Canagan Insect Protein Puppies/Adult review

This recipe lands in our Good band, which is also exactly where the typical adult dry food finishes. The novelty is real and the declarations are tidy, so transparency reads Outstanding, with nutritional balance and value both Good. Protein and processing comes back Average: the insect content stops just short of half the recipe, plant proteins do some of the lifting, and the analysis is solid without being striking. As a novel-protein option it does its job; it simply does not pull clear of the field while doing it.

Ingredients, as declared: 49.8% Insect (Freshly Prepared Insects 25%*, Dried Insects 19.3%*, Insect Oil 5.5%)*, Sweet Potato, Potato, Peas, Potato Protein, Minerals, Salmon Oil (1.2%), Alfalfa, Fructooligosaccharides, Glucosamine (860 mg/kg), MSM (860 mg/kg), Apple, Carrot, Spinach, Psyllium, Seaweed, Chondroitin Sulphate (620 mg/kg), Peppermint, Camomile, Marigold, Cranberry, Aniseed & Fenugreek. *Black Soldier Fly Larvae.

The headline 49.8% insect content is all black soldier fly larvae, arriving three ways: freshly prepared at 25%, dried at 19.3% and as insect oil at 5.5%. Farmed larvae offer a complete protein with a respectable amino acid profile, and because dogs almost never meet them, they carry very little allergy baggage.

One asterisk on the novelty story: salmon oil at 1.2% sits in the list for omega 3s, so fish is technically present in every bowl. A dog simply bored of chicken will never notice; a dog on a formal elimination diet might, and the label deserves a straight reading on that point.

Sweet potato, potato and peas form the base, with potato protein topping up the protein figure. Plant protein digests less completely than animal protein, so the declared 31% protein, 33.7% on a dry matter basis, is a blend of the two rather than pure insect.

Crude fibre at 5% runs above the kibble norm, and the carbohydrate estimate converts to 36.5% of dry matter, still under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The supporting cast will be familiar from the rest of the brand: glucosamine and MSM at 860 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 620 mg/kg. Fructooligosaccharides handle the gut, and a trace-level herb tail runs from peppermint to fenugreek.

£11.20 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg, 5kg and 10kg bags.

On the standard maintenance assumption of about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75), daily feeding is roughly 236 grams, which comes to about £2.64. The label's table gives 150 grams for the same weight, so treat our figure as the generous end.