Hill's Science Plan Adult 1-5 Large review

Grain in the first two places is what puts this recipe in our Average band, far more than anything the analysis gets wrong. The added fat and the palatant are declared without an animal, and crude fibre is thin at 1.7% of dry matter. A typical adult dry food reaches our Good band.

Set against that, the poultry percentages are printed in full and transparency reads Good as a result. Protein converts to 25.2% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 51.7%, against a typical 46.2%. For a large dog with a proper routine, this remains a straightforward food to put down.

Ingredients, as declared: Maize, wheat, chicken and turkey meal (chicken 10%; total poultry 15%), animal fat, broken rice, digest, maize protein meal, soybean meal, vegetable oil, dried beet pulp, minerals, flaxseed, oat bran, fructo-oligosaccharides, pork cartilage (source of chondroitin sulphate), crustacean shell hydrolysate (source of glucosamine). ActivBiome+ Multi Benefit prebiotic blend (0.6%): Oat bran, fructo-oligosaccharides.

Maize sits first and wheat second, which is unusual to see ahead of the meat in a food of this standing. Maize is a perfectly digestible carbohydrate for a dog once it has been cooked. Wheat is the more contentious of the pair, and it is wheat that an owner's intolerance story usually comes back to. Further down, maize protein meal and soybean meal add plant protein on top of the grain already there.

The poultry is properly quantified: chicken and turkey meal with chicken at 10% and total poultry at 15%. The meat here went in as a dried and ground meal. That 15% is weight of protein, not weight of water. Fresh meat at 15% would leave far less behind in the finished kibble.

Three entries name no animal at all. Animal fat is the main added fat. The palatant is digest, brushed over the kibble so it tastes of something. Vegetable oil names no plant. Fat is generous at 14.4% as fed and 15.7% of dry matter, and energy comes to 368 kcal per 100g against 357 for the typical adult dry food. This is not a lean recipe, and a big dog with a quiet week wants its portions measured.

Joint support comes from pork cartilage as a chondroitin source and a crustacean shell hydrolysate as a glucosamine source. Both are genuine, well chosen entries for a big dog's bowl. Neither carries a printed dose, and without one there is no comparing the amount with a standalone supplement. The crustacean entry also means this is not a shellfish free recipe.

The ActivBiome+ blend at 0.6% is oat bran and fructo-oligosaccharides, prebiotic fibres that feed the gut's own bacteria, with dried beet pulp doing similar work behind them. Flaxseed brings omega 3 in its plant form. Total crude fibre is only 1.6%, so the gut support here is about quality rather than quantity.

The mineral panel is dosed in print at zinc 146 mg, iron 83.6 mg, copper 8.2 mg, manganese 8.6 mg, iodine 2.1 mg and selenium 0.2 mg per kilo, preserved with a natural antioxidant. Calcium works out at 0.95% of dry matter, a comfortable adult level for a large frame.

Sold in 2.5 kg, 14 kg and 18 kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through about 228 grams a day, working from around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Dogs eating a large breed recipe tend to weigh more than that. The label's own chart is pitched right at the top end, asking 640 grams a day for an 80kg dog.