Dougie's Wagyu Beef Cold Pressed review

Our scoring lands this in the Excellent band, a step clear of the Good band the cold-pressed category settles into overall. Naming the beef down to the breed, itemising the vegetables and printing a percentage against the two biggest blocks all count in its favour. It stops climbing because the meat share ends at 32% and the protein figure leans partly on potato protein instead of the animal.

Ingredients, as declared: 32% Beef (including min 15% Wagyu Beef Meal, Beef Greaves and Beef Fat), Vegetables 26% (Sweet Potato, Peas, Chicory Pulp, Broad Beans, Carrots, Pumpkin) Dried Potato, Chicken Gravy, Potato Protein, Brewer's Yeast, Apple Fibre, Egg Powder, Linseed, Sunower Oil, Chia Seeds, Seaweed, MOS, FOS, Glucosamine, Yucca Schidigera, Green Lipped Mussels, Green Tea Extract, Parsley, Rosemary, Chondroitin Sulphate. C

Beef makes up 32% of the recipe, with a minimum of 15% declared as wagyu beef meal and the remainder arriving as beef greaves and beef fat. Greaves is the protein-rich material left after fat is rendered off, so it is a concentrated beef ingredient and not a mystery one. Every animal entry here is named to its species. Wagyu is a genuinely marbled beef, which explains where some of the fat comes from.

The 26% vegetable block is spelled out in brackets as sweet potato, peas, chicory pulp, broad beans, carrots and pumpkin, and that itemising matters. A bare vegetables entry can hide almost anything and can change between batches, whereas a named list can be judged. Peas and broad beans bring plant protein and fibre, chicory pulp brings inulin for the gut, and carrot and pumpkin bring the antioxidants.

Dried potato and potato protein sit behind the vegetables, and the second of those deserves a word. Potato protein comes out of potato processing, and it is a real protein. For a dog, though, it does not do the work that meat protein does, so the headline figure of 25.0% is not all animal. Carbohydrate converts to 46.8% of dry matter, a shade above the 43.2% usual for cold-pressed food.

Everything printed after the potato is where this label gets interesting. Brewer's yeast carries the B vitamins better than almost anything natural. Linseed and chia bring plant omega 3 and seaweed covers iodine, while MOS and FOS work as prebiotics for the bugs of the large intestine. Glucosamine, green lipped mussel and chondroitin sulphate follow for the joints. Green tea extract, parsley and rosemary close it out, with the rosemary also there to stop the fats turning.

Crude ash converts to 9.2% of dry matter, which points to a substantial mineral content, though no calcium figure is printed to tell you how it is distributed. Energy is estimated at 340 kcal per 100g, close to the 351 kcal a typical cold-pressed food carries, so portions here will feel familiar to anyone moving across from another bag in the format.

The bag sizes are 2kg and 10kg, with a four-pack of the 2kg alongside them.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, needing roughly 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), this works out at about 247 grams from its estimated energy content. The maker's low-activity guide for a 24 to 30kg dog is 310 to 365 grams a day.