Flourish Small Breed: Angus Beef review

The beef and the salmon both read Excellent, with the middle of the adult dry category a band below them in Good, and the beef a band above the salmon on nutritional balance. That is a wide spread for two bags off the same shelf, and it is worth saying plainly that both start from the same generous headline of 65% named animal.

Two things separate them. The salmon's declared additive panel is the shorter, printing zinc, iron, manganese and iodine where the beef also prints copper and selenium, and a label is read on what it commits to. The salmon also runs a heavier plant side, with carbohydrate estimated at 36.9% of dry matter against 29.9% in the beef, and slightly less protein and fat behind it. Neither recipe is remotely short of meat, and for a small dog who gets on with fish the salmon is still a sound bowl.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Beef (Freshly Prepared Angus Beef (35%), Dried Beef (25%), Beef Fat (5%)), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Carrot, Green Beans, Cauliflower, Tomato, Courgette), Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Joint Pack (Glucosamine 178 mg/kg, Methylsulfonylmethane 178 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (175 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (50 mg/kg), Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

Both recipes open at 65% named animal and both print the split. The beef is 35% freshly prepared Angus, 25% dried beef and 5% beef fat. The salmon is 35% freshly prepared Scottish salmon, 22% dried, then 5% salmon oil and 3% salmon gravy. Water leaves fresh meat once the oven gets to it. The dried entries at 25% and 22% are what carries the finished kibble, and both are substantial.

That construction shows in the analysis. Protein converts to 39.1% of dry matter in the beef and the salmon reads 35.9%. Carbohydrate comes to 29.9% and 36.9%, both comfortably under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. These are meat led recipes by any reading of the panel.

Beet pulp brings fibre, and the kibble is bound with sweet potato and beans. Beans is the one term on either list that does not say which bean, and while it is very likely a common field bean, a named entry would tell you more than a category does.

The joint work is printed as a pack and dosed inside it, with glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 178 mg/kg each and chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. FOS at 175 mg/kg and MOS at 50 mg/kg feed the gut behind them, and olive extract at 0.01% is an antioxidant at a level that speaks for itself.

The dried superfood blends are the flourish on each label, and the maker is honest about their size, printing that each part is equivalent to 4% fresh ingredients. The beef gets carrot, green beans, cauliflower, plus tomato and courgette. The salmon gets dill, spinach, fennel, asparagus and tomato. They are pleasant additions, and the reason to choose either bag sits at the very top of the list.

The salmon adds nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, which some makers include on the view that they help a gut rebuild and recover. A dog makes its own perfectly well, so read it as a small extra. The entry that earns its place is the salmon oil at 5%, bringing marine omega 3 a dog can put straight to use.

Angus beef named on the label, at 35% freshly prepared with 25% dried and 5% beef fat, and the richer of the two by some way. Protein reads 39.1% of dry matter, fat 19.6% and carbohydrate a lower 29.9%. Its superfood blend is the vegetable one, running carrot, green beans, cauliflower, plus tomato and courgette. Its trace element panel is the fuller of the pair, printing copper at 14 mg and selenium at 0.38 mg per kilo alongside the rest.

£5.42 a kilo for the beef and £5.92 a kilo for the salmon, both sold in a 6kg bag.

Our standard comparison uses a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, which is larger than the dogs this range is sized for. On that basis the beef comes to about 215 grams a day and £1.16, and the salmon to 221 grams and £1.31, assuming around 840 kcal a day, or 110 × bodyweight^0.75. A genuinely small dog eats well under those figures.