Harley & Marley Medium/Large Breed review

Set beside the typical adult dry food, which settles in the Good band, this recipe climbs into our Excellent band. The reasons are unglamorous. Nearly two thirds of the bag is declared as fish with the split printed line by line, protein converts to 28.9% of dry matter, and every added mineral carries a dose. Transparency reads Outstanding and value Excellent. Protein and processing reads Good with nutritional balance Average, the mark of a recipe that spreads its strengths across the whole label.

Ingredients, as declared: 62.5% Fish (15% Fresh Haddock, 15% Fresh Trout, 26% Dehydrated Fish, 5.5% Fish Oil, 1% Fish Digest), Sweet Potato, Potato, Tapioca, Pea Starch, Peas, Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Beet Pulp, Brewer's Yeast, Dehydrated Seaweed, Yeast Extract, Chicory Inulin, Yucca Schidigera, Dehydrated Turmeric, Dehydrated Blueberries, Dehydrated Broccoli, Dried Spinach, Dried Rosehip, Dried Carrot

The 62.5% fish headline is broken out in full, and that is the part that earns trust: 15% fresh haddock, 15% fresh trout, 26% dehydrated fish, plus 5.5% fish oil and 1% fish digest. Most of the weight in fresh fish is water, and it goes in the oven. The 26% dehydrated share is what actually fills the finished kibble with protein, and that share is big enough to do the job.

Haddock and trout get named, the dehydrated portion does not. For most dogs that is academic, since it is all fish either way. The question only comes alive if you need one particular fish ruled in or out.

Sweet potato and potato lead the plant side, and tapioca and pea starch sit behind them. There is little in tapioca beyond starch, so read it as part of the kibble's structure. Whole peas do better. They carry fibre and a decent spread of micronutrients. Carbohydrate is estimated at 40.5% as fed, or 45.0% of dry matter, much the same territory as the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, so the fish headline is not buying a low starch bowl.

The omega source is fish oil at 5.5%, which is the form a dog puts to work without having to convert anything first. Chicory inulin follows as a prebiotic, feeding the bacteria already in the gut, brewer's yeast brings a full set of B vitamins, and dehydrated seaweed adds iodine and a broad mineral spread. Beet pulp does the fibre work.

Turmeric, blueberries, broccoli, spinach, rosehip and carrot close the list, all dehydrated and all at trace level. That is the label's flourish and not its substance. This recipe stands up without them.

Every added mineral in the panel carries a printed dose. Taurine is at 500 mg per kilo, and zinc is split across 70 mg of the oxide and 30 mg of a chelated form that a dog absorbs more easily. Then come iron at 75 mg, manganese at 40 mg, copper at 7 mg and iodine at 1.50 mg. Selenium arrives as sodium selenite at 0.20 mg, the form most makers reach for, though selenium bound to yeast is generally absorbed better.

£2.33 a kilo, in a 3kg or a 12kg bag.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, that is roughly 216 grams a day on an assumed requirement of 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), or about £0.50 a day. The bag's own guide asks 180 to 360 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so trust the waistline over the table.