Ci Foods Ci Vim 'n' Vigour: Duck & Potato review

Good is both this food's band and the band of the typical adult dry food, so on our scale it is a thoroughly average performer, no better and no worse. What holds it there is the modest meat share and the workmanlike ingredient list. What keeps it respectable is that everything on that list is named, the duck runs through every animal entry, and the analysis holds no surprises. Ordinary, in the reassuring sense of the word.

Ingredients, as declared: Duck 36% (Including Dried Duck 27%, Duck Fat 7% & Duck Gravy 2%) Potato (31%), Peas, Beet Pulp (7%), Brewer's Yeast, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins

Duck at 36% breaks down as dried duck at 27%, duck fat at 7% and duck gravy at 2%. Dried meat is the concentrated form. Weight for weight it beats fresh meat, so that 27% dried share does real work in the finished kibble, and protein converts to a solid 28.3% of dry matter. Every animal entry carries the duck name, which is exactly what an elimination-minded owner wants to see.

Potato at 31% is the main starch with peas behind it. Estimated carbohydrate lands at 46.7% of dry matter, almost exactly where the typical adult dry food sits at 46.2%, so the energy balance here is conventional even if the sources are not cereals.

Beet pulp at 7% looks after fibre, brewer's yeast brings B vitamins and a savoury edge dogs enjoy, and linseed supplies plant omega 3s, the recipe's only omega source since no fish oil is used.

The additive panel is dosed in print. Iron and zinc are at 50 mg each, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 12 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.19 mg per kilo, plus biotin at 145 mcg.

£4.00 a kilo, sold in 2kg bags, packs of four 2kg bags and a 12kg sack.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through about 240 grams a day, which comes to roughly £0.96. That works from a maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75).