Eukanuba Active Adult Large Breed review

The honest summary is level pegging: the Good band holds this recipe and the typical adult dry food together, so it reads as a middle of the shelf food. Two things hold it there. Cereal takes up a large part of the recipe, and estimated carbohydrate reaches 50.5% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for the shelf. Protein converts to 26.1% of dry matter, modest for a food sold on activity. Protein and processing reads Good, nutritional balance Average and transparency Outstanding. Worth adding that the energy figure is our own estimate, since the label prints no calorie count.

Ingredients, as declared: fresh chicken (20%), dried chicken and turkey (19% including chicken 13%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine), maize, wheat, barley, oats, sorghum, poultry fat, dried beet pulp (2.5%), chicken gravy, maize grits, minerals (including sodium hexametaphosphate 0.34%), fructooligosaccharides (0.25%, a natural prebiotic), dried whole egg, brewer's dried yeast (a natural source of B-vitamins and selenium), glucosamine (from animal tissues) (0.04%).

Fresh chicken at 20% heads the list and 19% dried chicken and turkey follows, with the label helpfully adding that 13% of that second entry is chicken. Dried meat is the part that comes through the oven with its protein intact, so 19% in second place is a reasonable foundation. It does not carry the whole recipe, though, and protein finishes at 26.1% of dry matter, a modest reading for a bag sold on activity.

Cereal does the rest of the work. Maize, wheat, barley, oats and sorghum sit in a run, with maize grits further down. Barley and oats are the better of them, easily digested once cooked and bringing fibre and micronutrients along. Wheat is the contentious one, since it appears in more intolerance stories than any other grain, and sorghum is at least gluten free.

Poultry fat supplies the added fat, and its species is the one thing left open. That is why duck or goose cannot strictly be ruled out of the bag, even though neither is named anywhere. Chicken gravy and dried whole egg sit further down. Brewer's dried yeast is a genuinely useful small ingredient, since few natural sources of B vitamins beat it.

The functional extras are a good part of why this brand gets bought. Sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.34% is there to slow tartar forming on the teeth and is well established at that level. Fructooligosaccharides at 0.25% are a prebiotic for the gut flora of the large intestine. Dried beet pulp at 2.5% is a fibre source that helps firm the stool. Glucosamine at 0.04% is printed with an actual figure, more than most labels manage.

The additive panel is specific and dosed: vitamin E at 250 mg, beta carotene at 5 mg and L-carnitine at 50 mg per kilo. Zinc is at 62.5 mg, iron at 50 mg, manganese at 10 mg, copper at 8 mg and iodine at 1.5 mg. The trace minerals come as sulphates, the more traditional form. A dog absorbs a little less of them than of the chelated versions. Calcium works out at 1.3% of dry matter.

Eukanuba Active Adult Large Breed comes in 3kg, 12kg and 15kg bags.

As a portion guide, a dog needing around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate for a 15kg adult) would eat about 235 grams a day of this kibble. A large breed carrying twice that weight will get through a good deal more, and that is what the biggest bag is there for.