Alpha Spirit Mediterranean Diet Wet Sausage Iberian Pork review

Our Good band is where this one settles, a step under the Excellent band the typical adult wet food occupies. That is not a mark against the meat, which is high and mostly named. It is about how much of the label can actually be checked. A sliver of the fresh meat has no animal beside it, and the vegetables and spices arrive as one grouped entry with nothing itemised. Nutritional balance reads Outstanding and transparency Excellent, with protein and processing on Good. That is a fair summary of a recipe that does most things right and shows a little less of its working than its stablemates.

Ingredients, as declared: 93% Fresh Meat (90% Ham), 5% Vegetables and Natural Spices.

Ham is the whole story here. It is printed at 90% inside a fresh meat declaration of 93%. Nine tenths of the sausage is one named cut of pork, and the remaining sliver of meat goes without an animal beside it. Protein converts to 46.0% of dry matter and fat to 33.7%, both solidly meat-led readings.

Pork is worth understanding as a deliberate choice rather than an afterthought. Dogs find it palatable and easy to eat, and it turns up so seldom in dog food that most have never met it. That is why a pork recipe is often the first thing tried when the familiar meats have stopped working.

The plant side is a single line: 5% vegetables and natural spices. Grouping them means the makeup can shift between batches without the pack changing, and an owner who wants to know exactly which vegetables went in cannot find out from the label. The quantity is small, and estimated carbohydrate lands at 5.7% of dry matter against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food, so nothing here is padding the sausage out.

Crude ash converts to 9.4% of dry matter, which is the mineral fraction of the recipe and sits at the upper end for a wet food. Ham brings that with it. Most adult dogs handle it without a second thought, and it is simply a number to have in hand if your vet has asked you to keep an eye on minerals.

The added panel is fully dosed: vitamin A at 7954 IU per kilo, vitamin D3 at 509 and vitamin E at 159, with manganese, iron, copper, zinc and iodine each carrying a milligram figure. Calcium converts to 0.61% of dry matter, comfortable for adult maintenance.

This one is £17.11 a kilo, in the same three formats as the rest of the sausages: a 350g, a 150g and a four-pack of 65g.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at roughly 533 grams a day, which is about £9.12. The assumed requirement is 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate).