HiLife FEED ME: Lamb and Chicken with Tomato and Veg review

All three varieties land in our Average band, a step under the Good band a typical adult dry food reaches, and the label tells you why without much digging. Most of the meat is declared as meat meals rather than by species, and sugar sits fourth on the list. Ash converts to 11.6% of dry matter, heavy for a food of this kind.

The analysis itself is not extreme. Protein reads 24.4% and carbohydrate 51.2% on a dry matter basis, against 46.2% carbohydrate for a typical adult dry food. What a band cannot capture is that this food is doing a different job from most dry foods. For a dog who will not touch anything crunchy, it may well be the one that actually gets eaten.

Ingredients, as declared: Meat meals (24%, including lamb 4%, chicken 4%), wholegrain wheat, wheat bran, sugar, vegetable glycerine, poultry fat, meat stock, dried garden vegetables (1.1%), salt, minerals, tomato powder (0.1%), chicory extract (0.05%), yeast extract (0.05%).

The 18% moisture is the first thing to understand. A conventional kibble is a good deal drier than this, and the extra water is what keeps the pieces soft. Vegetable glycerine is the humectant holding that moisture in place without letting the food spoil, and sugar contributes to both the texture and the taste. It works, and plenty of picky dogs will eat this when they will eat nothing hard. Sugar sits as high on the list as it does for the same reason. Worth knowing, and not worth worrying about.

Meat meals at 24% is the animal side of the recipe. Meat meal itself is a sound ingredient. Dried and ground to a concentrate, it holds far more protein in a gram than fresh meat does once the water has gone. The catch is the plural without a species. Each variety pins down a small share by name and the balance of that 24% is left open.

Wholegrain wheat and wheat bran are the carriers. Wholegrain wheat brings the entire kernel, which is the better version of the ingredient. Wheat still leads the list of grains dogs prove intolerant of. Meat stock and dried garden vegetables at 1.1% follow, with salt as a flavour lift.

Because 18% of the food is water, the as fed figures understate what a dog is really eating. Protein converts to 24.4% of dry matter and fat to 9.1%, with carbohydrate estimated at 51.2% against the 46.2% typical. Energy comes in at 296 kcal per 100g, well under the 357 typical of adult dry food, so portions run larger than an owner switching from a standard kibble will expect.

The mineral side is where this recipe carries weight. Ash converts to 11.6% of dry matter and calcium to 2.44%, both high for an adult maintenance food, and bone content in meat meal is the usual explanation. A healthy adult dog takes that in their stride. Vitamin E is generous at 250 mg/kg and zinc at 63 mg/kg, with copper at 5 mg/kg, manganese at 20 mg/kg, iodine at 1.5 mg/kg and selenium at 0.15 mg/kg. Chicory extract and yeast extract at 0.05% each are the small functional touches, the first a prebiotic fibre and the second there for taste.

Lamb and chicken are each named at 4% inside the 24% meat meals, and tomato powder at 0.1% supplies the second half of the name. This is also the one recipe whose additives declare colourants alongside the antioxidants and preservatives, so an owner steering clear of added colour will be happier with the beef or the turkey.

Per kilo, the lamb variety is £2.75 and the beef and turkey are £2.67 each. Lamb comes in 2kg, 6kg and 8kg bags, with the beef and turkey adding a 12kg size.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 284 grams a day, working from around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That puts the lamb at £0.78 a day and the beef and turkey at £0.76.