Hownd Plant Powered Superfood review

Our scoring was built around meat led nutrition, so a recipe with no meat in it was always going to be marked in a room it was not designed for. It comes out in our Average band, a step under the Good the middle of the adult dry shelf reaches, with protein and processing reading Poor, nutritional balance Good and transparency Outstanding. Look under the band and the picture is more particular than that. The protein figure is respectable at 30.4% of dry matter, and the supplement panel is genuinely thought through. What holds the reading back is simply that refined plant proteins do not carry the same weight with us as named meat does. If a meat free bowl is what you want for your household, that is a trade you are making with your eyes open. This is one of the more carefully assembled ways to make it.

Ingredients, as declared: Brown rice (30%), Pea Protein concentrate (18%), Lentils (11%), Corn Protein meal (8%), Vegetables (carrots, greens beans, kohlrabi), Vegetable oils (Canola, Linseed), Brewer's Yeast (5.5%) (as a source of the prebiotic MOS), Potato Protein (5%), Sweet Potato (4.5%), Quinoa (3%), Moringa oleifera (2%), Dried Pumpkin 1% (equivalent to 5% fresh pumpkin), Minerals, Apple fibre, Dried mixed herbs (Calendula officinalis - Calendula, Salvia officinalis - Sage, Trigonella foenum-graecum - Fenugreek, Anethum graveolens - Dill, Taraxacum officinale - Dandelion, Cichorium inthyvus - Chicory, Thimus mastichina - Marjoram, Foeniculum vulgare - Fennel, Silybum marianum - Milk Thistle, Camellia sinensis - Green Tea, Rosmarinum officinalis - Rosemary), Yucca schidigera, Dried Chicory Root (as a source of the prebiotics FOS and inulin), Red fruit extract (Cranberries, Blueberries), Citrus extract, Glucosamine hydrochloride, Phytodroitin (0.020%) (plant-based alternative to Chondroitin), Methyl sulfonyl methane, Lichen, Natural antioxidants, Probiotics pro-intestinal microbiota (E. faecium NCIMB 10415 20×106 CFU).

Brown rice at 30% is the base, and the protein above it is assembled from four places: pea protein concentrate at 18%, lentils at 11%, corn protein meal at 8% and potato protein at 5%. Concentrates like these are refined fractions of a plant, and that is how a meat free recipe reaches 30.4% of dry matter protein at all. The amino acid quality of plant protein still sits below what meat delivers gram for gram.

The supplement panel is where this food earns its keep. Taurine at 1,350 mg and DL-methionine at 1,900 mg per kilo cover the two amino acids a meat free diet most needs help with. L-carnitine at 250 mg helps the body turn fat into energy it can use, and lichen is the plant source of vitamin D. Vitamin E is dosed generously at 350 mg per kilo. Zinc arrives twice, at 110 mg as the sulphate with a further 25 mg in chelated form, which is exactly the shape you want when every mineral in a diet has to come from plants.

Joint support is present but only partly quantified. Glucosamine hydrochloride and methyl sulfonyl methane are named without a level, while Phytodroitin, the plant based stand in for chondroitin, is declared at 0.02%. Take that as a helpful background addition rather than as a therapeutic dose.

The vegetables and superfoods are real, if small. Moringa at 2%, quinoa at 3%, sweet potato at 4.5% and dried pumpkin at 1%, which the label equates to 5% fresh pumpkin, sit alongside carrots, green beans and kohlrabi. Behind them comes a long herb list running from sage and fenugreek to milk thistle and green tea. Brewer's yeast at 5.5% is the most substantial of the extras, supplying MOS for the gut as well as a solid run of B vitamins, and dried chicory root adds FOS beside it. A live probiotic strain closes the label.

One note on reading the figures. Because the label declares no moisture, the dry matter column here assumes the 8% a dry kibble normally holds. Rice and lentils are doing the structural work here, and the carbohydrate estimate comes to 48.4% of dry matter, a touch above the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

£7.13 a kilo, in 2kg and 10kg bags, with a trade case of 8 x 2kg also listed.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 246 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £1.76 a day. For a dog between 6kg and 15kg the label's own table asks 110 to 210 grams, and the ribs under your hands are the better guide.