Darf Complete Adult Dry: Salmon review

The Lamb is the strongest of the trio and takes our Excellent band word, with the Salmon joining it there and the North Sea Fish finishing in our Good band. Worth saying plainly: our Good band is where the typical cold-pressed food lands, so even the third-placed recipe here holds level with its category middle and does not prop it up. The Lamb reads Excellent for protein and processing and Outstanding for transparency, and the Salmon holds that same Outstanding transparency with Good for protein and processing. The North Sea Fish reads Good and Excellent on that pair, and nutritional balance is Average on all three. In practice the animals decide this, not the ranking.

Ingredients, as declared: 57% meat and fish (24% salmon edge, 18% lamb, 9% lamb bone, 6% lamb organs), 3% eggs, 15% raw dried carrot, 14% raw dried apple, 5% millet, 2% krill, 2% coconut oil, 1% nettle

Cold pressing is the whole premise. An extruded kibble needs high temperatures to cook. Darf presses its raw and raw dried ingredients together under gentle heat, and that is why the label can talk about raw dried carrot and raw apple and mean it. The result feeds exactly like dry food and stores exactly like dry food, without the freezer routine frozen raw asks for.

The meat block is where these labels earn their keep. Lamb arrives as 42% meat, 9% bone and 6% organs in the Lamb recipe, and the fish versions keep 18% lamb meat with the same 9% bone and 6% organs underneath their fish. Ground bone is doing the mineral work, and calcium lands at 1.38%, 1.34% and 1.35% of dry matter across the three, sensible adult figures backed by an ingredient you can point to.

Raw dried carrot at 15% and raw apple at 14% make up the plant side, an unusually fruit-forward choice that brings soluble fibre and natural sugars with it. Millet at 5% is the grain, and it is a gentle one. It carries no gluten and most digestions handle it easily. Simple recipes reach for it for that reason. Krill at 2% adds marine omega fats and coconut oil at 2% a fast-burning fat, with nettle at 1% closing the list.

The analysis reads like a moderate food, not a rich one. Protein converts to between 24.7% and 26.6% of dry matter and fat to between 9.8% and 10.6%. Both are restrained enough for a dog with an ordinary walk in the diary, not a working one. Carbohydrate estimates at between 53.9% and 55.6% of dry matter, above the 43.2% typical of cold-pressed food, which is the arithmetic consequence of dried fruit and vegetables taking almost a third of the recipe.

Only the Lamb prints its micronutrients as a proper panel, and it is a thorough one. Vitamin A comes in at 18000 IU, D3 at 1800 IU, E at 60mg, B12 at 72mcg and selenium in organic form at 0.18mg. The other two recipes declare a vitamin and mineral supplement at 0.5% without breaking it down, so if you like to read doses, the Lamb is the label that lets you.

Salmon takes the same 24% slot, described on the label with the unusual wording 'salmon edge', and the lamb base underneath is identical to the North Sea Fish version. Energy matches the Lamb at 394 kcal per 100g, with protein at 26.0% of dry matter. An oily fish at this share is an easy call for a dog whose coat could use the help.

All three recipes are £5.61 a kilo, sold in 4kg and 14kg bags.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the standard maintenance estimate is about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The Lamb and the Salmon work out at roughly 213 grams a day, or £1.20 and £1.19. The slightly lighter North Sea Fish comes to about 222 grams, or £1.24.