Barking Heads Big Foot Dry Food review

Our Good band takes in both Big Foot recipes, and the typical adult dry food reads there too. Full disclosure does the lifting: half the recipe declared and itemised as chicken, named grains, and a supplement list with doses attached. That takes transparency to Outstanding and holds protein and processing and value at Good, with nutritional balance a step behind at Average. Between the two variants, your dog's age is the deciding factor.

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), Glucosamine (500mg/kg), Beta Glucans, Chondrotin Sulphate (150mg/kg).

Chicken makes up 50% of both recipes, and the split is printed. The standard recipe runs 31% freshly prepared against 14% dried. Golden Years evens things out at 23% apiece with 4% gravy, which leaves its protein slightly the higher of the two once the water is accounted for.

Rice at 26% leads the grains, with oats alongside in the standard recipe and barley, potato and oats at 6% joining in Golden Years. On an assumed 8% moisture, estimated carbohydrate converts to 46.7% of dry matter in the standard recipe and 49.4% in Golden Years, against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The joint provision is the range's signature: glucosamine at 500mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 150mg/kg in both recipes, actual doses rather than a marketing whisper. Whether glucosamine delivers everything claimed for it is still debated in the research, but here at least you know exactly how much your dog is getting.

Taurine at 1000mg opens the additive panel, an amino acid the heart puts to work, and L-carnitine at 50mg follows, which assists fat metabolism. Both are sensible inclusions for heavy breeds. Zinc is supplied in two forms, including a glycine chelate, and every mineral carries its dose.

Marine omega 3s reach both recipes through salmon oil at 1%. The prebiotic pair is yeast products and chicory root extract, 1000mg/kg each. Fish is therefore present throughout the range.

The standard Big Foot recipe is the richer of the pair at 14% fat, aimed at large adults in their working prime. Its chicken leans fresh, at 31% freshly prepared against 14% dried.

Both recipes come in a single 12kg bag size, at £5.40 a kilo for the standard recipe and £5.42 for Golden Years when we checked.

Fed to a 15kg adult in moderate condition, that is roughly £1.23 a day on the standard recipe and £1.28 on Golden Years. The usual maintenance arithmetic behind it is about 840 kcal a day, or 110 × bodyweight^0.75. The standard recipe's own guidance starts at 335 grams a day at 25kg, the frame this food actually expects.