Feelwell's Feelwells Grain Free Adult Duck review

This one lands squarely in our Good band, which is also where the typical adult dry food sits. Read it as a solid middle of the market kibble, and not a compromise. Duck at 36% is a smaller animal share than the loudest grain free ranges declare, and potato at 31% lifts estimated carbohydrate to 46.7% of dry matter. Between them those two facts hold protein and processing and nutritional balance at Average. Set against that, everything on the list is named, the doses are printed, and protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter, which is a perfectly healthy figure for an adult dog. For the job most owners buy this food to do, keeping to one animal, it does exactly what it promises.

Ingredients, as declared: Duck 36% (including Dried Duck 27%, Duck Fat 7%, Duck Gravy 2%), Potato (31%), Peas, Beet Pulp (7%), Brewers Yeast, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins

Duck is declared at 36%, and all of it is already dry or rendered. That is 27% dried duck, plus duck fat at 7% and duck gravy at 2%. That matters more than it looks. A recipe headlining freshly prepared meat is counting a lot of water that leaves in the oven. Dried duck goes in close to its finished weight, so this 27% is pulling more weight in the kibble than a bigger number on a wetter list.

Naming the fat after the same bird is the detail that makes this usable for an elimination trial. Unnamed animal fat is the most common way a supposedly single protein food quietly stops being one, and there is none of that here. Duck, duck fat and duck gravy are the only animal entries on the label, and the omega 3 comes from linseed rather than a fish oil.

Potato at 31% is the biggest single entry, with peas behind it and beet pulp declared at 7% for fibre. That build gives an estimated 46.7% carbohydrate on a dry matter basis next to 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, so it is squarely normal rather than starch heavy. Brewers yeast adds B vitamins and a savoury note that helps with picky eaters.

The supplement panel comes with doses attached. Vitamin A is at 14,400 IU per kilo, vitamin D3 at 1925 IU and biotin at 145 mcg. Iron and zinc are at 50 mg each, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 12 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.19 mg. Calcium converts to 2.07% of dry matter, at the upper end of the adult range and a normal consequence of a dried meat build, with ash at 8.7% of dry matter behind it.

£3.33 a kilo, sold as a 2kg bag, a 13.5kg sack, an 8kg box of four 2kg bags and a twin pack of 13.5kg.

A moderate 15kg adult, working on the standard 840 kcal maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), eats about 240 grams a day, which comes to roughly £0.80. The bag's own table suggests 160 to 265 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so settle the difference by feel along the ribs.