Essential Foods

Essential Foods Essential Stamina review

Name: Essential Foods Essential Stamina
Brand: Essential Foods

80.1/100Outstanding

DryAdult

An Outstanding kibble with a working dog's analysis: protein at 38.3% of dry matter, fat at 24.0% and estimated carbohydrate down at 26.2%. What sets it apart from the brand's other bird recipes is chicken fat at 11%. That is the fuel, and the reason the bowl gets cleared.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Working dogs and hard-running gundogs, at 400 kcal per 100 grams
Dogs that struggle to hold weight
Low-starch feeding
Sporting joints, with glucosamine, MSM and chondroitin named
Fussy eaters. Chicken fat and chicken liver gravy make a kibble that smells like dinner

Worth watching

A garden-only dog will gain weight unless the scoop comes down
Chicken and duck are pooled, so neither bird has its own percentage
Poultry and fish both unavoidable here
A slow changeover for dogs used to less fat

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

80.1/100Outstanding

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueOutstanding

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adults of every size. Feed to the ribs: a dog in genuine work will eat a good deal more than the chart's figure.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Essential Stamina 80.1

All one Outstanding. Typical dry food: Good.

The numbers carry this one: high protein and fat on very little starch, with open labelling to match.

What's in it

Fresh free-range British chicken and free-run British country duck32%Baking strips most of the water out of the fresh meat.
Dried chicken and duck32%Does most of the protein work. The two birds are pooled, with no split.
Sweet potatoBinding, in place of cereal.
Chicken fat11%The fuel, and named to species, which is better than most of the shelf manages.
Peas, potato
Fresh Scottish salmon and trout7%Long-chain marine omega 3.
Whole egg4%Protein a dog uses about as efficiently as anything it eats.
Linseed, chicken liver gravy, lucerne sproutGravy 2%Linseed adds plant omega 3.
MOS, FOS, glucosamine, MSM, chondroitinGut and joint extras, named without amounts.
Cranberry, acai, bilberry and other fruit, vegetables and herbs

Taurine at 1,500 mg, and every trace mineral except iodine and selenium as an amino acid chelate, with rosemary extract as the preservative.

Named ingredients

Fresh free-range British chicken and free-run welfare assured British country duck (32%), dried chicken and duck (32%), sweet potato, chicken fat (11%), peas, fresh Scottish salmon and trout (7%), whole egg (4%), linseed, potato, chicken liver gravy (2%), lucerne sprout, vitamins, minerals, MOS (mannan oligosaccarides), FOS (fructooligosaccharides), glucosamine, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), chondroitin, cranberry, acai, bilberry, mulberry, apple, tomato, orange, pear, carrot, spinach,cauliflower, seaweed, marigold, ginseng, decaffeinated green tea, ginger.

Against the range

The brand's chicken and duck base with the fuel turned up. Fresh and dried birds at 32% each open the list, chicken fat at 11% follows, and salmon, trout and whole egg add more animal protein. There is no cereal; sweet potato, peas and potato do the binding.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

400 kcal/100g

Protein

35%

Fat

22%

Fibre

Ash

7.5%

Moisture

8.5%

Dry weight

Protein

38.3%

Fat

24%

Fibre

3.3%

Ash

8.2%

Carbs

26.2%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

77%

Carbs

9.7%

Oils

11%

Other

2.3%

Pricing & size