Cooper & Co Grain Free Adult review

This one comes out in our Good band, the same rung the typical adult dry food occupies. Three things get it there. Every animal entry names the species and carries its own percentage, and moisture is a printed figure. The plant side is held to a carbohydrate estimate of 41.9% of dry matter, against the 46.2% adult dry food usually runs at. At 30.4% of dry matter, the protein is a strong figure for a kibble. Two things keep it from climbing higher: the pea protein doing some of that work, and a mineral panel given as a heading with no figures. As an everyday bowl for a grown dog, it is a well constructed one.

Ingredients, as declared: 50.5% Turkey (Freshly Prepared Turkey 27.5%, Dried Turkey 17%, Turkey Fat 4.5% & Turkey Gravy 1.5%), Sweet Potato (25%), Lentils, Pea Protein, Beet Pulp, Salmon Oil (1%), Brewer's Yeast, Minerals, Dried Carrot, Chondroitin Sulphate (0.04%), Glucosamine (0.04%), Fructooligosaccharides, Mannanoligosaccharides.

Turkey supplies just over half the recipe and the label itemises all of it. Freshly prepared turkey at 27.5% is largely water and loses most of it in cooking, so the dried turkey at 17% is the entry underwriting the protein in the finished kibble. Turkey fat at 4.5% and turkey gravy at 1.5% complete the headline, and the fact that both are named to the species rather than listed as animal fat is a point in the label's favour. Turkey itself is lean, easy on the digestion and a natural next step for a dog who has fallen out with chicken.

The principal carbohydrate is sweet potato at 25%, a starch that burns slowly and brings fibre and pigment with it. Lentils sit behind it adding fibre and a little plant protein of their own. Nothing on the list is a grain. Carbohydrate is estimated at 38.5% as fed, or 41.9% of dry matter, under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. That is why the meat side reads as dominant.

Pea protein is the entry to read carefully. It is a refined by-product of pea processing, used because it lifts a protein figure inexpensively, and while it is perfectly safe it is not a substitute for animal protein in either quality or digestibility. Its position on the list means it is contributing meaningfully to the 28.0% headline, so read that number as turkey plus a helping hand.

Salmon oil at 1% does the omega work, supplying the long chain marine forms that skin and coat can use without conversion. It is also the one entry that stops this being an entirely single animal recipe. Beet pulp takes on the fermentable fibre, and the prebiotic nudge to the gut flora comes from fructooligosaccharides and mannanoligosaccharides. Dried carrot and brewer's yeast come in behind, the yeast bringing natural B vitamins with it.

Chondroitin sulphate and glucosamine are both declared at 0.04%, small doses but printed, and welcome on a recipe meant to be fed for years rather than months. On the mineral side the label gives a single Minerals heading without individual figures, so the analysis is what you have to go on. Ash is 9.2% of dry matter and calcium 1.41% of dry matter, both sitting comfortably for a grown dog.

£7.00 a kilo, offered in 1.5kg and 10kg bags.

A 15kg adult in steady condition needs somewhere near 227 grams a day, on an assumed 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), putting the daily figure at £1.59. The bag's own guide gives 140 to 240 grams for a dog of 10kg to 20kg, so use your dog's outline to pick the point between them.