Boost Kibble+: Chicken review

The chicken lands in our Excellent band. The beef sits one band lower in Good, which is where the typical adult dry food settles. Transparency reads Outstanding on both recipes, with protein and processing and nutritional balance Good, and value Excellent on the chicken and Good on the beef. The drivers are easy to spot: a majority meat share itemised entry by entry, and a carbohydrate load well under the typical figure.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 60% (Freshly prepared chicken 24%, Chicken Meal 23%, Chicken Fat 5.5%, Freeze-dried Chicken Bites 5%, Chicken Gravy 2.5%), Potato, Sweet Potato (6.5%), Peas (4%), Beet pulp, Red Freeze-Dried Pieces 1.5% (Swede, Beetroot, Potato, Raspberry, Mixed Tocopherols, Cranberry, Strawberry, Tomato, Flaxseed), Green Freeze-Dried Pieces 1.5%, (Swede, Peas, Potato, Flaxseed, Antioxidant: Mixed Tocopherols; Apple, Mint, Pear, Kelp), Salmon Oil (0.9%), Minerals, Dried Carrot (0.5% equivalent to 4% carrot), Prebiotic MOS (0.2%) Cranberry Extract (0.015%), Blueberry Powder (0.015%), Marigold Meal, Turmeric, Dry Spearmint.

The meat entry is unusually well itemised: fresh meat at 24%, a concentrated meal at 22% or 23% depending on the variety, the named fat, and freeze-dried bites at 5% folded through whole. Palatability comes from the fresh share and protein from the meal, with both recipes reading 31.5% protein on a dry matter basis.

Estimated carbohydrate comes in at 36.9% of dry matter for the beef and 39.6% for the chicken, both usefully below the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Potato and sweet potato do the carrying, with no grain anywhere in either recipe.

The red and green freeze-dried pieces at 1.5% each fold swede, beetroot, berries, apple and kelp through the bag in a form that survives processing well, though at these levels they season rather than nourish.

Salmon oil at 0.9% carries the omegas here, a genuinely useful inclusion, and it does mean fish in every bowl. Behind it sit a prebiotic MOS entry and two botanical packs, one aimed at calm and one at joints, each dosed at 0.002%, a level best read as a gesture.

Beef is the only meat in the beef recipe and chicken the only meat in the chicken. That keeps each variety simple for dogs steering around other proteins, with the salmon oil the one exception to note for strict elimination work.

Chicken at 60%, the higher meat share of the pair, with chicken gravy in the mix and a slightly leaner 17% fat. It is also the denser recipe in energy terms, so daily portions run a little smaller.

£14.25 a kilo when we checked, sold in 1kg bags either singly or as a set of 8.

Day to day, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes to about £3.18 on the beef recipe at 223 grams, and £2.68 on the chicken at 188 grams. That uses the standard estimate of roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The gap reflects the two recipes' different energy densities.