Ava Small Breed Adult review

A Good band finish puts this food level with the typical adult dry food. The recipe gets there on fundamentals rather than flair: a properly declared chicken share, protein at 29.3% of dry matter and carbohydrate at 44.2%, under the 46.2% typical for the category. Transparency reads Outstanding, with nutritional balance and value both Good and protein and processing Average, so the strength is spread across the panel and never piled into one place.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (46%) (Chicken Meal 26%, Fresh Chicken 12.5%, Chicken Fat 5%, Chicken Gravy (2.5%), Rice (23%), Maize (19%), Beet Pulp (4%), Brewers Yeast, Salmon Oil, Whole Dried Egg, Minerals, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Pre-biotic Fructooligosaccharide) (0.16%), Yeasts (as a source Beta-glucans, Pre-biotic Mannanoligosaccharides) (0.11%), Yucca Extract (0.02%), Glucosamine (0.02%), Chondroitin (0.015%), Cranberry Extract (0.01%), Green Tea Extract (0.005%), Pomegranate Extract (0.005%)

The 46% chicken headline is anchored by chicken meal at 26%, with fresh chicken at 12.5% plus chicken fat and gravy behind it. Leading with meal is quietly the more honest construction, because meal is already dried and its share survives cooking, where a fresh first label flatters. Protein lands at 29.3% of dry matter, strong for a food at this level.

Rice at 23% and maize at 19% supply the starch. Maize collects a mixed press, mostly a hangover from recipes that hide it inside umbrella terms. Named and dosed as it is here, it is a workable energy source most dogs handle without fuss, and carbohydrate overall stays at 44.2% of dry matter.

Whole dried egg is a small but useful entry, rounding out the amino acid picture, and salmon oil adds omega 3 for coat condition. Between chicken, egg and fish this is not a bag for allergy detective work, but for the everyday small dog it is a sensible spread of nutrients.

The supporting cast runs from beet pulp and two prebiotic sources for the gut to glucosamine and chondroitin at trace level for joints. Green tea, cranberry and pomegranate extracts add garnish at hundredths of a percent. Zinc at 64.2 mg per kilo heads a trace mineral panel that is chelated and printed with its doses.

£4.43 a kilo from the 7.5kg bag; £5.45 a kilo in the 2kg size.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition would get through roughly 231 grams a day, about £1.02 at the larger bag rate, assuming a maintenance need of around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). Small breed weights sit far below that reference point, and the label asks just 70 to 100 grams for a 3kg to 5kg dog, so bags stretch a long way.