Calibra Life Adult Large Breed: Lamb review

Chicken and lamb both come out in our Good band, level with where the typical adult dry food lands. Pick between them on your dog's history with each meat, because the construction underneath barely moves.

Ingredients, as declared: lamb protein (36 %), rice (34 %), brewer´s rice (10 %), poultry fat (7 %, preserved with tocopherols), apple pulp dried (5 %), yeasts, hydrolysed chicken liver (2 %), salmon oil (2 %), prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides 120 mg/kg, β-glucans 100 mg/kg, fructo-oligosaccharides 70 mg/kg), glucosamine (260 mg/kg), dried rosemary & thyme (200 mg/kg), chondroitine sulphate (160 mg/kg), Mojave yucca (80 mg/kg), Lactobacillus acidophilus HA - 122 inactivated (15 × 109 cells/kg).

Both flavours lead with meat in its concentrated protein form rather than fresh, so the declared percentage survives cooking intact. Protein converts to 27.5% of dry matter in each, a solid level for a large breed maintenance food.

Rice and brewer's rice carry the starch in both versions, and estimated carbohydrate finishes near the 46.2% of dry matter typical for adult dry food. Large dogs do not need their maintenance food racy, and this one is not.

The joint pair is the heart of the large breed case: glucosamine at 260 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 160 mg/kg, printed with doses rather than waved at in the marketing.

Hydrolysed chicken liver at 2% is the flavour engine and salmon oil at 2% the omega source, and both appear in each flavour, which is why neither escapes chicken or fish entirely. Poultry fat at 7% supplies energy without naming its bird.

The gut deck is dosed in print, with mannan-oligosaccharides at 120 mg/kg, beta-glucans at 100 mg/kg and fructo-oligosaccharides at 70 mg/kg alongside an inactivated Lactobacillus strain, and the chelated trace minerals all carry printed amounts.

Lamb protein at 36%, with rice rising to 34% to fill the gap, so this flavour leans a little further on grain than its sibling. If chicken has fallen out of favour at your house, this is the obvious one to try, though the chicken liver caveat from the watch list still applies.

The chicken is £3.96 a kilo and the lamb £4.31, both sold in 100g, 2.5kg and 12kg packs.

Guide figures for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition: about 224 grams and £0.89 a day on the chicken, or 226 grams and £0.97 on the lamb. Both come from the standard 840 kcal maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75).