Happy Dog

Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Chicken & Trout XS (Mini Japan) review

Name: Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Chicken & Trout XS (Mini Japan)
Brand: Happy Dog

45.6/100Average

DryAdult

Flavour

The Happy Dog country range shrunk to a small kibble, with every recipe in our Average band. The reason to look at it is the protein list: horse, ostrich, rabbit and duck all come in a mini size, and the plainest labels run to eight or nine entries.

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer links are coming soon. Once we have them from UK retailers, where to buy and the best price will appear here.

Our view

Likely to suit

Small dogs on a limited ingredient diet. Mini France, Mini Montana and Mini Africa each name a single animal
A protein your dog has not met before, from horse to ostrich
Small dogs kept off grain, on the four potato-led recipes
Carrying extra weight? Mini Toscana declares fat at 7.5%
Fussy small eaters, with chicken meat at 22% on Mini Japan and an extra small kibble
Fish first in the bowl: Mini Ireland is built on salmon meal at 12.5%

Worth watching

Oils and fats high on most lists with no source named, and hydrolysed protein unnamed too
Chicken appears only on Mini Japan, which matters if chicken is what you avoid
Fish meal on Mini Ireland, Mini Canada, Mini Toscana and Mini Japan, so those four are out for a dog kept off fish

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

How this scores

How we score

45.6/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyAverage

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for small adult dogs. For a formal elimination plan, raise the unnamed oils and fats and hydrolysed protein with your vet before you choose a recipe.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Small

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Low Fat (Mini Toscana) 48.5
Salmon (Mini Ireland) 47.8
Rabbit 47.3
Duck (Mini France) 46.3
Lamb (Mini New Zealand) 46.0
Chicken 45.6
Ostrich (Mini Africa) 42.0
Horse (Mini Montana) 38.3

All eight Average. Typical dry food: Good.

Mini Toscana reads highest and Mini Montana sits a fair way behind, so the useful choice here is which protein suits your dog more than which bag scores best.

What's in it

Chicken meat (dried)22%Named as meat, not as a protein meal. The only chicken in the range.
Rice, rice flourThe starch base.
Trout meal7%A second animal, and fish.
Poultry fat, rice protein
Beet pulp, linseed2.6% linseedA serious dose of plant omega 3 by kibble standards.
Sunflower oil, apple pomace1.3% apple
Hydrolysed liver, fish hydrolysateThe liver names no species.
CelluloseA plain bulking fibre.
Canola oil, maize, yeasts, salts, seaweed, chicory powder, yucca0.27% seaweed
Mussel meat, turmeric and dried herbs0.16% herbs

Vitamins A and D3, with iron, copper, zinc (part of it as an amino acid chelate), manganese, iodine and selenium.

The only recipe here with chicken on the list.

Named ingredients

Chicken meat* (22%), rice, rice flour, trout meal (7%), poultry fat, rice protein*, beet pulp* (desugared), linseed (2.6%), sunflower oil, apple pomace* (1.3%), hydrolysed liver, cellulose, fish hydrolysate*, potassium chloride, canola oil, maize, yeasts*, sodium chloride, seaweed* (0.27%), chicory powder, yeasts* (extract), yucca schidigera* (0.1%), mussel meat*, turmeric, milk thistle, artichoke, dandelion, ginger, birch leaves, stinging nettle, camomile, coriander, rosemary, sage, liquorice root, thyme, (total dried herbs: 0.16%); *) dried.

Against the range

Meat: Chicken meat 22%, trout meal 7%; One or two animals at 9% to 25% each.
Carbohydrate, dry matter: 40.3%; Lowest here; the rest run 45.1% to 54.8%.
Calcium, dry matter: 1.52%; Up to 2.17% on Mini Montana.
Kibble: Extra small; Mini size on the other seven.

The most generously built recipe of the eight, and the one for a fussy little eater.

Eight small-kibble recipes, each built around one or two named animals. Potato carries the starch on the plainest of them, rice or maize on others, and oats and barley on Mini Ireland. Potato protein lifts the protein figure on several labels without bringing in a second animal.

The oils and fats, the hydrolysed protein and, on Mini Japan, the hydrolysed liver arrive with no species attached, so a single named animal is not quite a closed list. None of the labels declares moisture, so every dry matter figure assumes 8%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

360 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

27%

Fat

16%

Fibre

3.5%

Ash

8.5%

Dry weight

Protein

29.3%

Fat

17.4%

Fibre

3.8%

Ash

9.2%

Carbs

40.3%

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

31.8%

Carbs

55.5%

Veg

1.6%

Oils

7.3%

Other

3.8%

Pricing & size