Alpha Spirit The Only One Complete 7 Days Formula review

This food earns our Outstanding band, two clear bands above the Good that the typical cold-pressed food comes to rest in, so it leads its category rather than keeping pace with it. The named meat and fish and a list you can read without a dictionary do most of the earning, with protein and processing, transparency and value all reading Outstanding. Nutritional balance reads Good.

Ingredients, as declared: 45.4% fresh pork, 25.4% fresh chicken meat, 10.4% fresh whole fish (alacha (Sardinella aurita), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.), Sardine (Sardina pilchardus)), 5.4% liver of fresh pork, 4.5% hydrolyzed starch, 1.8% eggs, 1.7% Beta Vulgaris pulp, 1.5% brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), 1.5% sweet potato, 1% banana, 0.45% caraway (Carum carvi), 0.45% cumin (Cuminum cyminum), 0.25% sage (Salvia officinalis), 0.125% turmeric (Curcuma longa), 0.125% ginger (Zingiber officinale)

Cold pressing is the first thing to understand, before any single ingredient. The pellets are pressed at much lower temperatures than ordinary kibble is baked at, and they crumble when they meet water. That is why the format has such a following among owners of fast eaters and dogs with delicate digestions.

Four animal ingredients carry the recipe and every one is named. Fresh pork leads at 45.4%, fresh chicken meat follows at 25.4%, fresh whole fish comes in at 10.4% and fresh pork liver at 5.4%, with eggs at 1.8% behind them. Pork is a good, digestible meat that used to have an undeserved reputation in dog food. Liver is about the most nutrient-dense thing you can put in a bowl, so the shape of this list is a genuinely good one.

The fish deserves a sentence of its own, because Alpha Spirit names the species and does not stop at the word fish. Alacha, mackerel, horse mackerel and sardine are all listed, all small oily fish, and all of them the sort that bring omega 3 fats with them. Horse mackerel is a fish, in case the name gives anyone pause.

The plant side is unusually restrained for a pressed food. Hydrolysed starch at 4.5% is the binder that holds a pellet together. Beet pulp at 1.7% and sweet potato at 1.5% cover fibre, brewer's yeast at 1.5% brings B vitamins along with it, and banana at 1% finishes the list. Carbohydrate converts to 35.1% of dry matter, comfortably below the 43.2% typical for cold-pressed food, which is what a meat-led recipe of this kind should look like.

The tail of the label is a spice rack: caraway and cumin at 0.45% each, sage at 0.25%, then turmeric and ginger at 0.125%. At that inclusion they are there for flavour and character. The declared additives are short and specific, with glucosamine at 4400 mg, taurine at 3000 mg and iron at 70 mg. Glucosamine at that level is a real working dose for joints.

Calcium is declared at 1.79% of dry matter, a figure worth having in print, and ash at 9.5% of dry matter is consistent with a food carrying that much mineral content. Protein at 35.1% of dry matter and fat at 17.9% make for a moderate, everyday sort of analysis.

£5.17 a kilo. It comes in a 3kg bag and a 12kg bag.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75). On this food's declared energy that works out at roughly 232 grams, or £1.20 a day.