Ava Breed Health Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Dry review

The Good band is where this recipe settles, and the wider adult dry market averages out in that same band. Transparency is its strongest pillar and reads Outstanding, on the strength of a label that prints its percentages all the way down to the pomegranate extract. Protein and processing and value are both Good, with nutritional balance at Average. It is a food that earns its position through openness and sensible balance rather than any single headline.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 42.0% (Chicken Meal (22.5%), Chicken (17.3%)), Brown Rice (22.5%), Maize (9.2%), Flaked Oats (6.8%), Beet Pulp (6.8%), Chicken Fat (4.3%), Chicken Gravy (2.2%), Salmon Oil, Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Egg, Chicory Root Extract (a source of prebiotic Fructooligosaccharides (0.2%)), Yeasts (as a source of Beta-glucans and Prebiotic Mannanoligosaccharide) (0.14%), Cranberry Extract (0.018%), Glucosamine (0.018%), Chondroitin Sulphate (0.013%), Pomegranate Extract (0.009%), Green Tea Extract (0.009%)

Chicken makes up 42% of the recipe, and the label is candid about the split: chicken meal at 22.5% listed ahead of fresh chicken at 17.3%. Because meal has already had its water removed, that ordering is an honest account of where the finished kibble's protein actually comes from. Chicken fat at 4.3% and chicken gravy at 2.2% round out the animal side. Protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter.

Brown rice at 22.5% leads the grains, with maize at 9.2% and flaked oats at 6.8% behind it. These are conventional, well-tolerated carbohydrate sources for most dogs, and the estimated carbohydrate total of 40.7% of dry matter lands usefully below the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Beet pulp at 6.8% supplies the fibre.

Taurine at 1000 mg is the most deliberate entry on the label. It is an amino acid best known for its role in heart muscle function, and a dose this size on a small-breed food reads as a considered choice rather than a token one. A light joint pairing sits alongside it, glucosamine at 0.018% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.013%.

The gut is looked after with prebiotic fructooligosaccharides at 0.2% and yeast-derived mannanoligosaccharides at 0.14%, while cranberry, pomegranate and green tea extracts at trace levels supply the botanical garnish. The mineral panel is fully dosed and chelated, from zinc at 100 mg down to selenium at 0.2 mg, the form usually preferred for absorption.

£7.19 a kilo, sold in a 1.5kg bag.

On the standard maintenance estimate for a 15kg adult in moderate condition, about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75), it works out at 240 grams and £1.73 daily. Most Cavaliers weigh far less than that reference dog: the label asks just 75 to 100 grams a day for a 4kg to 6kg dog, which stretches a bag much further.