Alpha Spirit The Only One Complete Multi-Protein review

Our Outstanding band is where this lands, two bands clear of the typical cold-pressed food, which rests in our Good band. Almost all of the credit belongs to the front of the label, where fresh named meats and whole fish run down to 5% before a single starch entry appears.

Ingredients, as declared: 35.4% fresh chicken meat, 20.4% fresh whole fish (sardinella (Sardinella aurita), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.), Sardine (Sardina pilchardus)), 15.2% fresh pork meat, 10% fresh duck, 5% fresh pork liver, 4.5% hydrolyzed starch, 1.8% eggs, 1.8% Beta Vulgaris pulp, 1.5% brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), 1.5% pumpkin, 1.5% banana, 0.45% pineapple, 0.45% cumin (Cuminum cyminum), 0.25% sage (Salvia officinalis), 0.125% ginger (Zingiber officinale), 0.125% turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Chicken leads at 35.4% and is the reason most dogs will take to this straight away, being the most palatable and most digestible of the common meats for the great majority of them. It is also the meat dogs meet most often, which is why intolerance to it turns up more often than to any other meat. A poultry history is worth thinking through before this particular bag arrives.

Pork is the interesting entry, at 15.2% as fresh meat with a further 5% as liver. Plenty of dogs reach adulthood without ever eating it, which makes pork a genuinely novel meat in a lot of bowls. The liver adds the dense vitamin and mineral load that organ meat is prized for. Very few pressed foods bother with organ meat at all.

The whole fish at 20.4% is listed fish by fish: sardinella, mackerel, horse mackerel and sardine. No oil appears anywhere on the label, so the fish is what carries the omega fats. Beet pulp at 1.8% looks after fermentable fibre and brewer's yeast at 1.5% brings a natural set of B vitamins.

Starch is held to 4.5%, which is a remarkably small carbohydrate inclusion for a food you pour from a bag, and the label does not say which crop it came from. Pumpkin and banana come in at 1.5% each, with pineapple, cumin, sage, ginger and turmeric below that. At the tail of the list they are aroma and character.

The printed additives amount to iron at 70 mg, glucosamine at 4400 mg and taurine at 3000 mg, with no broader vitamin and mineral panel beside them. Glucosamine at 4400 mg is a working dose, not a token. Calcium works out at 1.79% of dry matter, an adult maintenance level.

£5.83 a kilo, in a 3kg or a 12kg bag.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, which needs about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), comes to roughly 229 grams a day, or £1.34.