Happy Dog

Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Horse (Mini Montana) review

Name: Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Horse (Mini Montana)
Brand: Happy Dog

38.3/100Average

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.

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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

38.3/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceAverage

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

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

Potato (dried)
Horse protein (dried)15.5%One of the few novel proteins sold in a small kibble at all.
Potato protein
Oils and fatsNo species given.
Beet molasses pulp, apple pomace
Hydrolysed proteinUnnamed.
Yeast extract

Vitamins A and D3, taurine at 500 mg and DL-methionine at 3600 mg per kilo, with the trace minerals all dosed.

Calcium works out at 2.17% of dry matter, the highest of the eight.

Named ingredients

Potato*, horse protein* (15.5%), potato protein*, oils and fats, beet molasses pulp* (desugared), hydrolysed protein, apple pomace*, yeast* (extracted)*) dried

Against the range

Meat: Horse protein 15.5%; A lower share than most of the range.
DL-methionine: 3600 mg per kilo; 3200 mg on Mini France.
Calcium, dry matter: 2.17%; Highest; Mini Japan is 1.52%.

The one to try for a small dog that has reacted to every common meat.

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

341.8 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

24%

Fat

12%

Fibre

2.5%

Ash

Dry weight

Protein

26.1%

Fat

13%

Fibre

2.7%

Ash

9.8%

Carbs

48.4%

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

15.5%

Carbs

69.7%

Veg

2.5%

Oils

7.7%

Other

4.6%

Pricing & size