Autarky Mature Lite Dry Succulent Salmon review

Our Average band holds this one, a step below the typical adult dry food. Transparency reads Good, while protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average. Given how far the fat has been cut, holding that level is a fair effort, since lite recipes often surrender more. The named salmon minimum and the printed herb and vegetable shares keep the label honest, while the cereal load and the unnamed poultry stop it climbing higher.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon (min 26%), Maize, Rice (min 16%), Oats, Unmolassed beet pulp, Poultry meal, Peas, Full fat linseed, Alfalfa, Yeast, Carrot, Activated Charcoal, Glucosamine, Seaweed, Milk Thistle, Marigold, Mint, Nettle, Yucca schidigera, Fenugreek, Carob pod meal, Thyme, Rosemary, Dandelion, Turmeric, Aniseed, Blackcurrant, pomegranate, rosemary, rosehip, spinach, beetroot, ginger, Oregano (min 0.4% herbs and 4% vegetables)

Salmon heads the list at a 26% minimum, and the poultry meal further down helps hold the finished protein at 23.9% of dry matter once cooking has taken its toll on the fresh fish.

Maize, rice at a 16% minimum and oats supply the energy, with the carbohydrate estimate landing at 57.6% of dry matter where 46.2% is typical for adult dry food. That trade is deliberate in a lite feed, where grain stretches the bowl while fat stays scarce.

The lightness is engineered from both ends: fat down at 5% as fed and fibre up at 6.5%, with unmolassed beet pulp doing the filling. Energy comes out around 305 kcal per 100g on our estimate, under the 357 typical of adult dry food, so the same portion simply carries less.

Activated charcoal is a rare sight on an ingredients list and a considered one here, traditionally included to absorb gas in the gut. Alongside it, glucosamine attends to ageing joints, though neither carries a printed dose.

The herbs and vegetables close at declared minimums of 0.4% and 4%, seaweed and milk thistle among them, seasoning in scale but consistent with the brand's whole food styling.

£3.38 a kilo, with 2kg and 12kg bags on offer.

Taking 110 kcal per kilo of metabolic bodyweight as the maintenance basis, a 15kg adult in moderate condition gets through roughly 275 grams a day at about £0.93. The label's own table offers 190 to 380 grams across the 10 to 25kg range.