Happy Dog

Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Lamb (Mini New Zealand) review

Name: Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Lamb (Mini New Zealand)
Brand: Happy Dog

46/100Average

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

46/100Average

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceAverage

TransparencyGood

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

Lamb

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

Lamb protein (dried)19%Leads the list.
Rice, maize flour, maizeThree starch entries in a row.
Rice proteinTops up the protein total.
Oils and fats, hydrolysed proteinNeither names an animal.
Beet pulp, apple pomace
Yeasts, salts, seaweed, linseed
Mussel meat0.04%Shellfish, in a trace.
Milk thistle and dried herbs0.17%

A full vitamin panel with taurine at 500 mg, zinc at 125 mg and iron at 105 mg per kilo.

Named ingredients

Lamb protein* (19 %), rice, maize flour, maize, rice protein*, oils and fats, beet pulp* (desugared), hydrolysed protein, apple pomace*, potassium chloride, yeasts*, sodium chloride, seaweed*, linseed, mussel meat* (0.04 %), milk thistle, yeasts* (extract), artichoke, dandelion, ginger, birch, stinging nettle, camomile, coriander, rosemary, sage, liquorice root, thyme (total dried herbs 0.17 %) *dried

Against the range

Meat: Lamb protein 19%; One animal leads on most recipes.
Starch: Rice and maize; Potato on four of the others.
Taurine: 500 mg per kilo; Also dosed on Montana and Africa.

The grain-inclusive lamb option, and the cheaper end of the range.

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

359.7 kcal/100g

Protein

24%

Fat

12%

Fibre

Ash

Dry weight

Protein

26.1%

Fat

13%

Fibre

2.2%

Ash

8.7%

Carbs

50%

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

19%

Carbs

74.8%

Veg

1.1%

Oils

2.7%

Other

2.4%

Pricing & size