Guru Surf & Turf review

Our Good band holds it, the same band the cold-pressed typical occupies. The animal side is the reason: beef at 30%, sea fish at 8% and poultry liver take protein to 31.1% of dry matter. Carbohydrate stays down at 39.4%, well under the 43.2% that marks the middle of the category. Energy is printed on the label, and the vitamin and mineral panel is set out dose by dose, which is why transparency reads Good. Working against it are an ash figure converting to 12.4% of dry matter and calcium at 2.59%, both higher than a pressed food usually carries, and one animal entry left unnamed by species.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried Ground Beef (30%), Brown Whole Grain Rice (thermally pre-treated), (29%), Dried Ground Sea Fish (8%), Sweet Potato (7%), Dried Poultry Liver, Cold Pressed Vegetable Oils (rapeseed & linseed), Mixed Vegetables (carrots, alfalfa & chicory), Seaweed (dried), Dried Fruits (apples & blackcurrants), Fish Oil, Gelatine, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Dried Herbs (green tea, parsley & rosemary), Yucca Schidigera (dried), Pre Biotic (FOS, MOS), Dried Green Lipped Mussels.

Beef at 30% leads the list, dried and ground before it is pressed, so the water has already come out of that figure. Beef is highly digestible and few dogs need persuading to eat it, and pairing it with 8% dried sea fish gives the recipe two very different protein sources in one bowl. Together with the liver they push protein to 31.1% of dry matter, a strong figure for a pressed food.

Dried poultry liver is the entry to look at twice. Few foods a dog can eat are as nutrient-dense as liver. It carries vitamin A along with B vitamins and copper, so it is a genuinely good inclusion. The catch is the word poultry. It covers chicken, turkey, duck and goose. The label never says which. That leaves a strict exclusion plan guessing on one line.

Brown whole grain rice at 29% is thermally pre-treated, the standard preparation for starch in a food that is pressed and not cooked, and sweet potato at 7% joins it. Even so, carbohydrate converts to only 39.4% of dry matter, lower than most of the category. For a dog who needs less starch, that is one of the more useful facts on this label.

The fats and the joint group work together. Cold pressed rapeseed and linseed oils bring plant omega fats, and fish oil brings the long chain marine kind. Then the joint group arrives: glucosamine and chondroitin alongside dried green lipped mussels, the three a maker turns to for cartilage. Not one of the joint entries carries a printed dose, so take them as a lean towards joint support.

Two analysis figures need saying out loud. Ash converts to 12.4% of dry matter and calcium to 2.59%, both well above what a pressed food normally carries. Calcium that high goes past what is recommended for a large breed puppy still growing, so speak to your vet first about a big-boned youngster. For adult dogs it is far less of an issue. The rest of the label is orderly, with a full vitamin and mineral panel, moisture declared at 7.5% and a printed energy figure of 340 kcal per 100g.

£5.13 a kilo, bagged at 5kg and 13kg.

Energy is printed on this label at 340 kcal per 100g, so the daily figure is firmer than usual. A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), which is roughly 247 grams, or £1.27 a day.