Bentley's Superfood Blend: Lamb review

Few ranges spread as widely as this one. The seven finish inside a single band, our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the typical adult dry food comes to rest. The beef and the turkey lead, and the lamb sits at the back under its mineral load. Plenty of dogs eat every one of these happily, and since no variety leaves that band you can choose on the animal in front of you and ignore the order.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Lamb (Freshly Prepared Lamb (35%), Dried Lamb (22%), Lamb Fat (5%), Lamb Gravy (3%)), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Mint, Pomegranate, Mulberry, Broccoli, Fennel), Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Fructooligosaccharides (175 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (50 mg/kg), Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

Every recipe opens with the same promise, 65% animal content, built from a freshly prepared lead at 35% with dried meat behind it, plus fat and gravy or stock. Cooking drives the water out of fresh meat, so those dried entries end up supplying much of the finished protein. The declared analysis moves a long way between varieties as a result: protein runs from 27.5% in the lamb to 40.5% in the turkey.

Sweet potato, beans and beet pulp form the plant base across the board, and no cereal appears anywhere in the range. Estimated carbohydrate stays below the 46.2% of dry matter typical for adult dry food in every variety, from 20.7% in the turkey up to 38.6% in the duck.

The dried superfood blend is the range's signature, five ingredients per recipe, each equivalent to 4% fresh. The cast changes with the species: ginger and blueberry alongside the chicken, dill and spinach with the salmon, turmeric and blackberry with the buffalo. They are honest inclusions at a modest level, best read as a garnish over a meat-led recipe rather than the reason to choose it.

Gut support is dosed on the label. Every variety carries fructooligosaccharides at 175 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 50 mg/kg. This prebiotic pair feeds the good bacteria living in the large intestine.

The vague entry is the omega 3 supplement, which never says where it comes from. It will be doing useful work for skin and coat, but it stops any variety being read as strictly single-source for elimination purposes. Ask the maker about it first if you are trying to rule fish in or out.

Lamb at 35% fresh and 22% dried. The mineral side is the story here: ash is declared at 12% and calcium converts to 2.61% of dry matter, the highest in the range. That leaves this variety at the foot of the order, still inside our Excellent band.

Every variety is £6.00 a kilo, in 2kg and 12kg bags with a 2 x 12kg option for bigger households.

Day to day, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at between £1.30 and £1.40 depending on the variety, using the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, around 840 kcal a day. The labels ask for broadly similar amounts across the range, so let condition rather than flavour set the scoop.