Husse Diet Kidney, Heart & Liver review

Ingredients, as declared: rice (60%), animal fat, dried salmon (10%), maize, salmon oil (2%), egg powder, linseed (2%), maize gluten, minerals, vegetable fibres, inulin (0.2%, source of fructo-oligosaccharides), psyllium husks (0.2%).

Rice takes 60% of the recipe on its own and animal fat comes next, ahead of dried salmon at 10%. Then maize, salmon oil at 2%, egg powder, linseed at 2%, maize gluten, minerals and vegetable fibres, with inulin at 0.2% named as a source of FOS and psyllium husks at 0.2% closing the list.

Salmon is the only species named, so with the egg powder the identifiable animal content is fish and egg. No species sits beside the animal fat entry. The printed meat stays fish, but a strict exclusion plan is not looking at a clean single protein here.

Protein is declared at 14.5%, which is 15.8% of dry matter, and fat at 16.5% converts to 17.9%, with carbohydrate estimated at 58.1%. Holding protein back and letting rice and fat carry the calories is exactly the shape a kidney or liver recipe is drawn to. The modest protein figure is the point of the formulation rather than a shortfall in it. Calcium converts to 0.54%.

Taurine at 200mg and L-carnitine at 300mg per kilogram are dosed in print, the pair a maker names when the heart is part of what the diet is aimed at. Vitamin E is at 625mg and vitamin C at 425mg, with vitamin A at 18000 IU and D3 at 1500 IU. The trace minerals run zinc 65mg, iron 50mg, manganese 35mg, copper 5mg, iodine 1.5mg and selenium 0.15mg, preserved with tocopherols. Clinoptilolite, a sedimentary mineral, is listed separately as a technological additive at 10g per kilogram.

Two label gaps are worth knowing about before you read the table. Moisture is not declared, so the dry matter conversions rest on a standard assumption, and the energy figure of 378 kcal per 100g is an estimate rather than a printed one.

The feeding guide is grouped by weight bands. It gives 25 to 80 grams a day for dogs of 1 to 5kg, 140 to 230 grams from 10 to 20kg and up to 560 grams across the 40 to 60kg range. Whether that design matches what your own dog needs is for your vet to weigh up.

It is sold in a 7kg bag, at £7.14 a kilo. Taking the label's own guide for a 15kg dog, around 222 grams a day, the daily cost works out at £1.59.