Growling Tums Adult Small Breed Salmon: Flavoursome Salmon & Potato review

The Good band is where this one finishes, and the middle of the adult dry category comes out on the same level. Transparency reads Outstanding, earned by a single named fish, a percentage against every part of it and a short list with nothing anonymous on it. Nutritional balance reads Poor and protein and processing Average, because protein is modest for a fish recipe and starch carries a fair part of the bag. One thing to keep in mind while reading the table: the label declares no moisture, so the dry matter figures work from the 8% a dry kibble normally holds. The calorie figure is an estimate built on the same basis.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 44% (Including Freshly Prepared Salmon 23%, Dried Salmon 13%, Salmon Oil 6% & Salmon Gravy 2%), Potato (24%), Oats, Maize, Beet Pulp (4%), Minerals

Salmon at 44% is the entire animal story, and usefully the label shows its parts. Those are freshly prepared salmon at 23% and dried salmon at 13%, with 6% oil and 2% gravy off the same fish. Fresh fish is largely water, and the oven removes most of it. Its place on the list understates the dried 13%, which counts for more once the kibble is made.

Potato at 24% is the main energy source, with oats and maize behind it. Oats cook down gently and come with fibre, plus a useful set of micronutrients. Maize is the plainer entry of the two, a straightforward source of energy rather than something the recipe leans on for quality.

Beet pulp at 4% is the fibre entry. The sugar is taken out of it during processing, and what is left is a mix of soluble and insoluble fibre. That helps keep the back end of digestion steady, which is no small thing in a little dog.

Salmon oil at 6% is a genuinely good sight on a label at this length. A dog uses marine omega 3 as it comes, with none of the conversion step plant sources demand. Here it is even named to the same fish as the meat, not left as a general oil.

The trace minerals all come with a printed dose, per kilo: iron at 50 mg, zinc at 40 mg and manganese at 35 mg. Copper is at 15 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg, with vitamin D3 at 2,250 IU. That is more detail than a short label of this kind usually bothers to give.

£3.93 a kilo, sold in 3kg, 6kg, 10kg and 15kg bags, with the 15kg supplied as two 7.5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 247 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £0.97 a day. A small dog will eat well under that. Scale down from the label's own table, and the waistline can have the final word.