Gentle Egg review

This lands in our Good band, the same band as the middle of the cold-pressed field, and that is a solid result for a recipe that gives up meat altogether. The label is what earns it. Egg is declared at 30%, every plant has its own name on the list, and each vitamin and mineral is printed with its dose. What keeps it inside the band rather than pushing it further up is the arithmetic that follows from having no meat behind the egg. Protein converts to 25.0% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 52.2%. Read it as a specialist food that happens to hold a strong band word, not as an all-rounder that beat the field.

Ingredients, as declared: Full egg dried 30%, Potato flakes 30%, Carrots dried and ground, Beet Root dried and ground, Pumpkin dried and ground, Beta vulgaris, Sea Algae dried and ground (Ascophyllum nodosum), Herb mixture, dried and ground (Stinging nettle, horsetail, dandelion) 3%, Apple dried and ground, Red currant dried and ground 1.5%, Blackcurrant dried and ground 1.5%, Acerola cherry powder, Yucca Schidigera (Mohave-Palm lily) dried and ground

Whole dried egg at 30% is all the animal contribution there is, and a well chosen one at that. Egg protein is about as complete as protein gets, dogs digest it readily, and the yolk brings fat, fat soluble vitamins and choline with it. In a recipe with no meat standing behind it to make up any shortfall, that quality carries more weight than it normally would.

Potato flakes match the egg at 30% and do the work cereals usually do. That is how the recipe stays clear of wheat and rice and everything like them. Carbohydrate converts to 52.2% of dry matter against a 43.2% middle for cold-pressed food, so the starch share is real, and nothing on the label tries to hide where it comes from.

The vegetable and fruit entries are listed one by one instead of being grouped. Carrot is there for beta carotene and soluble fibre. Beetroot and pumpkin add gentle bulk. The two currants at 1.5% each sit next to acerola cherry powder, and few natural ingredients on any shelf carry more vitamin C. Sea algae is named properly as Ascophyllum nodosum and is there for iodine.

Herbs are declared at 3% and, unusually, itemised as stinging nettle, horsetail and dandelion. Plenty of labels shelter behind the single word herbs, which can cover almost any leaf and can change from batch to batch. Telling you which three you are getting is a small honesty, and small honesties add up across a list this length.

The added nutrition is printed dose by dose. Copper, manganese and zinc arrive in chelated forms that absorb well, vitamin C is set at 140mg per kilo of food and choline chloride at 2000mg. The selenium here is sodium selenite. Pet food is allowed two forms, and this is the one most makers reach for, with selenised yeast the alternative. Calcium converts to 1.36% of dry matter, a level that suits growing dogs as comfortably as adults.

£5.93 a kilo. The bag comes in 5kg and 14kg, and the 14kg is also sold two at a time.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), which on this food works out at roughly 258 grams, or £1.53 a day. Gentle's own adult guidance is 120 grams a day for a 10kg dog and 240 grams for a 20kg dog.