Husse Digest review

Placed against the rest of the adult dry shelf, this sits a band under the Good the typical adult dry food holds, in our Average band. The analysis explains the position clearly enough. Protein converts to 25.0% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 48.5%, a shade above the 46.2% typical, which holds protein and processing and nutritional balance at Average while transparency reads Good. What a general-nutrition reading cannot show is how well a short recipe settles a dog that reacts to complicated ones. Energy is declared rather than estimated here, at 392 kcal in 100 grams against 357 for a typical adult dry food, so a smaller bowl does the same work.

Ingredients, as declared: lamb, rice, rice flour, animal fat, linseed, salmon, yeast, vegetable fibres, hydrolysed animal protein, salmon oil, salt, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%), potassium chloride, lecithin (0.1%), sea algae, rosemary.

Lamb heads the list, with rice and rice flour following it. That combination has been the standard answer for sensitive digestion for decades, not because it is clever but because it is predictable. Lamb is highly digestible and rice is about as gentle a starch as a kibble can be built on.

Moisture is declared at 8.0%, which is more than most dry labels bother to say. It means the dry matter conversions on this page come from the maker's own figure rather than from the usual industry assumption, so every number here stands on firmer ground.

The digestive support is small and specific, and it is printed. Fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% are prebiotic fibre, feeding the bacteria that live in the large intestine. Lecithin at 0.1% helps fats emulsify, and clinoptilolite at 10 g per kilo is a natural sedimentary clay used as a binder in the kibble. Yeast and vegetable fibres sit alongside them.

Salt has its own place on the list, which is a palatability decision as much as a mineral one, and it is common enough across dry food. It rarely troubles a healthy dog, though it is a fair thing to raise at a check-up if sodium is already being watched. Potassium chloride behind it is a straightforward potassium source.

The trace mineral doses are generous and fully spelled out. Zinc is declared at 108 mg alongside a further 12 mg in a second form, with iron at 201 mg and manganese at 63 mg per kilo. Biotin is dosed at 1 mg, and tocopherols do the preserving with rosemary in support.

A couple of things stop this being a true single-meat recipe. Salmon and salmon oil bring fish in. That is good news for a coat, and worth knowing if fish is on your dog's avoid list. Species is not given for the animal fat or for the hydrolysed protein. Lamb leads this recipe honestly, but it is not the only animal in it.

£4.55 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 7kg and 12.5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 214 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £0.97 a day. The bag's own table gives 100 to 390 grams for a dog between 10kg and 30kg, a wide span, so begin in the middle of it and adjust by condition.