Essential Foods Essential Highland Living review

Excellent is where this lands in our bands, a step above the Good band that the typical adult dry food reaches. A run of named animals across the top of the list does most of that, backed by estimated carbohydrate of 37.0% of dry matter where the shelf typically runs at 46.2%. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both come out Good, with transparency clear of them at Outstanding. A candid label is this recipe's one real standout on top of a solid all round showing.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried & fresh free-range turkey (44%), sweet potato, fresh Scottish salmon (12%), chickpeas, peas, fresh aberdeen angus beef (6%), wild birds (quail, pigeon, pheasant & guinea fowl)(6%), linseed, ESSENTIAL the OMEGA 3 OIL (6%), whole eggs (5%), turkey liver stock (2%), alfalfa sprouts, vitamins, minerals, MOS (mannan oligosaccharides), FOS (fructooligosaccharides), glucosamine, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), chondroitin, cranberry, acai, bilberry, mulberry, apple, tomato, orange, pear, carrot, spinach, cauliflower, seaweed, marigold, ginseng, decaffeinated green tea, ginger.

Turkey at 44% is declared as dried and fresh combined, which is a slightly frustrating way to print it, because fresh meat is largely water before baking while dried meat goes in concentrated. What the analysis settles is that protein finishes at 31.5% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate at 37.0%, both sound readings for a kibble of this type. Turkey itself is easy to digest and a little leaner than chicken.

The supporting cast is where the recipe earns its name. Fresh Scottish salmon at 12% brings omega 3 in the long chain marine form, and Aberdeen Angus beef at 6% adds a red meat most dogs fall on happily. The wild bird blend of quail, pigeon, pheasant and guinea fowl at 6% is a genuinely unusual thing to find on a British label. Turkey liver stock at 2% is the palatability trick, and liver is nutrient dense enough to earn its place regardless.

One entry stays stubbornly vague. The oil listed under the brand's own name at 6% is present at a level that means it is doing real work, and the ingredients list never says what it is pressed from. Linseed sits behind it, contributing omega 3 in the plant form that a dog has to convert for itself.

Chickpeas, peas and sweet potato take care of the binding, with no cereal in sight, and alfalfa sprouts add a little fibre and greenery. Chickpeas are a slower releasing starch than most, which suits a dog that works in bursts.

The additive panel is thorough and printed in full. Taurine sits at 1,500 mg, then zinc and iron at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 15 mg, iodine at 0.96 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg per kilo. The trace minerals come in chelated form for readier uptake, and rosemary extract does the preserving. The joint trio is named but not dosed. Calcium comes out at 1.74% of dry matter, a fair helping of mineral for an adult food and the natural result of this much dried meat.

£6.75 a kilo. Bags are 2.5kg and 10kg, and both sizes are also sold in multipacks.

On an energy basis a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition takes about 232 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That puts the daily figure at £1.57. The label suggests 153 grams for that same dog, a fair way below the estimate, so begin somewhere sensible between the two and adjust by condition.