Eukanuba Breed Specific Rottweiler Adult review

Judged against the wider adult dry category, this finishes in the Good band, and so does that category's own midpoint. A properly named meat entry with the chicken share broken out is the strongest thing going for it, and the mineral and vitamin panel is fully dosed. Holding it down are the four cereals through the recipe's middle and a carbohydrate figure of 48.2% of dry matter, against 46.2% typical.

Ingredients, as declared: dried chicken and turkey (25% including chicken 15%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate and taurine), maize, wheat, pork fat, sorghum, barley, fresh chicken (4%), dried beet pulp (2.8%), chicken gravy, minerals (including sodium hexametaphosphate 0.38%), dried whole egg, fish oil (a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids), fructooligosaccharides (0.28%, a natural prebiotic), linseed, brewer's dried yeast (a natural source of B-vitamins and selenium).

Backbone of the recipe is the 25% dried chicken and turkey, with the label pinning chicken at 15% of that. Its moisture went before it ever reached the mixer, which is why the figure survives cooking largely intact. The fresh chicken at 4% leaves most of itself behind in the oven. That is normal, not a criticism, but it does mean the two meat figures do not simply add together.

Maize, wheat, sorghum and barley split the starch duty, and carbohydrate lands at 48.2% of dry matter. Barley and sorghum are the more useful two, barley for its fibre and micronutrients and sorghum for being gluten free, while maize and wheat are the plainer, higher volume half of the four.

The antioxidant side is the distinctive touch on this label. Beta-carotene is dosed at 30mg/kg and vitamin E at 249mg/kg, with natural tocopherol extracts at 37mg/kg keeping the fats in good order in the bag. Rosemary extract at 18mg/kg and tea extract at 9mg/kg round the panel off.

For joints, the recipe relies on what the poultry brings naturally rather than adding a measured dose of either compound. Meat genuinely does contain both, so the claim is fair. It is still a different proposition from a printed milligram figure, and on a dog carrying this much frame that difference is worth knowing.

The rest reads sensibly. Pork fat is a named animal fat, not an anonymous one. Omega 3 comes in twice over, once as fish oil and once as linseed. Dried whole egg adds high quality protein, and brewer's dried yeast supplies B vitamins and selenium. Fibre duty goes to dried beet pulp at 2.8%, with the gut bacteria fed by fructooligosaccharides at 0.28%. Sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.38% works on tartar, and calcium settles at 1.37% of dry matter.

£3.01 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

For scale, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would take roughly 235 grams and £0.71 a day, using the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). A grown Rottweiler eats a good deal more. Take the number as a level comparison, then set the bowl by your own dog's condition.