Alpha

Alpha Working Maintenance review

Name: Alpha Working Maintenance
Brand: Alpha

35.1/100Average

DryAdult

Flavour

A wheat-first working kibble in two versions, an original recipe in our Average band and a beef a step below in Poor. Both keep the label brief: cereals and wheatfeed carry it, a dried meat meal supplies the protein. For hardy outdoor dogs without sensitivities they are honest, simple rations.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Working dogs ticking over between busier spells
Yards and kennels that want one bag for everyone, with a guide up to dogs of 45kg
Owners after a plain cereal-and-meal recipe of the traditional farm-feed sort
Dogs untroubled by grain

Worth watching

No meat entry on either label names its animal, so an elimination diet is out
Wheat first in both, worth knowing for a dog with a grain or gluten issue

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

How this scores

How we score

35.1/100Average

Protein and processingPoor

Nutritional balancePoor

TransparencyGood

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adults of every size, hardy outdoor dogs especially. Start from the bag's table and let the dog in front of you settle the amount.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

The score, in context

Alpha Working Maintenance 35.1
Beef 26.0

Two recipes across Average and Poor. Typical dry food: Good.

An honest reading of wheat-led recipes whose meat never names an animal, and the beef's looser meat entry and missing moisture figure put it a band lower.

What's in it

Whole wheatDoes the structural work well. Also the cereal most often linked with intolerance.
Whole barleyThe second cereal, in place of the beef's maize.
Wheatfeed pelletsFibrous milling residue.
Poultry meal16%Any farmed bird. Concentrated, so it works harder than its place suggests.
Poultry oil
Minerals
Chicory root extract0.3%A source of prebiotic FOS.
Yucca extractAimed at gentler-smelling stools.

Vitamins A, D3 and E with zinc at 100 mg/kg heading a printed panel of iron, manganese, copper, iodine and selenium.

Named ingredients

Whole Wheat, Whole Barley, Wheatfeed Pellets, Poultry Meal (16%), Poultry Oil, Minerals, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic FOS) (0.3%), Yucca Extract.

Against the range

Meat: Poultry meal, 16%; Meat and bone meal at 21% in the beef.
Second cereal: Whole barley; Whole maize in the beef.
Protein, dry matter: 22.8%; 20.7% in the beef.
Moisture: Declared; Not declared on the beef.

The better-named and slightly higher-protein of the pair.

Whole wheat opens both lists with wheatfeed pellets, the fibrous milling residue, close behind, and carbohydrate is estimated at over half the dry matter in each. The meat is a dried meal that never names its animal: poultry meal in the original, meat and bone meal in the beef. Poultry oil supplies the fat, chicory root extract at 0.3% the prebiotic, and the trace mineral panel is printed in oxide and sulphate forms.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

330.5 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

21%

Fat

Fibre

Ash

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

22.8%

Fat

8.7%

Fibre

4.3%

Ash

5.4%

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

16%

Carbs

64.4%

Veg

0.3%

Oils

5.4%

Other

14%

Pricing & size