Celtic Connection Holistic Dog Food: Lamb With Goat & Sweet Potato review

The four varieties split across two of our bands, with the chicken, the duck and the salmon all reaching Excellent. The lamb sits a step behind in Good, level with the typical adult dry food. Nothing dramatic separates them, and the range's character, itemised meat, algal omega 3s and a genuinely dosed joint trio, is shared evenly. An undeclared moisture figure and the very long ingredient tail are what keep the results modest.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb & Goat (70%: 37% Freshly Prepared Lamb, 18% Freshly Prepared Goat, 14% Dehydrated Lamb, 1% Lamb Stock), Sweet Potato (19.5%), Algal Oil (Schizochytrium limacinum), Lucerne, Peas, Linseed, Vitamins & Minerals, Choline Chloride, Mannanoligosaccharides (Bio-MOS), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), Chondroitin Sulphate (1,500 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) (1,500 mg/kg), Glucosamine (700 mg/kg), Dried Cranberries (600 mg/kg), Rosemary, Dandelion, Juniper Berries, Liquorice Root (400 mg/kg), Angelica Root, Rosehips, Camomile (300 mg/kg), Burdock, Nettle, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Peppermint Leaf, Marigold Flowers, Marshmallow Root, Fennel, Yucca Schidigera Extract (250 mg/kg), Globe Artichoke Leaf (200 mg/kg), Dried Seaweed, Cinnamon (100 mg/kg), Apples, Carrots, Pumpkin (100 mg/kg), Pears, Spinach

Each recipe opens with a 70% animal declaration broken into named parts, fresh, dehydrated and a splash of gravy or stock, and printing that split matters. Dehydrated meat holds its weight through cooking in a way fresh meat cannot, so the recipes leaning harder on the dehydrated share deliver more of their headline to the finished kibble.

Sweet potato is the backbone starch in every variety, with peas and lucerne behind it. Estimated carbohydrate runs from 28.2% to 37.6% of dry matter across the range, all of it below the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

Algal oil is the most distinctive choice on the label. It delivers the same marine omega 3s normally sourced from fish, taken straight from the algae the fish would have eaten. That is how the chicken, duck and lamb recipes manage to stay entirely fish free.

The joint trio is dosed like it means it: chondroitin sulphate and MSM at 1,500 mg/kg apiece and glucosamine at 700 mg/kg, printed on every variety. Cranberries at 600 mg/kg and a pair of prebiotics round out the functional entries. Most of the added trace minerals are chelates, and a dog absorbs those more easily.

Then comes the apothecary: dandelion, juniper, liquorice, angelica, camomile, burdock, nettle, marshmallow root and more, most with printed doses in the hundreds of milligrams per kilo. At those levels they are a signature rather than a treatment, and the food's real work is done by the meat, the sweet potato and the supplement line above them.

Lamb and goat at 70%: 37% freshly prepared lamb, 18% freshly prepared goat, 14% dehydrated lamb and 1% lamb stock. The only all red meat member, with no poultry and no fish anywhere on its list, and the gentlest protein declaration of the range.

The chicken and the duck recipes are £6.29 a kilo, the salmon £6.42 and the lamb £7.50, each sold in 1kg, 2.5kg, 5.5kg and 12kg bags.

Fed to a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the range spans roughly 218 to 235 grams a day, between £1.37 and £1.76 depending on the recipe. That comes from the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75).