Bug Bakes Regular review

Our Good band is where this finishes, matching the band the typical cold-pressed food holds, though it sits a shade under the middle of the category. Insect as the sole animal protein and a list where nearly everything carries a percentage are the strengths. The cereal share is what keeps it from climbing, with carbohydrate converting to 47.8% of dry matter where 43.2% is typical for the format. Transparency reads Outstanding with the other readings running between Good and Average, a fair summary of a food that does one unusual thing very deliberately and everything else in a conventional way.

Ingredients, as declared: Insect 33% (28% meal, 5% oil), Barley 27%, Oats 13%, Apple 4%, Carrot 4%, Linseed 4%, Beet Pulp 4%, Vegetable Gravy 4%, Minerals, Vitamins, Brewers Yeast 1%, Seaweed 1%, Blueberry, Prebiotic MOS, Chicory Root Extract, Glucosamine 400mg/kg, Chondroitin 200mg/kg. Insect Protein, Carrots, Apples, Joint Care, Linseed, Blueberries, Seaweed.

Insect at 33% is the reason this food exists, arriving as 28% meal and 5% oil, and nothing else on the list is animal. That is a real opening for a dog who has been through the usual proteins, and for an owner thinking about farming footprint it is a considerably lighter option than beef or lamb. What the label does not do is say which insect, which is useful to know if you are weighing one insect food against another.

Barley at 27% and oats at 13% are the carriers, named outright and not hidden behind the word cereals. More labels could do the same. Both cook down into easily digested starch with useful fibre attached, oats especially. Barley does bring gluten with it, so a dog kept away from that needs a different bag.

Low temperature pressing replaces the high heat that expands a kibble, and the difference shows up in the bowl, where the pellets crumble in water and never puff up. That is why owners of dogs that inhale their dinner tend to be the format's loudest fans. Portions look smaller than the equivalent kibble, so weigh rather than scoop until your eye adjusts.

After the cereals the list runs through apple and carrot at 4% each, then linseed and beet pulp at the same level. Vegetable gravy follows, then the vitamin and mineral additions, brewers yeast and seaweed at 1% apiece, and finally blueberry with prebiotic MOS and chicory root extract. MOS and chicory are prebiotics, so the bacteria in the gut are what they feed. Glucosamine at 400mg/kg and chondroitin at 200mg/kg close the list with a printed figure each, which is more openness than a joint mention usually comes with.

Protein reads 25.0% as fed and converts to 27.2% of dry matter, with fat at 12.0% and fibre at 5.4%. Energy at 354 kcal per 100g sits right beside the 351 that is typical for cold-pressed food. No moisture is declared, so those dry matter figures run on the standard assumption for a pressed pellet. The trace elements are chelated, the more available form, and the vitamins are printed with their doses.

£9.38 a kilo. It is sold in 2.5kg, 6kg and 10kg bags, in a two by 10kg pack, and as a 15kg working dog bag.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, needing about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), would eat roughly 237 grams a day, which comes to £2.23.