Canidae Pure Land review

Our banding puts this in the same place as the typical adult dry food, our Good band, though the two arrive there carrying completely different shopping. Protein at 27.8% of dry matter and carbohydrate at 40.0% both read better than typical for a dry food, and the ingredients list is short and almost entirely self-describing.

What keeps it level rather than ahead is how much of the recipe goes undeclared. The five headline ingredients are each given as 13%, roughly two thirds of the bag, and the remainder goes unquantified. There is no additive panel to read, and no calcium figure is printed. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average as a result, though transparency still reads Outstanding on the strength of what the list does say. None of that changes what is actually in the bag, which is a straightforward red meat recipe with no grain anywhere in it.

Ingredients, as declared: Bison (13%), Dried Lamb Meat (13%), Sweet Potato (13%), Chickpeas (13%), Peas (13%), Canola Oil, Suncured Alfalfa, Gravy.

Bison heads the list at 13%, an unusual thing to find in a British bowl and a notably lean red meat, with dried lamb meat matching it at 13%. The lamb comes dried. Its water has already gone, so the declared share is much what ends up in the kibble. Nothing on the label calls the bison dried. That normally means the fresh form, and fresh meat sheds a great deal of weight during cooking. Between them the analysis comes out at 27.8% protein on a dry matter basis, which is a solid figure for a dry food.

Each of the three starch carriers comes in at 13%: sweet potato, chickpeas and peas. The list holds no grain at all. Along with the starch, whole peas and chickpeas carry fibre and a little plant protein. Estimated carbohydrate stops at 40.0% of dry matter, against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. Peas do become a filler when a recipe leans on them too heavily, and at 13% alongside two other carriers this one is not doing that.

The only added fat here is canola oil. Total fat is declared at 15.0%, or 16.7% on a dry matter basis, a properly energy dense level for an everyday food. Suncured alfalfa follows it, a forage plant that adds fibre and a spread of minerals, and the sun curing is simply how it has been dried.

The list ends with gravy, and gravy is the only entry that never names its contents. On a dry food, that is usually the coating sprayed on after cooking to give the kibble some flavour. Its job here is appetite. Ash reads 11.1% of dry matter, at the higher end, which normally reflects the bone that travels with dried meat and the mineral mix on top of it.

Sold in 1.8kg and 10.8kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at about 246 grams a day. That assumes a daily requirement of around 840 kcal, the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75. There is no printed feeding table to check that against, so begin somewhere near it and let your dog's condition move the scoop up or down over the first few weeks.