CSJ Complete Tripe review

The result here comes out level with the middle of the adult dry shelf, this food and the typical adult dry food both sitting in our Good band. Protein and processing reads Average, nutritional balance likewise, while transparency comes back Outstanding. The recipe fits that: a named and genuinely appealing meat at the front, dosed extras at the back, and a cereal middle with a maize gluten entry pulling the other way. Take it as a solid everyday dinner rather than a showpiece, and for a dog that loves the smell of it that counts for a good deal.

Ingredients, as declared: Tripe (min 26%), Rice, Maize, Beef meal, Maize gluten, Chicken gravy, Chicken fat, Peas, Linseed, Yeast, Minerals, Salmon Oil, Alfalfa, Mannan oligosaccharides (1400mg/kg), Dried fruits & herbs (Total 1000mg/kg; Blackcurrant, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Milk Thistle, Seaweed, Fenugreek, Spearmint, Parsley, Marshmallow Root, Marjoram, Oregano), Glucosamine (1000mg/kg), Yucca schidigera, Green lipped mussel (100mg/kg).

Tripe at a minimum of 26% leads, and the word minimum is worth having: it is a floor rather than a guess. Tripe is the stomach lining of grazing animals. There is plenty of protein and fat in it, and most dogs digest it famously well. That is what puts it in so many recovery bowls. Beef meal behind it is the dried, concentrated form and does much of the heavy lifting for the finished protein, which converts to 24.4% of dry matter.

Rice and maize build the biscuit. Maize gluten follows them, and it is the weakest link on this list. Milling maize leaves it behind, and it goes in to lift the protein figure. A dog gets less from it than from an animal source. Its position on the list means it is not a token pinch, and a dog with an itchy history is the one to keep an eye on.

Peas, linseed and alfalfa fill out the middle. Fibre and plant omega 3s both come from the linseed. Salmon oil adds the marine form that a dog can use directly. Further down, the mannan oligosaccharides declared at 1400mg/kg have the yeast as their source.

The tail is where this label does its best work. Glucosamine at 1000mg/kg and green lipped mussel at 100mg/kg are both pointed at joints. The fruit and herb blend totals 1000mg/kg with every plant in it named, right down to the marjoram. At that total the blend is seasoning, and naming the lot is the honest way round.

The mineral panel is doubled up thoughtfully. Iron, copper, zinc and manganese are each supplied both as a sulphate and as an amino acid chelate, the chelated half generally being the easier for a dog to take up. Selenium arrives as sodium selenite, which is the near universal choice across the shelf.

£1.88 a kilo, sold as a 15kg sack.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through about 222 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £0.42 a day. The label's own table asks 130 to 250 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. Where the two disagree, let the waistline decide.