Feedwell Supreme review

Set against an adult dry food of ordinary make, which we place in the Good band, this one comes out in our Average band. The declared analysis is not what causes that. Protein converts to 25.5% of dry matter and fat to 9.8%, both perfectly normal for a maize based kibble. The weight falls on the animal entry instead: meat meal with no species attached, sitting second behind a grain, with estimated carbohydrate at half the dry matter. Protein and processing reads Poor and so does nutritional balance, with transparency Good alongside them. The fair translation is that the label tells you very little about the meat, and no harm is being done to your dog.

Ingredients, as declared: Whole maize, meat meal, soya oil, vitamins and minerals

Whole maize leads, and naming it is a genuine courtesy from a mill whose other bags say cereal and leave it there. Maize is a dense energy grain that cooks well into kibble and brings natural antioxidants with it, and using the whole grain keeps its fibre in the mix. Maize is also among the grains most often suspected in a dog that reacts to its food. That matters here, because the starch has nowhere else to come from.

Second on the list is meat meal, the dried, rendered concentrate supplying most of the animal protein in the finished kibble. Per kilo it is far more protein dense than fresh meat, which is how a recipe this short reaches 23.5% protein. It brings bone with it as well, and the declared ash of 10% is the visible sign of that.

Soya oil provides the fat at 9%, an omega 6 rich plant oil rather than a rendered animal fat, and no marine oil appears anywhere on the list. Vitamins and minerals close the recipe out with doses printed. Vitamin A is given its own figure, vitamin D is at 1,500 IU and vitamin E at 80 mg. Iron follows at 333 mg, manganese at 80.64 mg, copper at 16 mg, zinc oxide at 14 mg and sodium selenite at 2.2 mg per kilo.

Because moisture is declared at 8%, this pack can be read on a dry matter basis, which is the only fair way to line two foods up. Protein lands at 25.5%, fat at 9.8%, fibre at 3.8% and estimated carbohydrate at 50.0%, next to 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. Energy is estimated at 320 kcal per 100 grams, a shade under the 357 typical, so bowls come out on the larger side.

£1.43 a kilo. Bags come in 2.5kg, 8kg and 15kg, with the 2.5kg also sold five to a pack.

Take a 15kg adult in moderate condition needing about 840 kcal a day, the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, and the bowl works out at around 263 grams, or roughly £0.38 a day. For a dog that size the label suggests 250 to 350 grams. Where the two disagree, trust the waistline.