Eukanuba Grain Free Adult All Breed Rich in Venison review

This recipe sits alongside the typical adult dry food in our Good band. Two things earn the gap. The declared meat is split between a named red meat and a dried poultry pair, with no single vague entry holding it up. Estimated carbohydrate comes in at 45.4% of dry matter, fractionally under the 46.2% typical, which is genuinely unusual for a grain free food built on sweet potato and peas. The other half of it is protein, at 28.3% of dry matter. Transparency reads Outstanding, with only the poultry fat and the moisture the label never declares left unaccounted for.

Ingredients, as declared: freshly frozen venison (20%), dried chicken and turkey (19% including chicken 14%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine), dried sweet potatoes (20%), whole peas, poultry fat, dried potatoes, dried beet pulp (4%), chicken gravy, linseed, minerals (including sodium hexametaphosphate 0.4%), dried whole egg, brewer's dried yeast, fructooligosaccharides (0.25%, a natural prebiotic).

Two meat entries do the work here and they behave very differently. Freshly frozen venison at 20% goes in wet, and the oven strips most of that weight away as water. Dried chicken and turkey at 19% is already dry, so it stays where it is. In the finished kibble the poultry pair is very likely the larger contributor of the two. Anyone who came to this bag for the venison in particular should know that. Protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter, a solid landing.

Venison itself is a genuine change of pace for a dog that has eaten poultry all its life. It is highly digestible and rarely met, so recipes for dogs that have worked through the common meats often reach for it. Unlike most meats it also brings a useful helping of B vitamins.

The plant side is led by dried sweet potatoes at 20%, a starch with more fibre and far more vitamin A than plain potato, with whole peas and dried potatoes behind. Starch free is a different thing from grain free, and estimated carbohydrate here still finishes at 45.4% of dry matter. It means the starch has changed address, and in this case moved somewhere more nutritious.

The extras are declared rather than alluded to. On the label, the dried chicken and turkey are called a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine. Taurine is then dosed on top at 500mg per kilo of food, an amino acid whose reputation is built on the heart. Plant omega 3 comes from linseed, with brewer's dried yeast and dried whole egg behind it. Dried beet pulp at 4% brings the fibre, then fructooligosaccharides at 0.25% take care of the gut bacteria.

The trace minerals are printed in full, zinc at 62.5mg, iron at 50mg, manganese at 10mg, copper at 8mg and iodine at 1.5mg per kilo of food, given as sulphates. Sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.4% is there for tartar and vitamin E is dosed at 250mg. The single entry that could be clearer is the poultry fat, which never says which bird it came from.

£4.00 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 236 grams a day, working from about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £0.94 a day. The label's own table asks 245 to 280 grams a day for a 20kg dog.