67/100Good
Buddy
Buddy Active Free Range Duck review
71.2/100Excellent
DryAdult
Buddy Active Free Range Duck packs the label with bird: duck at 44% with fresh duck at 26% behind it, peas and sweet potato in support and no grain anywhere. Protein reaches 36% as fed and fat 18%, the profile of a food built to fuel genuine mileage, and the portions are planned for large breeds. It takes a spot in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where most adult dry foods gather.
Where to buy: coming soon
Live retailer pricing is coming soon. Once we have prices from UK retailers, the best price, cost per day and where to buy will appear here.
Our view
Likely to suit
If your dog finishes a walk asking what else you have got, this bag was packed with them in mind.
- Large, active dogs, the build and workload the recipe is designed around
- Dogs with a real appetite for meat, since duck is named twice in the opening lines and protein reaches 36%
- Dogs that do their best work on poultry, with free range duck as the headline meat
- Owners who leave cereal out, since peas and sweet potato do the binding
Worth watching
Before you pour the first bowl, two label details are worth registering.
- Chicken fat and hydrolysed chicken liver support the duck, so this is a duck-led recipe rather than a chicken-free one
- It is fuel for hard work, so a large dog in gentle retirement will need the scoop watched closely
Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.
How this scores
How we score71.2/100Excellent
Protein and processingGood
Nutritional balanceOutstanding
TransparencyOutstanding
ValueExcellent
The Details
Dog fit
If your dog finishes a walk asking what else you have got, this bag was packed with them in mind. Before you pour the first bowl, two label details are worth registering.
Food type
Dry
Life stage
Adult
Breed size
Large
Main protein
Duck
The score, in context
Our Excellent band is where this food lands, while the typical adult dry food rests in the Good band. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, protein and processing Good, and value Excellent. The margin is built on meat: with duck declared at 44% and another 26% fresh, estimated carbohydrate converts to just 28.5% of dry matter, a long way beneath the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.
What's in it
Ingredients, as declared: duck (44%), fresh duck (26%), chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols), peas, sweet potato, hydrolysed chicken liver (2%), salmon oil, dried apples, carrots, dried kelp (ascophyllum nodosum), glucosamine (0.026%), chondroitin sulphate (0.016%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.015%), fructo-oligosaccharides (0.012%), Mojave yucca (0.01%).
Named ingredients
Duck (44%), fresh duck (26%), chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols), peas, sweet potato, hydrolysed chicken liver (2%), salmon oil, dried apples, carrots, dried kelp (ascophyllum nodosum), glucosamine (0.026%), chondroitin sulphate (0.016%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.015%), fructo-oligosaccharides (0.012%), Mojave yucca (0.01%).
Nutritional additives
Vitamin A (3a672a) 20 000 IE, vitamin D3 (3a671) 1 500 IE, vitamin E (3a700) 400 mg, biotin (3a880) 0,6 mg, zink (3b606) 85 mg, järn (3b106) 75 mg, mangan (3b504) 35 mg, jod (3b201) 0,7 mg, koppar (3b406) 15 mg, selen (3b810) 0,2 mg. Innehåller naturliga antioxidanter: tokoferol-extrakt från vegetabilisk olja (1b306(i)), askorbylpalmitat (1b304) & rosmarinextrakt.
Ingredient notes
Duck appears twice at the head of the label: a 44% entry carrying the bulk and 26% fresh duck behind it. Fresh duck loses most of its water to the oven. Even so, with this much bird declared, the finished analysis reads 36% protein as fed, or 40.0% of dry matter. That is serious territory for a kibble.
Peas and sweet potato carry what starch there is, and there is not much of it, with estimated carbohydrate finishing at 25.7% as fed. Dried apples, carrots and dried kelp fill out the plant matter in supporting roles.
Chicken supplies the cooking fat and, at 2%, a hydrolysed liver palatant, while salmon oil brings the marine omega 3s. All three earn their keep nutritionally, and all three keep the recipe duck-led rather than duck-only, the distinction that matters for elimination feeding.
The functional additions are printed as percentages: glucosamine at 0.026% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.016% for the joints, mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.015% and fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.012% as prebiotics, and Mojave yucca at 0.01% to close. Modest doses, but all of them declared.
Price and value
£6.67 a kilo, across 2kg, 5kg, 12kg and 17kg bags.
A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would work through about 228 grams a day, using the standard maintenance estimate of around 840 kcal daily (110 × bodyweight^0.75), for a day rate near £1.52. The energy figure behind that estimate is itself calculated from the analysis, as the label does not declare calories.
Nutritional analysis
Declared analysis
Energy
369 kcal/100g
Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*
Protein
36%
Fat
18%
Fibre
2.5%
Ash
7.8%
Moisture
10%
Dry weight
Protein
40%
Fat
20%
Fibre
2.8%
Ash
8.7%
Carbs
28.5%
As-fed composition
Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.
Meat
72%
Carbs
15.5%
Veg
3.2%
Oils
9.2%
Other
0.1%
Pricing & size
- Pack size
- 2 kg · 5 kg · 12 kg · 17 kg
- Retailer pricing
- Coming soon
Live retailer pricing is not yet available for this food. Prices, cost per day and where to buy will appear here once retailer data is live.
Ingredients and nutrition are taken from manufacturer data. Retailer pricing is not yet live for this food.
Related dog food guides
Ranked shortlists that include foods like this one.
Related foods
All reviews
65/100Good
65/100Good