Belcando Finest Duck review

On our scale this reads Good, matching the band the typical adult dry food sits in. In places the construction is stronger than a midfield result suggests, with a genuinely restrained starch share and generous animal protein. The unnamed poultry entries hold protein and processing at Average, while nutritional balance, transparency and value all read Good.

Ingredients, as declared: 30% fresh poultry meat, 17% rice, feed oat flour, 8% poultry protein (asarm, dried), 14% duck protein (dried), 5% fish meal from sea fish, 5% poultry liver (hydrolysed), poultry fat, vegetable oil (palm, coconut), 2.5% grape seed expeller, 2.5% baker's yeast (dried), dried beet pulp (desugared), carob seed meal (dried), egg (dried), chia seeds, dicalcium phosphate;, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, yucca schidigera, 0.2% herbs (dried): nettle leaf, gentian root, centaury, chamomile, fennel, caraway, mistletoe, yarrow, blackberry leaves.

The animal content is a poultry ensemble: 30% fresh poultry meat, 14% dried duck protein, 8% dried poultry protein and 5% hydrolysed poultry liver, with 5% sea fish meal and dried egg deepening the mix. Once the fresh meat's water has cooked away, the dried duck becomes the biggest single contributor, which is fair support for the name on the bag. Protein finishes at 32.2% of dry matter.

Fat is the defining choice at 20% as fed, drawn from poultry fat with a palm and coconut vegetable oil blend, and the estimated energy is a dense 378 kcal per 100g. That is a working dog's fuel line. The same richness that keeps a spaniel in the field all afternoon will pad out a sofa dog remarkably quickly.

Starch stays restrained, with rice at 17% and feed oat flour bringing estimated carbohydrate to 33.7% of dry matter where the typical adult dry food runs 46.2%. Desugared beet pulp and carob seed meal handle fibre and binding.

Lecithin dosed at 3,600 mg is a thoughtful pairing rather than a random extra, an emulsifier that helps a dog make use of a fat load this size. The 0.2% herb pinch and the grape seed expeller are Belcando signatures. The grape seed here is pressed residue used as an antioxidant source, not the fruit that dogs must avoid, so it reads odd but is not a worry.

£4.29 a kilo is the rate, with 4kg and 12.5kg bags on offer.

Because the food is energy dense, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs only about 223 grams a day, roughly £0.95, on the standard maintenance basis of around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's feeding table stops at 25kg, a hint about the sort of dogs this recipe was written for.