Akela 80:20 Scottish Salmon review

Our Excellent band is where this salmon recipe settles; the typical adult dry food, for comparison, sits a band lower in Good. Protein and processing reads Good, nutritional balance and value both reach Excellent and transparency comes back Outstanding, a dependable profile without a soft corner.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Salmon 61.5%, Dehydrated Salmon 14%, Sweet Potato 11%, Tapioca 6%, Salmon Oil 3%, Salmon Stock 1.5%, Minerals, Chickpeas, Linseed, Lucerne, Lentils, Coconut Oil, Pre-biotic FOS (1730 mg/kg), Joint Support (Glucosamine 996 mg/kg, MSM 996mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 700 mg/kg), Dried Apple, Dried Camomile, Dried Cranberry, Dried Dandelion, Fennel, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Dried Seaweed, Green Lipped Mussel, Dried Marigold, Organic Dried Carrot, Organic Pumpkin Powder, Organic Spinach Powder, Dried Pear, Dried Peppermint, Yucca Extract, Dried Bilberry, Burdock Root, Dried Garlic, Organic Honey, Dried Rosehips.*

Freshly prepared salmon at 61.5% makes the headline, and the dehydrated salmon at 14% makes it stick, since dried fish keeps its protein where fresh fish loses water to the oven. Protein works out at 37.5% of dry matter, and the carbohydrate estimate comes in at 30.4% of dry matter against a category-typical 46.2%.

Salmon is the only meat or fish on the list, which makes this a rare single-source recipe. The one wrinkle is green lipped mussel at trace level among the botanicals, a shellfish rather than a fish, noted earlier for strict avoiders.

Sweet potato at 11% and tapioca at 6% do the binding. Tapioca contributes starch alone, though its share here is modest, and linseed with coconut oil rounds out the fat profile on the plant side.

Glucosamine and MSM are printed at 996 mg/kg each with chondroitin sulphate at 700 mg/kg, and prebiotic FOS sits at 1730 mg/kg behind them. The trace minerals arrive chelated and dosed, zinc and iron at 48 mg apiece with manganese at 34 mg and iodine at 0.96 mg per kilo.

Dried garlic and organic honey close out the list at seasoning level. Neither is present in amounts that warrant concern, and the long fruit-and-herb tail above them is flourish rather than function.

£5.77 a kilo when last checked, with 1.5kg, 5kg, 10kg, 13kg, 15kg and 30kg bags in the line-up.

Reckon on about 214 grams a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, close to £1.23, using the standard energy estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, around 840 kcal at that size.