Belcando Adult Active M-XL review

An Average band finish places this just under the typical adult dry food, and naming is what holds it there. The meat, fat and liver all read poultry, with no species named, and the vegetable oil is a palm and coconut blend in place of a single named oil. The structure beneath is solid, with carbohydrate estimated a touch under what is typical for a dry food and an additive panel dosed from top to bottom.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh poultry meat (30%); Maize; Low-ash poultry protein, dried (15%); Rice; Feed oatmeal; Fish meal from sea fish (5%); Dried carob bean meal (2.5%); Grape seed expeller; Dried baker's yeast; Hydrolysed gelatin (2.5%); Linseed (2.3%); Poultry fat; Vegetable oil (palm, coconut); Dried sugar beet pulp; Dicalcium phosphate; Hydrolysed poultry liver; Sodium chloride; Potassium chloride; Dried herbs (total: 0.2%; nettle leaf, gentian root, centaury, chamomile, fennel, caraway, mistletoe, yarrow, blackberry leaves); Yucca schidigera

Fresh poultry meat at 30% opens the list, and the recipe sensibly backs it with 15% dried low-ash poultry protein, the ingredient that keeps its protein once the oven has done its work. With 5% fish meal in support, protein converts to 27.8% of dry matter and fat to 16.1%, the profile of a food meant for a dog in work.

Maize, rice and feed oatmeal share the starch duties, and dried sugar beet pulp brings the fibre. Nothing exotic, all of it well tolerated by most dogs, and the total leaves carbohydrate at an estimated 44.7% of dry matter, under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The detail fits the job description. Hydrolysed gelatin at 2.5% is a collagen source aimed at joints under load, and linseed at 2.3% adds plant omega 3s to the fish meal's marine ones. Lecithin at 1,600mg helps a hard running dog make use of its fat. Taurine at 500mg and zinc at 150mg are dosed in print, and the herb blend is declared at an honest 0.2%.

Grape seed expeller deserves a word, since grapes are famously forbidden to dogs: the pressed seed residue used here is an antioxidant ingredient, and the danger belongs to the fruit rather than the seed. The label's real limitation is the family name. Nothing ties the poultry meat, fat or hydrolysed liver to one bird, which few dogs will ever notice but an intolerance investigation cannot work around.

£3.87 a kilo, sold in 4kg and 12.5kg bags.

A maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75) works out at roughly 239 grams and £0.92 a day. The label's own table asks just 190 grams for a 15kg dog in normal condition, and a working dog will earn more. The calorie figure is an estimate, as the label does not declare one, so let condition guide the scoop.