Hoddy's Wild Dry: British Venison review

Both bags finish above the Good band that most adult dry food settles into, the pair of them landing together in our Excellent band. The gap between them is narrow and the construction is nearly identical, so the difference is a matter of detail and not of quality. The venison spreads its plant side evenly across peas, sweet potatoes and potato, and finishes marginally leaner. Transparency reads Outstanding on both, with protein and processing and nutritional balance Good either way, and value Excellent on the pair. Ignore the running order and pick whichever animal suits your dog best.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly prepared venison (26%), dried duck (25%), peas (12%), sweet potatoes (12%), potato (12%), chicken liver, poultry fat, pea protein, dried beet pulp, linseed oil, minerals, yeast hydrolysate (0.1%; a natural source of MOS and beta glucans), dried chicory (0.1% a natural source of FOS and inulin), dried carrots (0.1%), dried kelp, marigold extract (0.005%), Yucca schidigera (0.005%).

The meat case is strong, and the shape of it is worth understanding. Pheasant at 26% goes into the pheasant bag fresh, and the cooking drives most of that weight off. The dried duck at 23.5% arrives already dehydrated, so it puts far more protein into the kibble than you would guess from where it sits. The venison bag works the same way, freshly prepared venison at 26% with dried duck at 25% behind it. Read like that, duck is not a supporting act in either recipe.

Protein converts to 33.7% of dry matter in both, which is strong for a dry food. Carbohydrate lands at 38.6% and 38.0% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Binding is done by sweet potato and potato with peas alongside, and cereal is absent from the whole range.

Chicken runs quietly through both recipes, as chicken fat and chicken liver in the pheasant and as chicken liver with an unnamed poultry fat in the venison. Neither bag will suit a dog with a chicken problem. Liver is a good thing to see on a label though. Few foods you can put in a bowl are as nutrient dense, and it is a dependable way to make a kibble worth eating.

The functional tail is small but properly chosen. Yeast hydrolysate at 0.1% carries MOS and beta glucans. Dried chicory at 0.1% carries FOS and inulin. Both are fermentable fibres, and the bacteria further down the gut make use of them. Linseed oil carries omega 3s in their plant form, dried kelp adds iodine and trace minerals, and marigold and yucca close the list.

Both labels dose their trace elements in print, with zinc at 100 mg and iron at 50 mg per kilo in each. The remaining figures are set slightly differently between the two recipes, which is the one place the range stops speaking with a single voice.

Freshly prepared venison at 26% with dried duck at 25%, and a plant side split evenly between peas, sweet potatoes and potato at 12% each. It runs leaner at 15.2% fat and 369 kcal per 100g, with a little more fibre and ash. Only the venison adds pea protein, which lifts its protein figure without adding any meat.

£5.33 a kilo for either recipe, sold in 6kg and 12kg bags with 200g and 400g bags available for a first try.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 220 grams of the pheasant a day, or about 228 grams of the venison. Around 840 kcal a day is the basis there (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.18 a day on the pheasant and £1.21 on the venison.