Eukanuba Thriving Mature Large Breed review

Our bands put this level with the middle of the adult dry category, both in the Good band, with transparency reading Outstanding, protein and processing Good and nutritional balance Average. The construction explains why. Chicken and turkey are named and their shares printed, which is more than many cereal-based foods bother with. Cereals still take four of the top six places, and the joint supplements arrive in small print, not in quantity. It is still a straightforward daily bowl for an older large breed. This is also one of the few labels in the range to declare moisture itself, at 8.0%, with nothing left to assumption.

Ingredients, as declared: fresh chicken (20%), dried chicken and turkey (18% including chicken 13%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine), maize, wheat, maize grits, oats, barley, sorghum, dried beet pulp (2.1%), chicken gravy, poultry fat, 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%), chondroitin sulphate (0.004%).

Fresh chicken at 20% leads, and the water in fresh meat leaves during cooking, so the 18% dried chicken and turkey behind it is the entry carrying most of the finished protein. Eukanuba breaks out the chicken share of that mix at 13%, which is a useful piece of honesty on a label that could easily have left it as poultry. Protein converts to 25.5% of dry matter with fat at 11.4%. That moderate pairing suits a dog taking shorter walks these days.

The plant side is a mixed cereal build: maize, wheat, maize grits, oats, barley and sorghum. Oats and barley are the more nutritious of the group and digest well once cooked. Maize grits are the refined starch fraction of the maize. Wheat is the entry a cautious owner tends to look for first, since intolerance is pinned on it more than on any other cereal. Carbohydrate reads 49.5% as fed, or 53.8% of dry matter, above the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Because moisture is declared here at 8.0% rather than assumed, those dry matter conversions rest on the maker's own figure.

Of the three Thriving Mature recipes, only this one declares both joint supplements: glucosamine from animal tissues at 0.04% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.004%. Printing them beats the vague nod that many senior labels give, and the dried chicken and turkey is separately described as a natural source of both. The doses are modest, so read them as helpful background rather than as a substitute for a supplement a vet has put your dog on.

Sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.34% sits inside the mineral mix and is there for the teeth, since it makes it harder for tartar to bind. Fibre duty falls to dried beet pulp at 2.1%. Fructooligosaccharides at 0.25% feed the gut bacteria. Dried whole egg comes in at the end with brewer's dried yeast, which brings B vitamins and selenium.

The mineral panel is dosed in full, at 62.5 mg zinc, 50 mg iron, 10 mg manganese, 8 mg copper and 1.5 mg iodine per kilo. Vitamin E is at 250 mg, beta carotene at 5 mg and L-carnitine at 50 mg. Unlike the Special Care recipes, these trace elements are sulphate forms and not amino acid chelates. Sulphates tend to be taken up slightly less readily. At declared levels like these, that is a fine distinction and no shortfall. Only poultry fat withholds its species.

Two bag sizes, 12kg and 15kg.

Eukanuba's own guide gives 765 to 885 grams a day for a 90kg dog. As a reference point at the other end of the size range, a 15kg adult in moderate condition works out at about 244 grams a day. That comes from the standard maintenance estimate of around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The waistline is a better judge than either table.