Different Dog Health+ Comforting Chicken review

This one lands in our Outstanding band and finishes level with the typical fresh food, which is a strong showing given how good that field is. Protein and processing, nutritional balance, transparency and value all read Outstanding underneath it.

The arithmetic of the list earns that. Chicken breast at 45% and beef heart at 10% put real animal at the front. Protein converts to 49.8% of dry matter and carbohydrate to only 12.3%. Every entry from the meat down to the 0.02% turmeric carries a printed percentage. A label that exact is doing most of our work for us.

Ingredients, as declared: Human-Quality British Chicken Breast (45%), Cabbage (13%), Carrot (13%), Fresh Beef Heart (10%), Butternut Squash (5%), Apple (5%), Whole Egg Powder (3%), Vitamins & Minerals, Scottish Salmon Oil (1.2%), Coconut Oil (0.8%), Slippery Elm Powder (0.7%), Alfalfa (0.4%), Ginger (0.3%), Brewer's Yeast (0.3%), Chia Seeds (0.3%), Kelp Seaweed (0.3%), Turmeric (0.02%)

The two entries that give the recipe its purpose sit near the bottom of the list, where the small inclusions live. Slippery elm powder at 0.7% is a mucilage-rich bark that has been used in soothing preparations for a very long time, and ginger at 0.3% is its traditional companion. Both are there at seasoning levels, so think of them as the character of the dish.

Chicken breast is the leanest cut on the bird, and a gentle, easily digested bowl is exactly what a comfort recipe is for. The 10% fresh beef heart behind it is not offal in the trimmings sense. Heart is a working muscle, dense in B vitamins and taurine, and it adds depth to a dish that would otherwise be very plain indeed. Whole egg powder at 3% brings complete protein and a useful spread of micronutrients along with it.

The plant side is deliberately simple. Cabbage and carrot share the load at 13% apiece, with butternut squash and apple at 5% each and alfalfa at 0.4% further down. Carrot is one of the better vegetable inclusions a recipe can carry, giving vitamin A, soluble fibre and natural antioxidants once cooked. Nothing on this list is doing anything more complicated than feeding a dog.

Two fats are declared: Scottish salmon oil at 1.2% for its omega 3 and coconut oil at 0.8%. Even with both of them the analysis stays gentle, with fat at 7.2% as fed and 26.0% of dry matter. At 137 kcal per 100g it sits close to the 140 that is typical of fresh food. Moisture is declared at 72.3%, so a day's feeding is a good weight of food, which suits a dog that likes to see a full bowl.

Chelated minerals make up the added panel, and every one is dosed in print. Vitamin A comes in at 2500 IU, vitamin D3 at 400 IU and vitamin E at 50 mg. Zinc follows at 18 mg, iron at 15 mg, manganese at 7.5 mg, copper at 4.5 mg and iodine at 0.025 mg. Calcium is not among them, so if this pot is going to feed a growing large-breed puppy that is the figure worth a note to the maker.

£18.40 a kilo, in 250 g, 600 g and 1000 g pots.

As a rough guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 613 grams a day here, from a daily energy estimate of around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance calculation). That comes to roughly £11.28 a day.