Green Pantry Mobility review

Two things carry this recipe into our Good band, and neither of them is a headline nutrient. The lamb is named at every point it appears instead of hiding behind a category, and the plant side goes in whole, never as milled fractions. That is enough to hold it level with the typical adult dry food, and transparency reads Outstanding on the strength of it. Read the analysis alongside, though. Estimated carbohydrate is 51.1% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, and the protein is modest. This is a well-made grain-inclusive recipe, not a meat-dense one.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb 41% (Freshly Prepared Lamb 19%, Dried Lamb 19%, Lamb Fat 2%, Lamb Stock 1%) Whole Barley 26%, Whole Oats 15%, Whole Brown Rice 13%. Fruits, Botanicals & Herbs: Linseed, Alfalfa, Turmeric, Green Lipped Mussel, Cranberry, Celery Seed, Nettle, Horehound, Aniseed, Carrot, Spinach, Tomato. Brand bullet points: 41% lamb, 59% fruit, vegetables, and botanicals. Highly Palatable source of Protein. A well-balanced diet that includes meat, fruits, and vegetables to provide complete nutrition. Natural control of intestinal and external hygiene. Made from 100% natural ingredients. Naturally preserved.

Lamb at 41% breaks down into 19% freshly prepared lamb, 19% dried lamb, 2% lamb fat and 1% lamb stock, and that breakdown is the useful part of the label. The oven drives the water out of freshly prepared meat, so the 19% dried lamb is what arrives in the finished kibble in quantity. Protein settles at 23.1% of dry matter and fat at 9.9%, both on the gentle side, which is a fair description of how this food eats.

Whole barley at 26%, whole oats at 15% and whole brown rice at 13% make up the plant side. Whole is the word doing the work there, since milling a grain strips the bran and takes most of the fibre and micronutrients with it. Here the fibre survives, and crude fibre reads 6.6% of dry matter. Barley does carry gluten, so it is not the recipe for a gluten-free house.

The mobility case rests on green lipped mussel and turmeric, both sitting in the fruits and botanicals line. Of the pair, green lipped mussel does the most work. It is a shellfish, and it brings marine omega 3s along with the sort of joint compounds owners usually buy in a separate tub. Neither entry carries a percentage. Read them as considered inclusions, not a measured dose, and give any joint recipe a couple of months to show what it can do.

Linseed leads the tail as the plant omega source, with alfalfa, nettle, celery seed and cranberry behind it. What follows, down through horehound and aniseed, is flourish. The food does not need any of it to stand up, and there is no fish oil anywhere on the list.

Every trace mineral is chelated and every one carries a figure: zinc and iron both at 48 mg per kilo, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 6 mg and iodine at 0.96 mg. Chelates are the more absorbable form. Printing every dose is a sign the label expects close reading.

£6.90 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg, 5kg and 10kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs around 269 grams a day on this food, working from about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.85 a day. The energy figure behind that is our estimate, since none is declared, and the label is more sparing than our maths, asking 100 to 200 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. Start in the middle of the two and let the waistline settle it.