Concept For Life Large Breed Light review

This one finishes in our Average band, a step under the Good band the middle of the adult dry shelf holds, and it is the lowest reading of this brand's large breed recipes. Protein and processing comes out Average. Rice and maize both sit ahead of the fresh chicken on the list, the largest meat entry is poultry rather than a named bird, and lignocellulose is placed high enough to be doing serious work. That is the standard way of building a light diet, with fibre bulking the bowl out while the calories come down. The approach loses marks on the protein and processing side and it genuinely delivers the lower energy the name promises, at 340 kcal per 100g. Nutritional balance sits at Good and so does transparency.

Ingredients, as declared: 28% Poultry Protein (Rich in Chicken, Partly Dried and Hydrolysed), Rice, Maize, 12% Fresh Chicken Meat, Lignocellulose, Dried Beet Pulp (Desugared), Poultry Fat, Linseed, Sodium Chloride, Brewer's Yeast (Dried), Monocalcium Phosphate, 0.1% Salmon Oil, 0.1% Chicory Inulin, Psyllium Husks (Dried), 0.1% Sunflower Oil, 0.04% Glucosamine, 0.02% Chondroitin Sulphate, Antioxidants.

Poultry protein at 28% leads. It is hydrolysed and partly dried, and the label calls it rich in chicken. Fresh chicken meat appears at 12%, further down the list than in the brand's other large breed foods and sitting behind both rice and maize. Protein still converts to 29.3% of dry matter, because dried and hydrolysed protein is concentrated in a way fresh meat is not.

The engine of a light diet is fibre, and here it is declared at 6.0%, converting to 6.5% of dry matter, the highest figure in this family. Dried beet pulp and psyllium husks bring fibre with something else attached, the beet pulp fermenting to feed the gut and the psyllium holding water. Lignocellulose is the plainer sort, a white odourless powder of purified plant fibre made to add bulk and very little else. It works, and it is the honest reason a light kibble can fill a bowl at 340 kcal per 100g.

Fat is held to 10.8%, or 11.7% of dry matter. Carbohydrate works out at an estimated 45.4% of dry matter, just under the 46.2% a typical adult dry food runs. Moisture is not declared, so the dry matter figures assume 8%.

L-carnitine is the supplement weight recipes reach for most, and the 100mg/kg here helps the cells that burn fat take it in. Glucosamine at 0.04% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.02% cover the joints, which take the brunt while a big dog is still heavy.

The small print is thinner than in the brand's other large breed foods. The prebiotic is chicory inulin at 0.1%. For omega 3s there is salmon oil at 0.1%, with linseed alongside, and sunflower oil at 0.1% brings vitamin E and linoleic acid. The mineral panel is still dosed in full, with zinc at 100mg/kg from the sulphate plus 60mg/kg as a glycine chelate, and monocalcium phosphate supplying calcium and phosphorus.

Dried egg is absent here where the rest of the range includes it, useful to know if egg is on your dog's avoid list. Brewer's yeast remains as a source of B vitamins and a little extra protein.

Sold in 1.5kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would take around 247 grams a day, on a maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). That is more grams than most kibbles ask for, because each gram carries less energy, which is the entire idea. For a dog actively losing weight, feed under maintenance and check the ribs every week.