Eukanuba Breed Specific German Shepherd Adult review

Put this beside the whole adult dry shelf and it finishes in the Good band. The middle of that shelf finishes there too, so the comparison is a level one. Naming both meats and dosing the joint supplements count for it. Holding it steady are the cereals doing much of the carrying and a protein figure that converts to 25.0% of dry matter, modest for a dog of this size and drive.

Ingredients, as declared: dried chicken and turkey (24% including chicken 14%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate and taurine), maize, rice, wheat, pork fat, fresh chicken (4%), dried beet pulp (2.8%), chicken gravy, minerals (including sodium hexametaphosphate 0.38%), dried whole egg, fructooligosaccharides (0.52%, a natural prebiotic), fish oil (a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids), linseed, glucosamine (from animal tissues) (450mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (45mg/kg).

Top of the ingredients list is 24% dried chicken and turkey, and chicken is printed at 14% within it. Detail like that is what lets an owner judge a recipe. Because the meat is dried, its water has already gone, so it holds close to that percentage in the finished kibble. The fresh chicken at 4% shrinks considerably in the oven and does less than its position implies.

Maize, rice and wheat run the starch side, and carbohydrate converts to 51.9% of dry matter. Rice is the friendliest of the three for a dog with a changeable gut, since it cooks down softly and digests easily. Maize gives a similar starch profile without the same gentle reputation. Wheat gets the blame more often than any other cereal when a dog proves intolerant.

The digestive thinking is the most convincing part of this label. Dried beet pulp at 2.8% is a moderately fermentable fibre, the kind that helps firm up a loose stool. Fructooligosaccharides at 0.52% is the prebiotic, food for the helpful bacteria further down the gut.

Glucosamine at 450mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 45mg/kg are declared with doses attached rather than waved at in the marketing. For a breed that carries a long-standing reputation for hip and elbow trouble, having both stated by weight is genuinely useful information to have before you buy.

The smaller entries fill the gaps sensibly. Pork fat is the main added energy source and names its species. Fish oil covers omega 3 on the marine side and linseed on the plant side. Dried whole egg adds a small amount of high quality protein. Tartar is the job of sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.38%. Calcium works out at 1.47% of dry matter, which is comfortable for a grown dog.

£3.01 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

As a rough guide, 235 grams a day would feed a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, taking about 840 kcal a day as the target (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £0.71 a day. A grown shepherd eats considerably more, so treat that as a comparison figure rather than a feeding instruction.