Grub Club Good Gut Grub review

Good Gut Grub finishes in our Good band, in step with the middle of the adult dry shelf. Insect protein, a declared calcium level and a genuinely thought through digestive package do the lifting. The starch is what holds it back. Tapioca and sweet potato take up a good deal of room, and the protein figure lands lower than a meat led kibble usually manages. That trade is the point, for the dog this was written for, one whose gut needs settling more than it needs muscle.

Ingredients, as declared: Insect 30% (Freshly Prepared Insect 15% and Dried Insect 15%), Tapioca Starch, Sweet Potato, Fava Bean Protein, Linseed Oil (5%), Brewers Yeast (4%), Dried Pumpkin (3%),Vegetable Stock, Dried Cranberry (2%), Minerals, Carob, Dried Apple, Psyllium Husk (1%), Yeasts (0.2%, as a source of Prebiotic MOS and Beta glucans), Chicory Root Extract (0.1%, as a source of Prebiotic FOS), Dried Marshmallow Root (0.05%), Dried Nettle (0.05%), Dried Ginger (0.05%), Dried Chamomile (0.05%), Liquorice Root powder (0.03%), Yucca Schidigera Extract (0.025%), Dried Algae (0.02%, as a source of DHA), Tyndallised Lactobacillus helveticus HA-122 150x109 cells/g (0.005%).

The 30% insect is split 15% freshly prepared and 15% dried. The oven takes much of the water out of the freshly prepared half, leaving the dried half to do the greater share of the finished kibble. What makes this label genuinely unusual is what is missing from it. No poultry, no red meat, no fish, no egg and no dairy appear anywhere, so a dog on an elimination trial meets one animal protein and nothing else. The single broad term is vegetable stock, which is not itemised, though it names no animal.

Tapioca starch heads the plant side. It is close to pure starch with very little else to offer, and its job here is to bind the kibble, with sweet potato behind it bringing rather more to the table. Fava bean protein adds plant protein to the analysis. Carbohydrate is estimated at 53.8% of dry matter against 46.2% for a typical adult dry food. The plant side is doing a good share of the carrying.

The digestive thinking here runs deeper than a prebiotic sprinkle, and it is why you would buy this food. Psyllium husk at 1% is a soluble fibre that firms up a loose stool, and dried pumpkin at 3% pulls in the same direction. Yeasts at 0.2% supply prebiotic MOS along with beta glucans. Chicory root extract at 0.1% supplies prebiotic FOS in the form of inulin. The tyndallised Lactobacillus helveticus at the end is a heat treated culture, chosen precisely because it survives an oven that would finish off a live probiotic.

The herbal tail reads like a herbalist's shelf. Marshmallow root and chamomile at 0.05% each are the traditional soothing pair, ginger at the same level is the old remedy for a queasy stomach, and dried nettle and liquorice root sit behind them. Every one of these is dosed in fractions of a percent, so treat it as a gentle nudge.

Linseed oil at 5% is the principal fat and a strong plant source of omega 3. Dried algae at 0.02% brings DHA a dog can use straight off. That is the clever way to reach a marine omega 3 without putting a fish in the bowl, and it keeps the single protein promise intact. Calcium works out at 1.09% of dry matter, a sound adult level, and dried cranberry at 2% and carob round out the fruit side.

£8.17 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 6kg bags.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through roughly 242 grams a day on the standard maintenance estimate of 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75), putting the daily figure at £1.98. The label's own table suggests 210 to 305 grams for dogs weighing 15kg to 25kg, so use your dog's shape to decide where in that spread to sit.