Harringtons Dry Large Breed Adult: Chicken & Rice review

Both bags finish in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food and no higher. The joint pair and the dosed taurine are genuine additions. The starch load is well judged too, with carbohydrate at 45.0% to 46.1% of dry matter, right on the 46.2% typical figure. What keeps the reading level is the naming. Only 6.5% of the 26% meat share carries a species, the fat and one of the gravies read as poultry, and maize protein does some of the work the meat gets credit for. Transparency reads Outstanding, protein and processing and nutritional balance read Average, and value sits at Good. For a large dog on a settled routine this is a perfectly workable everyday food.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken & Meat Meals 26% (6.5% Dried Chicken), Rice (14%), Barley, Maize, Oats (6%), Poultry Fat, Freshly Prepared Chicken (4%), Maize Protein, Peas, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Poultry Gravy (0.5%), Minerals, FOS (0.1%), Glucosamine (0.25%), Chondroitin Sulphate (0.15%), Dried Yucca (0.02%)

Meat and meat meals at 26% is the opening entry, with 6.5% of it pinned as dried chicken or dried lamb depending on the bag, and freshly prepared chicken at 4% further down the list. Meat meal is a dense, dried protein source rather than a shortcut, so the material is fine. What the label withholds is the species behind most of it.

Rice at 14% is the largest named plant entry, with barley, maize and oats at 6% behind it, and maize protein after them. Spot that last one. It is a concentrated plant protein, so the analysis reads higher on protein without anything animal being added to the bowl. Protein converts to 26.4% of dry matter in both recipes.

Poultry fat is the added fat, a phrase that narrows the source to a domestic bird without naming it. The gravy in the chicken bag follows the same pattern. Linseed provides the plant form of omega 3, while peas and beet pulp handle fibre, which reads 4.0% as fed and 4.4% of dry matter.

The joint entries are printed as percentages, glucosamine at 0.25% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.15%. Both are cartilage components, both are routinely added to foods aimed at older and bigger dogs, and the trial evidence for them is mixed rather than settled. Seeing them dosed on the label is still better than seeing them named without a figure.

Taurine at 500 mg per kilo is the standout in the additive panel, an amino acid with a long association with heart muscle. The rest is dosed in print too. Vitamin D3 comes at 1,800 iu and vitamin E at 120 mg. Zinc is at 50 mg, iron at 40 mg, manganese at 30 mg, copper at 8 mg, iodine at 1.5 mg and selenium at 0.15 mg. FOS at 0.1% is a prebiotic and dried yucca at 0.02% is there for odour.

One caveat on the numbers. The energy figures for these two are worked out from the analysis, not declared by the maker. Treat 342 and 338 kcal per 100g as close but not exact, and let the dog in front of you settle the portion.

Dried chicken at 6.5% names the meat, and the gravy at 0.5% is listed as poultry, not as chicken, which is the one place this bag is vaguer than its stablemate. Ash reads 8.0%, or 8.8% of dry matter. The carbohydrate estimate is 42.0%, or 46.1% of dry matter, and the 342 kcal per 100g is our estimate too.

£2.57 a kilo for both flavours, each sold in a 14kg bag.

The standard maintenance estimate for a 15kg dog in moderate condition is about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). On that basis the chicken works out at 246 grams a day and the lamb at 249, or £0.63 and £0.64 respectively. These are large breed recipes, so the more relevant line is the bag's own: 275 to 460 grams for a dog between 30kg and 40kg.