Happy Dog

Happy Dog Sensible: Lamb & Rice (New Zealand) review

Name: Happy Dog Sensible: Lamb & Rice (New Zealand)
Brand: Happy Dog

45.3/100Average

DryAdult

Flavour

Twelve limited-ingredient kibbles, each built around one animal, from duck and lamb to horse, ostrich and rabbit. The range sits in our Average band, with the Canada rabbit and lamb alone reaching Good. Choose by the protein your dog needs.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Exclusion diets: Montana, Africa and Karibik each keep to one animal
A protein your dog has never met, with horse, ostrich and rabbit on offer
Grain-free feeding on France, Montana and Africa
Medium and larger breeds
Calories eased back on Toscana, with fat at 7.5%
Vegetarian households, on India

Worth watching

Oils and fats, hydrolysed protein and hydrolysed liver all unnamed
Greece and Andalucia are named grain free while rice heads both lists
India has egg and milk, so it is not vegan
Fish in several recipes, salmon meal leading Canada and Ireland

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

45.3/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balancePoor

TransparencyGood

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult medium and larger dogs. Portion by your dog's condition, not the scoop, and read the full list of whichever country you pick.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Medium, Giant

Main protein

Lamb

The score, in context

Rabbit 50.8
Low Fat Duck 49.2
Duck Grain-Free (Piemonte) 49.1
Iberico Pork Grain-Free (Andalucia) 47.8
Salmon 46.2
Lamb 45.3
Lamb Grain-Free (Greece) 43.2
Duck Grain-Free (France) 43.1
Ostrich (Africa) 40.5
Horse (Montana) 38.0
Vegetarian (India) 36.7
Sea Fish (Karibik) 36.2

12 recipes across Good and Average. Typical dry food: Good.

Not much daylight between the twelve: the Canada recipe edges ahead, and Karibik and India sit furthest back.

What's in it

Lamb protein20%Heads the list.
Rice, maize flour, maize
Rice proteinTops up the protein total.
Oils and fatsSource not named.
Beet pulp, apple pomace
Hydrolysed proteinSource not named.
Potassium chloride, yeasts, sodium chloride
Seaweed, linseed, mussel meat and a dried herb mixherbs 0.17%A pleasant touch at these doses.

Vitamins A, D3, E and the B group listed without amounts.

Oils and fats and the hydrolysed protein go unnamed, which matters when ruling a species in or out.

Named ingredients

Lamb protein* (20 %), rice, maize flour, maize, rice protein*, oils and fats, dried beet pulp, hydrolysed protein, apple pomace*, potassium chloride, yeasts*, sodium chloride, seaweed*, linseed, mussel meat* (0.05 %), milk thistle, yeasts* (extract), artichoke, dandelion, ginger, birch leaves, stinging nettle, camomile, coriander, rosemary, sage, liquorice root, thyme, (total dried herbs: 0.17 %). *dried.

Against the range

Grain: Rice and maize; Potato on the grain-free recipes
Energy: 358 kcal per 100g; 326 to 370.5 across the range
Price per kilo: £4.24; Joint lowest in the range

A plain lamb and rice option at the lower end of the range's prices.

Twelve recipes, each named after a place and built around one animal or, in India, none. The plainest, France, Montana, Africa and Karibik, run to eight to ten entries: a starch, the named animal, a fat, beet pulp, apple pomace, salt and yeast extract. The rest add seaweed, linseed, mussel meat and herbs.

Potato carries the grain-free recipes, often with potato protein to lift protein without a second animal. Oils and fats, hydrolysed protein and hydrolysed liver go unnamed throughout. Carbohydrate estimates between 45.1% and 56.5% of dry matter, and no label prints a moisture figure.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

358.5 kcal/100g

Protein

21%

Fat

12%

Fibre

2.5%

Ash

Dry weight

Protein

22.8%

Fat

13%

Fibre

2.7%

Ash

8.7%

Carbs

52.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

20%

Carbs

73.9%

Veg

1.1%

Oils

2.7%

Other

2.3%

Pricing & size