field is built on meat density and unusually open labelling.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Free Range Chicken 22%, Dehydrated Chicken 15%, Dehydrated Herring 10%, Tapioca 9%, Freshly Prepared Salmon 9%, Dehydrated Turkey 7%, Sweet Potato 6%, Freshly Prepared Chicken Liver 6%, Chicken Fat 4%, Potato Fibre 4%, Salmon Oil 3%, Superfood Blend (1600mg/kg each: Dried Apple, Dried Camomile, Dried Cranberry, Dried Dandelion, Dried Algae, Fennel, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Dried Marigold, Organic Dried Carrot, Organic Pumpkin Powder, Organic Spinach Powder, Dried Pear, Dried Peppermint, Yucca Extract, Dried Bilberry. 100mg/kg each: Burdock Root, Dried Rosehips), Chicken Stock 2%, Freshly Prepared Free Range Egg 2%, Minerals, Joint Support (Chondroitin Sulphate 1608mg/kg, Glucosamine 1605mg/kg, MSM 1604.5mg/kg), Pre-biotic FOS 1730mg/kg.*

The protein comes layered: freshly prepared chicken at 22%, dehydrated chicken at 15%, dehydrated herring at 10%, fresh salmon at 9%, dehydrated turkey at 7% and chicken liver at 6%, with free-range egg at 2%. The dried entries hold their weight through cooking, which is why protein finishes at 40.2% of dry matter with carbohydrate estimated at 26.1% where 46.2% is par for the category.

Chicken liver at 6% deserves its own mention, a genuinely nutrient-dense ingredient that also happens to be the reason fussy dogs tend to clear the bowl.

Tapioca at 9%, sweet potato at 6% and potato fibre at 4% handle structure. Tapioca is starch and nothing more, but it is kept to a supporting role here.

The superfood blend is the label's party piece: fifteen entries from dried apple to yucca, each at a stated 1600 mg/kg, with burdock root and rosehips at 100 mg/kg. Dosing a garnish list this way is rare, and it tells you the maker expects to be checked.

Joint support lands at serious levels, chondroitin sulphate at 1608 mg/kg with glucosamine at 1605 mg/kg and MSM at 1604.5 mg/kg, and prebiotic FOS follows at 1730 mg/kg. The fats are all named too, chicken fat at 4% and salmon oil at 3%, so nothing on this label hides behind a generic term.

£5.80 a kilo at the time we checked, in 1.5kg, 10kg, 13kg, 15kg and 30kg bags.

Around 215 grams a day suits a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, about £1.25, worked from the maintenance standard of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, in the region of 840 kcal daily.