Dougie's Lush Lamb Cold Pressed review

Good is the band this food lands in, and the cold-pressed category as a whole averages out in that same band, so it is keeping pace with its peers and not trailing them. A named meat in the lead position, a grain-free base and printed percentages for the joint ingredients all pull in its favour. What stops it climbing is the size of the potato and sweet potato share, which puts carbohydrate above where the category usually sits. The analysis also has to work from an assumed moisture level, because none is declared.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (30%), Sweet Potato (27%), Potato (23%), Salmon Protein (5%), Chicken Gravy, Whole Egg, Beet Pulp, Chicken Fat, Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Prebiotic (Inulin), Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Sunower Oil. Herbal Blend (0.25% Chicory Root, Parsley, Thyme, Nettle Leaf, Rosemary, Camomile Leaf, Sage, Yucca Extract, Rosehip, Dandelion Leaf, Turmeric, Aniseed). Glucosamine (0.1%), Green Lipped Mussel (0.05%) Chondroitin Sulphate (0.05%)

Lamb at 30% opens the list. For a dog with a sensitive history it is a fine choice: highly palatable and easy on the gut. It is still uncommon enough in mainstream recipes that plenty of dogs have never had a run at it. It is a red meat, so it carries a richer mineral profile than poultry does.

Sweet potato at 27% and potato at 23% are the carbohydrate, and choosing them over wheat is what makes this grain free. They are gentler on a reactive gut than cereals, and they bring their own fibre and micronutrients. They are not light, though: carbohydrate converts to 50.1% of dry matter, above the 43.2% that a typical cold-pressed food carries. Beet pulp and alfalfa add fibre behind them, and inulin from chicory works as a prebiotic for the gut bacteria.

The animal side does not stop at lamb. Salmon protein at 5% lifts the protein figure with a very digestible source. Chicken gravy coats the pellet, chicken fat supplies part of the fat and whole egg adds one of the most complete proteins there is. All of them are named, and plenty of labels manage less. Together, though, they make this a bag for a lamb preference and not a lamb-only regime.

The joint ingredients are printed with their inclusions, at 0.1% glucosamine, 0.05% green lipped mussel and 0.05% chondroitin sulphate. Those are modest levels, closer to a steady daily top-up than a therapeutic dose, and the honest thing about this label is that it prints the numbers and lets you judge. Green lipped mussel also brings marine omega fats along with it.

The herbal blend runs to 0.25% and covers chicory root, parsley, thyme, nettle, rosemary, camomile, sage, yucca, rosehip, dandelion, turmeric and aniseed. Rosemary is there to stop the fats going rancid, and yucca has a reputation for taming what comes out the other end. The minerals are entered inline as a single word without doses, and no calcium figure is printed, which is the main gap on an otherwise readable label. Crude ash converts to 8.7% of dry matter, so there is a real mineral load in there.

It comes as a 2kg bag, a 10kg bag and a four-pack of the 2kg.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), which on this food's estimated energy content comes to roughly 250 grams. Dougie's own low-activity guide puts a 12 to 16kg dog at 185 to 230 grams a day.