Alpha

Alpha Sensitive: Salmon review

Name: Alpha Sensitive: Salmon
Brand: Alpha

44.6/100Average

DryAdult

Flavour

A plain, cereal-led kibble in the working dog tradition, made as an everyday recipe and a salmon one, both in our Average band. That reflects how much of the bowl is grain, not anything worrying in the food. The lists are short enough to take in at a glance.

Where to buy: coming soon

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Our view

Likely to suit

Easily unsettled digestion, given how little there is on the list to react to
Prebiotic support in print, with FOS and MOS at 0.1% each in both recipes
Working and country dogs raised on a cereal-based diet
A big dog fed from one 15kg sack
Dogs that suit a lighter bowl: fat at 10.0% in the everyday recipe and 8.0% in the salmon

Worth watching

Maize heading both lists, carbohydrate at 54.4% and 58.8% of dry matter against 46.2% typical
No species named for any animal in the everyday recipe; the salmon version is the one for an elimination plan
Fish on both lists, so neither suits a fish-free home

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

44.6/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balancePoor

TransparencyGood

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adults of every size, and neither label declares calcium, so these are not growth foods. Read both lists before choosing, since the two are less alike than the name suggests.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Salmon

The score, in context

Salmon 44.6
Alpha Sensitive 35.9

All two Average. Typical dry food: Good.

Cereal does most of the carrying in both, and the everyday recipe's unnamed animals pull it lower than the salmon.

What's in it

Whole maizeLeads the list, so starch sets the tone.
Whole oatsKept whole, and gentle on a dog once cooked.
Rice19.5%Still ahead of the salmon in the order.
Salmon meal18.5%The only animal on the list, a concentrated protein with almost all its water gone.
Rapeseed oilThe added fat, from a plant.
Whole linseed0.5%
Brewers yeast
Chicory root extract (FOS), mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS)0.1% eachPrebiotics for the friendly bacteria of the large intestine.
Yucca extractLargely for the smell of what the garden receives.

Vitamins A, D3 and E with zinc, iron, manganese, copper and iodine as oxides and sulphates, which a dog absorbs a little less readily than chelates, and selenium as sodium selenite.

No moisture figure on the label, so the dry matter column assumes the 8% standard for a dry food.

Named ingredients

Whole Maize, Whole Oats, Rice (19.5%), Salmon Meal (18.5%), Rapeseed Oil, Brewers Yeast, Whole Linseed (0.5%), Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic FOS) (0.1%), Mannan-oligosaccharides (Prebiotic MOS) (0.1%), Yucca Extract.

Against the range

Animals on the label: Salmon meal, 18.5%; Four unnamed animal entries in the everyday recipe
Added fat: Rapeseed oil; Poultry oil in the everyday recipe
Fat, as fed: 8.0%; 10.0% in the everyday recipe

The only one of the pair that a dog kept to a single animal source can eat.

Both recipes open on whole maize and whole oats, and both carry chicory-sourced FOS and mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.1% each, with brewers yeast, linseed and yucca. The vitamin and trace mineral panel is identical and printed in full, though neither label declares calcium.

The animal side is where they split. The everyday recipe draws on meat and bone meal, poultry meal, poultry oil and fish meal, none named to a species; the salmon recipe has salmon meal alone, with rapeseed oil for fat.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

327 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

20%

Fat

Fibre

Ash

Dry weight

Protein

21.7%

Fat

8.7%

Fibre

4.3%

Ash

6.5%

Carbs

58.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

18.5%

Carbs

67.9%

Veg

0.1%

Oils

6.2%

Other

7.3%

Pricing & size