Concept For Life Medium Breed Adult review

Our scoring lands this one in the Average band, a step below the Good band where the middle of the adult dry shelf gathers. The reason lies in construction, and there is nothing here a label reader should worry about. The fresh chicken at 20% is largely water before it ever meets the oven, so the finished protein settles at 26.1% of dry matter. The entry ahead of it stops at a bird family and never reaches a species. Rice, maize and rice flour then take on a good deal of the bulk. What is left is a competent, generously fortified kibble that our reading treats conservatively, and a medium breed adult fed on it is being looked after perfectly well.

Ingredients, as declared: 22% Poultry Protein (Rich in Chicken, Partly Dried and Hydrolysed), 20% Fresh Chicken Meat, Rice, Maize, Rice Flour, Poultry Fat, Dried Beet Pulp (Desugared), Linseed, Lignocellulose, Monocalcium Phosphate, Sodium Chloride, Brewer's Yeast (Dried), Egg (Dried), 0.2% Salmon Oil, 0.2% Sunflower Oil, 0.2% Yeast Extract (Rich in Beta-Glucans and Mannan-Oligosaccharides), 0.1% Chicory Inulin, Antioxidants.

The label opens with 22% poultry protein, partly dried and hydrolysed, and calls it rich in chicken. Most of the protein comes from that entry, since the 20% fresh chicken meat behind it cooks down and loses most of its weight in water. Hydrolysing breaks protein down into smaller fragments, which usually makes it gentler on a touchy gut, and it is also the reason the first entry cannot be read as plain chicken.

Rice, maize and rice flour supply the starch. Rice is among the kinder cereals for a dog's digestion and maize brings a little protein of its own alongside the energy, so neither is a poor choice for a dog with no cereal history. The sum of it is a carbohydrate estimate of 48.9% of dry matter, a shade above the 46.2% that adult dry food typically runs at.

Desugared beet pulp is the main fibre, the fermentable sort that gut bacteria make use of. Behind it sits lignocellulose, a fibre purified into powder that brings bulk and nothing more. Chicory inulin at 0.1% and the yeast extract at 0.2% do the prebiotic thinking on top, the yeast extract being the source of the beta-glucans and mannan-oligosaccharides the label mentions by name.

Poultry fat is the added fat, a perfectly serviceable ingredient that nonetheless leaves the bird unnamed for a second time. Linseed sits mid list as the plant omega 3 source, and salmon oil at 0.2% brings the marine forms that skin and coat use more directly. Sunflower oil at the same 0.2% adds omega 6 with a little natural vitamin E alongside it.

The added panel is where this label is at its most generous, and every entry is dosed in print. Zinc turns up twice, at 100 mg per kilo as the sulphate and a further 60 mg as a glycine chelate, and it is the chelate a dog takes up more easily. Vitamin E and vitamin C each sit at 300 mg per kilo doing antioxidant duty, and choline chloride is declared at 2000 mg per kilo. Dried egg and brewer's yeast fill in behind, the yeast being a natural source of the B vitamins.

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

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works through roughly 224 grams a day, taking around 840 kcal a day as the target (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Portioning guides for this recipe come from its energy content, not from the bag. That figure is a starting point, and the waistline does the fine tuning.