Calibra Life Adult Medium Breed: Lamb review

The chicken reaches our Excellent band with the lamb a step behind in our Good band, which is where the typical adult dry food lands. The chicken takes the lead on our scoring, so buy that one unless your dog does better on lamb.

Ingredients, as declared: lamb protein (38 %), rice (32 %), poultry fat (10 %, preserved with tocopherols), brewer´s rice (8 %), apple pulp dried (4 %), yeasts, hydrolysed chicken liver (2 %), salmon oil (2 %), prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides 120 mg/kg, β-glucans 100 mg/kg, fructo-oligosaccharides 70 mg/kg), dried rosemary & thyme (200 mg/kg), Mojave yucca (80 mg/kg), Lactobacillus acidophilus HA - 122 inactivated (15 × 109 cells/kg).

Both labels open with a concentrated protein rather than fresh meat: chicken protein at 42% in one recipe, lamb protein at 38% in the other. Drying the meat first takes the water out, so gram for gram a concentrate carries more protein than fresh meat. The analysis shows the benefit: protein converts to 31.9% of dry matter in the chicken, and the lamb reads 29.7%.

Rice carries the starch, backed by brewer's rice, the small broken grains left over from milling. It is a humbler cut of the same cereal and a perfectly digestible one. Together the two keep carbohydrate to 38.8% of dry matter in the chicken. The lamb reads 41.7%, and both sit under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The entries worth a label-reader's pause are the quiet ones. Poultry fat is the main added fat and names no species, hydrolysed chicken liver at 2% is a palatability coating, and salmon oil at 2% brings the omega 3. Between them they mean chicken and fish are present in both recipes, whichever animal is named on the bag.

The gut package is more thorough than most kibbles bother with. Mannan-oligosaccharides lead, with beta-glucans and fructo-oligosaccharides behind them, each carrying a printed dose, and a Lactobacillus culture completes it. The bacteria are inactivated, so this is not a live probiotic, and the label says so plainly.

Every trace mineral is chelated, an organic form picked for how well it absorbs, and each dose is printed. Dried apple pulp adds a little gentle fibre. Rosemary, thyme and Mojave yucca close the list at trace levels, seasoning rather than substance.

Lamb protein leads at 38% with rice up at 32%, making this the gentler of the pair at 16% fat declared and 382 kcal per 100g. Lamb is the switch to make when chicken flavours have worn out their welcome, but it is not a chicken-free recipe, because poultry fat and hydrolysed chicken liver stay on the label. It is also the flavour with the biggest bag, a 20kg option the chicken does not get.

Per kilo, the chicken is £3.96 and the lamb £4.31. Both flavours come in 100g, 2.5kg and 12kg bags, and the lamb is also sold in a 20kg bag.

As a guide, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at around £0.84 a day for the chicken and £0.95 a day for the lamb. Both figures assume about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's own guide suggests 170 grams a day at that weight.