bosch Organic Adult review

An Average band finish puts this recipe a step under the typical adult dry food, which reads Good on our scale. What it does hold on to is plain virtue instead of headline meat. A named fresh chicken lead and a list spelt out to fractions of a percent take transparency to Outstanding, with nutritional balance at Average and protein and processing at Poor.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken* (45%), rice* (18%), wholegrain barley* (18%), wholegrain oats* (7%), rice protein*, protein hydrolysate from liver*, apple* (dried, 1%), calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, di-calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, peas* (dried, 0.1%), tomatoes* (dried, 0.07%), carrots* (dried, 0.07%), pears* (dried, 0.07%), herbs* (dried, nettle*, blackberry leaves*, fennel*, caraway*, camomile*, centaury*). * = 100% certified organic product.

Fresh chicken leads at 45%, though cooking drives off most of that weight as water. The backup protein is rice protein and a liver hydrolysate, with no dried chicken entry. Protein still converts to a respectable 23.9% of dry matter, so the finished kibble is not short of it.

The starch side is all cereal and mostly wholegrain: rice at 18%, wholegrain barley at 18% and wholegrain oats at 7%, gentle and familiar grains that dogs generally digest well once cooked. Carbohydrate is estimated at 50.9% of dry matter, slightly above the 46.2% typical for an adult dry food, and with no moisture declared on the label the dry matter sums assume 8%.

The organic story is unusually thorough. Rather than one token organic entry, every asterisked item on the list carries the certification, right down to the dried pears at 0.07%.

The fruit and vegetable entries are printed at fractions of a percent, dried apple at 1% and peas at 0.1% among them, which is honest labelling of what is really a garnish. The herb mix is fully named too, from nettle and blackberry leaves through fennel, caraway and camomile to centaury.

The vitamins arrive fully dosed, and the trace minerals are declared as well, with zinc at 65mg and copper at 10mg per kilo. The zinc comes as an oxide, where some makers choose the chelated form for better uptake. It is a small point and not a failing.

£5.57 a kilo, sold in a single 11.5kg bag.

Fed to a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, that works out at roughly 229 grams and £1.28 a day, using the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal daily (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's own table asks 205 grams for the same dog, so let condition be the referee.