Beco Small Breed Dry Food: Turkey review

This food sits in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food, and the ceiling on it is structural, with nothing alarming behind it. The 51% turkey figure includes 11% turkey fat, plant protein concentrates help the meat carry the analysis, and ash runs high at 9.8% of dry matter. None of that makes it unsafe or unpleasant to feed, and a small dog doing well on it has no reason to be moved off it.

Ingredients, as declared: 51% Freshly Prepared Turkey (Freshly Prepared Turkey 40%, Freshly Prepared Turkey Fat 11%)*, Potato, Peas, Field Beans, Potato Protein, Chickpeas, Pea Protein, Minerals, Brewer's Yeast, Lucerne, Trout Oil, Vegetable Gravy, Joint Pack (Glucosamine, Methylsulfonylmethane, Chondroitin Sulphate), Chicory, Pumpkin (10mg/kg), Spinach (10mg/kg), Bilberry, Freshly Prepared Egg, Broccoli (10mg/kg), Spirulina (10mg/kg), Camomile, Burdock Root, Milk Thistle Seed.

The 51% turkey headline rewards a careful read: 40% of it is freshly prepared turkey and 11% is turkey fat. The oven pulls the water out of fresh meat, and no dried turkey stands behind it. Potato protein and pea protein further down the list share the job of holding declared protein at 26.5%, converting to 28.8% of dry matter. The figure itself is perfectly respectable; the route to it is what needs understanding.

Underneath sits the brand's familiar grain free base of potato, peas, field beans and chickpeas. Estimated carbohydrate works out at 42.3% of dry matter, comfortably below the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, so the bowl is rather less starchy than the long list of plants might suggest.

The extras lean practical. The joint pack of glucosamine, methylsulfonylmethane and chondroitin sulphate is a thoughtful touch for small dogs, though no amounts are printed. Trout oil brings marine omega 3s, brewer's yeast contributes B vitamins, and a parade of trace level botanicals from pumpkin to burdock root closes things out without changing the recipe's character.

For elimination purposes the label is busier than its turkey headline. Trout oil and freshly prepared egg both feature, and while most dogs will never notice either, a household running a strict exclusion diet will need to.

£10.99 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would need around 238 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), or about £2.62 a day. A genuinely small dog will eat and cost a good deal less. The calorie figure is an estimate, so let body condition set the final portion.