Barking Heads Adult Dry Food: Bowl Lickin' Chicken review

Both flavours earn our Good band, alongside the typical adult dry food, though the label reads a good deal fuller than most. The recipe explains the gap without drama: a 50% declared meat inclusion with its splits printed, every plant ingredient named, and a mineral panel that includes a chelated zinc entry. Protein and processing reads Good on both varieties, with transparency Outstanding and value Good. Nutritional balance is the one Average note on each, so the choice between them is your dog's palate, not the paperwork.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 50% (31% Freshly Prepared Free Run Chicken, 14% Dried Chicken, 2.5% Chicken Gravy, 2.5% Chicken Fat), Rice (26%), Oats, Peas (10%), Lucerne, Salmon Oil (1%), Minerals, Yeast Products (1000mg/kg), Chicory Root Extract (FOS 1000mg/kg), Seaweed, Dried Carrot (500mg/kg), Mixed Herbs (Peppermint, Rosemary, Oregano & Thyme 500mg/kg), Beta Glucans.

The 50% meat headline is built honestly. The label splits it into freshly prepared meat and dried meat, then gravy and fat, rather than hiding behind one big number. The dried share at 14% matters most, since dried meat keeps its weight through cooking, and protein lands at 24% as fed on both flavours.

Rice at 26% and oats carry the starch, familiar grains that most dogs handle without fuss. Peas come in at 10% in the chicken and 12% in the lamb. Estimated carbohydrate comes out at 46.5% of dry matter for the chicken and 47.9% for the lamb, close to the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

Salmon oil earns its place as the omega 3 source, dosed at 1% in the chicken and at 2% in the lamb. Fish therefore runs through both recipes, and that only matters to a household steering around it.

The supporting cast is small and dosed: yeast products and chicory root extract at 1000mg/kg apiece for their prebiotic effect, seaweed for minerals, dried carrot and mixed herbs each at 500mg/kg. Nothing on the list is anonymous.

Zinc is added twice, as a sulphate and as a chelate of glycine, the form a dog's gut generally absorbs more readily. The remaining trace minerals are standard forms, every one dosed in print.

Bowl Lickin' Chicken splits its chicken as 31% freshly prepared, 14% dried, 2.5% gravy and 2.5% fat, and runs a touch richer at 14% fat overall. The label declares its moisture, so nothing is assumed here.

When we checked, the chicken stood at £5.31 a kilo and the lamb at £5.41, both sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

For a 15kg adult in moderate condition that works out at about £1.21 a day on the chicken and £1.28 on the lamb, assuming a maintenance need of roughly 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's guide gives 165 to 230 grams a day for dogs between 10kg and 15kg.