Happy Dog

Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Ostrich (Mini Africa) review

Name: Happy Dog Sensible Mini: Ostrich (Mini Africa)
Brand: Happy Dog

42/100Average

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

42/100Average

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

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

Potatoes (dried)
Ostrich protein (dried)16%The only species named anywhere on the list.
Potato protein
Oils and fats, hydrolysed proteinBoth unnamed.
Beet pulp, apple pomace
Sodium chloride, yeast extract

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

Named ingredients

Potatoes*, ostrich protein* (16 %), potato protein*, oils and fats, hydrolysed protein, beet pulp* (desugared), apple pomace*, sodium chloride, yeasts* (extract) *dried

Against the range

Meat: Ostrich protein 16%; Duck, horse, lamb, rabbit or fish elsewhere.
List length: Nine entries; One of the three shortest.
Score: Average, a little behind the strongest; Mini Toscana reads highest.

A genuinely unusual protein in a short list, for a small dog with a history of reactions.

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

2.5%

Ash

8.5%

Dry weight

Protein

26.1%

Fat

13%

Fibre

2.7%

Ash

9.2%

Carbs

49%

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

16%

Carbs

66.5%

Veg

2.5%

Oils

7.7%

Other

7.3%

Pricing & size