Dachshund Superfood All Life Stages review

Our reading puts this a clear step above the middle of the dry shelf: it lands in our Excellent band where the typical adult dry food reaches our Good band. The reasons are unglamorous. Two thirds of the recipe is declared beef, and carbohydrate converts to 29.9% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. The working extras all carry printed doses.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Beef (35% Freshly Prepared Angus Beef, 25% Dried Beef, 5% Beef Fat), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Carrot, Green Beans, Cauliflower, Tomato, Courgette), Minerals, Omega 3 Supplement, Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 192 mg/kg), Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 48 mg/kg), Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

Of the 65% beef, 35% is freshly prepared Angus, 25% is dried and 5% is beef fat. The middle figure is the one that matters most. Fresh meat brings its water with it, and the oven takes that away. The dried quarter therefore carries much of the protein that actually reaches the bowl. The analysis agrees with the headline, protein converting to 39.1% of dry matter.

Sweet potato holds the kibble together with beans behind it, and there is no wheat, maize or rice on the list at all. Beet pulp follows as the fibre, the same gently fermentable sort used across most careful kibbles.

Carrot, tomato, cauliflower, green beans and courgette make up the dried superfood blend, each declared as the equivalent of 4% fresh ingredients. Carrot is the pick of them for a dog, easily digested once cooked and generous with the vitamin A that eyes run on.

The working extras are dosed rather than sprinkled. Glucosamine and MSM come in at 170 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, the familiar joint set. FOS at 192 mg/kg and MOS at 48 mg/kg are prebiotic sugars that feed the flora of the large intestine. At 0.01%, the olive extract is a flourish and nothing more.

Calcium works out at 1.2% of dry matter, comfortable for growth as well as for adulthood, which is what a bag naming puppies needs to be. The one entry left vague is the omega 3 supplement, and it gives no source. If you are keeping a dog off fish, this label alone will not settle it.

£6.67 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 6kg and 12kg bags of the small kibble, with the 12kg also offered in a large kibble.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 215 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.43 a day. Most dogs eating this will be a good deal smaller than that. The bag's own guide starts at 25 grams for a 1kg dog and reaches 135 grams at 10kg.