Ava Breed Health Shih Tzu Dry review

The reading here is our Good band, and that is equally where the typical adult dry food finishes, so nothing separates this recipe from the middle of the field on headline judgement. Its strengths are real, a solid fish share and generous protein; the family-level fish naming and a supplement list that thins out towards the end are what keep it from climbing a band.

Ingredients, as declared: Fish 43% (Fish Meal (24.2%), White Fish (17.1%) Salmon Stock 1.7%), Potato (24.0%), Sweet Potato (9.1%), Salmon Oil (6.7%), Beet Pulp (5.0%), Peas, Brewers Yeast, Dried Whole Egg, Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Monocalcium Phosphate, Chicory Inulin (a source of Prebiotic Fructooligosaccharide (0.2%)), Potassium Chloride, Yeasts (as a source of Beta-glucans and Prebiotic Mannanoligosaccharide) (0.14%), Marigold Meal, Dried Carrots, Dried Broccoli, Glucosamine (0.034%), Chondroitin Sulphate (0.025%), Yucca Extract (0.025%), Cranberry Extract (0.018%), Pomegranate Extract (0.009%), Green Tea Extract (0.009%)

Fish reaches 43% across three entries: fish meal at 24.2%, white fish at 17.1%, salmon stock at 1.7%. Having the meal share lead is good construction, since meal brings concentrated protein rather than water into the kibble, though beyond the white fish entry the species stays unnamed.

Potato at 24% is the single largest plant entry with sweet potato at 9.1% behind it, keeping the recipe free of grain. Beet pulp at 5% and peas, the latter without a percentage, complete the plant side.

The coat case rests on the oil pairing: marine omega 3 from salmon oil at 6.7% and linoleic acid from sunflower oil. For a breed whose coat is a daily project, that is a sensible place for a recipe to concentrate its effort.

Dried carrots, broccoli and marigold add a little colour and micronutrition without changing the recipe's character, and dried whole egg contributes complete protein. The joint pair appears at 0.034% and 0.025%, small enough to read as a nod.

Minerals are mostly chelated with doses printed, monocalcium phosphate tops up calcium, and the vitamin list is a short one of A, D3 and E, without the amino acid extras some recipes carry.

£7.19 a kilo, available in a 1.5kg bag.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition would work through about 238 grams a day, taking the standard estimate of around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75), at a daily £1.71. A genuine Shih Tzu eats to a smaller line on the table: 75 to 100 grams between 4kg and 6kg.